Falling mortgage interest rates didn’t give much relief to Canadian real estate buyers. Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) data shows the average monthly payment for new mortgages increased in Q4 2020. The size of the increase isn’t all that important, so much as the fact it increased at all. Mortgage rates were cut by […]
Canadian companies have been scaling back on office space, reversing the pre-pandemic scramble that made it scarce. BMO senior economist Sal Guatieri looked at commercial office space in his latest note. The bank found long-term tenants locked into space are paying their bills just fine. However, companies that could, have been scaling back on the […]
Home prices are expensive. Let’s build more homes, and the cost of all of them will become affordable. It’s supply and demand… like your local politician and mysteriously funded community group always say. Except homes are being built and delivered at a record pace, way in excess of population growth. You’re getting a little suspicious. […]
Canadian households are facing a third wave, while watching the U.S. get back to normal. Naturally it’s wearing on consumer confidence. BMO economist Priscilla Thiagamoorthy’s latest analysis shows U.S. consumer confidence soared in April. Canada is seeing the exact opposite happen — consumers are growing more pessimistic. The bank says this should subside in the […]
Canadian immigration is often the bull case for the Big Three immigration hubs — Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal. A new Statistics Canada (StatCan) study on immigrant labor market outcomes puts a kink in the thesis though. The study focuses on the outcomes of immigrants between the 2001 and 2016 Censuses. Amongst the data, it reveals […]
Canadian real estate prices have been rising quickly, but it’s never been like this before. Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) data shows home prices made a big jump in March. Over the past 12 months, home prices increased more than they did over the previous 4 years. That’s just at the national level. More than […]
Many Canadian retail stores closed, but households are still finding ways to spend. Statistics Canada (Stat Can) data shows retail spending made a big jump in February. The rise in sales was strong in the building materials and gardening categories. Combined, both of those trends represented nearly a third of all annual growth. The combination […]
Canadian real estate is in a melt-up, and the Government of Canada (GoC) was warned not to pour any gas on the fire. Naturally, they’re getting ready to pour gas on the exact fire they were told not to. On May 3, 2021, the GoC will expand the First-Time Home Buyer Incentive (FTHBI) program. The […]
Canadians are now so used to large home price gains, that frothy returns just look normal. BMO senior economist Douglas Porter gave a little perspective, by looking across Lake Erie. In Cleveland, home prices are rising rapidly and beginning to look a little frothy for the market. On the Canadian side, prices in St. Thomas […]
Canadian real estate is such a big part of the economy, just its spin-off economic activity is now a huge deal. The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) has forecast big 2021 home sales, but the second half will be slower than the first. Next year they see a less exciting, but more typical year for […]
