Canada hasn’t seen this much housing being delivered in a very long time. BMO senior economist Robert Kavcic wrote to clients about July’s new housing completion data this morning. Canada hasn’t built this much housing in decades. While some supply-side issues remain, it’s less of the concern it was a few years ago. Instead, he […]
Canada’s highly indebted households didn’t see their finances improve during the pandemic. Many did get a lot more neat stuff they couldn’t afford without low interest rates though. That’s the takeaway from the MNP Consumer Debt Index, conducted quarterly by Ipsos. The poll found a third of Canadians consider themselves “house poor.” Even more are […]
Canadian new home sales have been a little soft, putting a drag on new home starts. Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) data shows new housing starts slipped lower in July. The decline shows a little moderation from the all-time peak a few months ago. Even with the decline though, new starts are higher than […]
Canada’s highly indebted households are worried about their cost of living. Now they want politicians to fix it. Abacus Data polled voters in August for their top concerns this election. Voters overwhelmingly agree the cost of living is the biggest, by far. It was an issue last election, but not to this extent — nearly […]
Canadian home sales continue to cool, logging another month of declining volumes. Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) data shows home sales fell in July 2021. It was the first annual decline seen in over a year. Despite the negative factors, it was still the second biggest July for home sales ever. Canadian Home Sales Fell […]
Canadian immigration is starting to improve to pre-pandemic levels. Government of Canada (GoC) data shows permanent residents admitted made a big jump in Q2 2021. The increase was actually enough to push the quarter to pre-pandemic levels. Admissions are still relatively weak, but it’s a huge improvement from the end of last year. Especially in […]
Canadian real estate has seen record sales and record prices — fueled by record mortgage debt. Bank of Canada (BoC) data shows banks held a record amount of mortgage debt in Q1 2021. If broken down by region, we can see Ontario and PEI are the fastest-growing markets. Considering Ontario is such a large balance, […]
The US is seeing the odd combination of high unemployment and rising job vacancies. Canada has so far been able to avoid that, but signs of it occurring are beginning to appear, according to BMO. Douglas Porter, the bank’s chief economist, took a dive into business hiring data. Businesses are increasingly slowing activity due to […]
Canadian home prices made a big jump in the second quarter, especially existing homes. Statistics Canada (Stat Can) data shows large advances in the Big Six real estate markets in Q2 2021. Both new and existing home prices increased very quickly. However, existing home prices grew at twice the rate of new homes. Canada’s Big […]
Lumber prices pushed the cost of building a home higher — a lot higher. Canadian Home Builders’ Association (CHBA) data shows members saw lumber costs soar. In fact, more than half of builders said lumber costs increased at least $30,000 in Q2 2021. Even though lumber prices have since crashed, don’t expect cheaper housing. Not […]
