Remember that time the head of Canada’s central bank said the housing bubble was good for the economy? Soak it up, because that may be the last time it ever happens. The Bank of Canada (BoC) finished its technical report on the Terms-of-Trade Economic Model (ToTEM). The model, which is used by the BoC as […]
Canadian home prices are booming in secondary markets — maybe a little too much. Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) data shows secondary cities outperformed majors in May. This has led to a much smaller price gap between secondary and primary real estate markets. We crunched the numbers for Toronto and Vancouver, finding the gap is […]
Canadian homebuyers are soul searching, and asking a higher power for advice — Google. Google has seen a surge of search activity for the question, “Should I buy a house?” The question peaked in activity in April, the month after record home sales. It made an abrupt drop the next month, after home sales fell […]
Rising home prices across Canada have increased so much, many homeowners can’t afford to sell. Zillow Canada commissioned a new survey via Ipsos on buying and selling real estate. Buried amongst the usual insights on things like affordability was an unusual insight for sellers. A quarter of homeowners ready to sell haven’t listed, because they […]
The Canadian property bubble is now receiving some international attention. Bloomberg Economics ranked housing bubbles across the OECD. Second on that list is Canada, which came in just a few points under New Zealand, the king of froth. Global Property Bubbles Are Synchronizing Countries that made headlines for frothy home prices recently, were the largest […]
The US real estate boom is looking a little bubbly in one more way — a surge in new Realtors. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) saw membership soar in May. Membership is now growing at the highest rate since 2006, as more people try to get in on the gold rush. It’s going to […]
More Canadian mortgage borrowers are betting the economy won’t get much better. At least, they’re unintentionally placing that bet with their mortgage borrowing terms. Data from the Bank of Canada (BoC) shows big growth for uninsured mortgage credit extended in April. It actually saw the largest annual growth on record, driven by a surge in […]
It’s not just Canadian home prices showing bubbly signs, but rental prices are following too. The cost of renting an apartment in the suburbs is rising much faster than in the city. Economists call this the flattening of the bid-rent curve, or rental gradient. Basically, the discount for being located further from amenities is disappearing. […]
Prices just outside of frothy Canadian real estate markets are growing much faster than in the city. That’s typical of a bubble, and it’s called “housing bubble contagion.” In a paper titled Housing Bubble Contagion From City Centre To Suburbs, three Taiwan-based researchers argue bubbles spread outwards. Bubbles force investors and developers to look for […]
Despite rainbows and unicorns, Canadian household debt problems didn’t just disappear. In fact, they got worse in many cases, and the economy is finally strong enough to start thinking about them. The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI), the country’s bank regulator, announced the domestic stability buffer (DSB) will rise in October. The […]
