It was a slow holiday, but Canadian seniors are back to tapping their home’s value for cash. Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) filings show reverse mortgage debt reached a new high in January. The new high came with a sharp acceleration in growth, but the rate is in line with historic numbers. […]
Canadian homeowners were buckling down on the spending ahead of the pandemic. Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) data shows the balance of loans secured by residential real estate, such as HELOCs, made a tiny move in January. The movement, the weakest in over half a decade, saw the balance fall from all-time […]
Time for your cheat sheet on this week’s most important stories. Canadian Real Estate Canadian Interest Rates Are Falling, But Fear Is Driving Mortgage Rates Higher Canadian interest rates are dropping, but many mortgage rates are rising. For example, RBC increased its 5-year fixed for conventional mortgages from 2.94% to 3.34% on March 18. TD […]
Are falling interest rates going to push Canadian real estate prices even higher? That’s not exactly what’s happening right now. The Bank of Canada (BoC) has been rapidly lowering the overnight target for interest rates in response to COVID-19 economic slowdowns. Concerns about this overheating the market are starting to bubble up (no pun intended). […]
Canada’s national statistics agency is estimating monster growth for population. Statistics Canada (Stat Can) population estimates show fast growth in Q1 2020. The population is now estimated to be growing at the fastest pace in 3 years. Canada’s Population Estimate Grows At Fastest Rate Since 1990 Canada’s population is growing at the fastest pace in […]
Canadian real estate sales were BOOMING before the pandemic poured a bucket of ice water on it. Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) data shows sales climbed the most in years. Part of the big numbers are due to the unusually slow start to last year, beefing up growth numbers. The growth was still expected to […]
Canadian restaurants were already getting crushed by soaring real estate prices, and now they’re facing pandemic fallout. Data from Open Table shows the big drop off in traffic for restaurants in Canada’s largest cities. Cities like Toronto were already facing weak traffic growth. However, this was capitulated after COVID-19 cases began to rise. Montreal had […]
Canadian bank regulators are jumping into action to contain economic risk. The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) made emergency changes last week in response to COVID-19. These changes include dropping the update to the mortgage stress test, lowering domestic stability buffers, and asking banks to halt share buybacks and dividend hikes. Mortgage […]
All hail the return of cheap money for Canada, it’s been weeks. Bank of Canada (BoC) data shows the effective interest rate paid by households dropped to a multi-year low as of March 6, 2020. The rate is now the lowest seen in over two years, having taken one of the biggest declines in at […]
Canadians slowed their renovation spending, but that’s expected to change. Altus Group is forecasting an upcoming rise in renovation spending, after a decline in 2018. The firm expects 2019 numbers to come in higher when reported later this year. They also expect 2020 numbers to top last year’s final numbers, fueled by HELOCs and mortgage […]
