US new home prices are growing at the fastest rate in well over a generation. US Commerce Department data shows the median price of a new single-family home nearly reached the all-time high in April. The real story is the rate of annual price growth though, which hasn’t advanced this quickly in over 30 years. […]
A large Canadian financial institution sees higher mortgage rates in your future. Desjardins’ mortgage forecast shows they expect mortgages to continue to climb from here. They see 5-year fixed mortgage rates hitting pre-pandemic levels by next fall. That is before the first expected hike to the overnight rate from the Bank of Canada. Canadian Mortgages […]
Canada’s largest bank thinks the real estate mania might be coming to an end, as conditions loosen. The market is still very tight, according to RBC senior economist Robert Hogue. However, buyer demand is falling much faster than new inventory. April reported the third consecutive month where buyers dropped out of the market faster than […]
Canadians aren’t using their homes like an ATM. At least not as much as you would think. Bank of Canada (BoC) data shows home equity line of credit (HELOC) balances reached a record high in March. It barely did so, with a rate of growth so low it would be negative if inflation adjusted. This […]
New home sales are finally starting to slow down across the US, but they have a long way to go to get to typical levels. US Commerce Department data shows new home sales fell in April. The drop was also accompanied by a large revision for the previous month. It’s too soon to tell if […]
Record Canadian real estate sales and cheap money has led to a boom in mortgage debt. Bank of Canada (BoC) data shows residential mortgage credit hit an all-time high in March. That isn’t surprising, since it hasn’t fallen in Canada for a very long time. The rate at which it’s increasing is simply mind-blowing though. […]
Canadian mortgage borrowers are increasingly overleveraged, while better-positioned ones take a step back. Bank of Canada (BoC) data shows overleveraged borrowers represented a larger share of new mortgage debt in 2020. The rise came at the expense of those with better debt levels. That means there is a lot more risk entering the market, for […]
Canadian property bubbles have seen affordability creep past the world’s most influential cities. Oxford Economics released new North America Housing Affordability Indices (HAIs) for Q1 2021. The index measures housing affordability for the median household in various cities. They found Canada’s hottest real estate markets are now less affordable than globally influential US cities. Heck, […]
It shouldn’t be too surprising that a record number of real estate sales is accompanied by a ton of new borrowing. Funds advanced, which is new mortgage credit issued or extended, climbed at a rapid rate in March. Borrowers took out a record amount of mortgage debt, with the majority of it uninsured. Canadians Borrowed […]
Canadian inflation is rising at the fastest pace in decades, but at least it’s just transitory… maybe. Statistics Canada (Stat Can) latest consumer price index (CPI) numbers show a big jump in prices for April. The sentiment shared between the Bank of Canada (BoC) and Stat Can is, this is just temporary. However, much of […]
