The Canadian real estate rollercoaster continues, as expectations temper from recent highs. The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) released its quarterly forecast for existing-home sales. The industry organization is still expecting a record number of home sales this year. However, the rapidly changing environment has led them to cut expectations by thousands of units. Over […]
More housing supply is on the way, according to Canada’s national housing agency. New urban housing starts increased in May, shows Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) data. The rise in activity is still below the peak seen earlier in the year. Similar to what’s happening in the US, starts have begun to fall from […]
Lumber prices are still making a nose dive, as supply catches up and demand softens. Last week we mentioned lumber prices have officially crashed from their all-time high. This week BMO economist Carl Campus wrote to clients that prices have fallen below US$1,000/mbf. This is the first time it fell below that mark since March. […]
Canadian inflation is marching higher, and so are the expectations for mortgage rates. Desjardins economics sees the 5-year posted rate having more room to rise than fall in the future. The institution has forecast the posted 5-year fixed-rate mortgage can rise up to 40% by 2024. While the posted rate is rarely the rate paid […]
Tales of big city buyers pushing prices higher in small towns has more data confirmation. Teranet, Ontario’s private land registry operator, conducted a study on provincial migration. They found existing homeowners migrated in record numbers over the past 3 quarters. Owners fleeing Toronto paid much more than the average migrating household as well. This likely […]
The Canadian property bubble is consuming the whole economy — and concentrating wealth creation. Household net-worth soared to a new high in the first quarter of 2021, according to Statistics Canada (Stat Can) data. Real estate represented over three-quarters of the gains in wealth, which is much higher than normal. Fanning the flames of the […]
The economy made some improvements but is still overly debt-dependent. That’s what the latest household debt to GDP data from Statistics Canada (Stat Can) shows for Q1 2021. The ratio is significantly higher than a year ago, but that aside — it was high before the pandemic. Canadian households make Americans before the Great Recession […]
One of Canada’s largest financial institutions sees the market cooling. Desjardins senior economist Benoit Durocher expects real estate to stabilize soon. This won’t be due to government action or new policy measures though. He sees the cooling as a result of a lack of affordability, and the economy reopening. Stabilization is most likely, but cooling […]
Canada has lost the bragging rights to having some of the best cities in the world for livability. Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) released their Global Liveability Index for 2021. New Zealand managed to claim the top spot, with Japan and Switzerland not too far behind. Canada dropped out of the Top 10 for the first […]
Canadian real estate prices are rising, but no where is quite like Ontario right now. Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) April data shows up to 50% annual price growth in the province. Every major market has seen composite home prices rise at least $100,000 since last year. It doesn’t matter if it’s in a big […]
