People often boast of the quality lending standards that support Canadian real estate. Every now and then, lawyer and investor Joey Evans reminds us that’s not really the case. He recently posted a great example on his Twitter account, highlighting a Toronto home. The mansion, located in the City of Toronto, had mortgage debt over 3x […]
Have you ever woke up after a night of drinking, and only had a vague recollection of what happened? Then your responsible friend sets off a chain of text messages, trying to figure out where you went wrong? Well that’s what the Canadian real estate industry just did, and man-o-man did people screw up. The […]
If the adage that real estate prices follow credit growth is true, Toronto may be in for a rough ride. Using Bank of Canada (BoC) data to estimate dollar volumes, we see less mortgages are being issued in Greater Toronto. The decline is exclusive to traditional lenders, as more buyers turn to subprime loans. The […]
The real estate industry listens very closely to central bankers, and why wouldn’t they? Monetary policy heavily influences real estate prices. However, if you really listen to the words they use, you start to realize that they all sound the same… almost all of the time, regardless of what the economy is doing. Half joking, […]
A few weeks ago, a real estate agent told me about his client. Relatively wealthy older dude, closed on not one but two townhouses he plans on flipping. After some questions regarding who financed such a deal, he explains it was a private lender. Right before adding, “don’t worry, it’s not like in the US. […]
Stress testing Canadian real estate buyers is preventing highly indebted borrowers from getting in over their heads. That’s a good thing.
Canadian real estate sales have been increasingly been propped up by private mortgages, but just how large is this market?
Canadian real estate prices are one of the biggest risks to the country, according to a big three letter organization. The International Monetary Fund (IMF), the global organization dedicated to sustainable growth, released a statement after an official “mission” to Canada. The organization cited real estate prices as a “key domestic risk.” Changing price expectations, […]
Global economies are becoming more interconnected, and so are real estate markets. Researchers at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) measured prices in 44 cities, and 40 countries – both in advanced and emerging markets. What they found is that whole countries are seeing real estate prices in the closest synchronization since the Great Recession. Even […]
A routine audit is leading a Canadian bank to repurchase their “ineligible” mortgages. Montreal-based Laurentian Bank is agreeing to buy back over $125 million in mortgages. The agreement is the result of a routine audit from the Canada Mortgage & Housing Corporation (CMHC). This comes while the bank is trying to improve borrowing standards, after […]