It shouldn’t be too surprising that a record number of real estate sales is accompanied by a ton of new borrowing. Funds advanced, which is new mortgage credit issued or extended, climbed at a rapid rate in March. Borrowers took out a record amount of mortgage debt, with the majority of it uninsured. Canadians Borrowed […]
Canadian new housing starts made a sharp decline, which normally is a red flag for the economy. BMO senior economist Sal Guatieri said April’s numbers may not be the traditional leading indicator though. He argues there are a few factors that make this time different. I feel like I’ve heard this about another country before. […]
The Canadian economy is recovering so fast, the central bank may soon have to hike rates to cool it down. That’s the take from the National Bank of Canada (NBC), who accelerated their forecast timeline today. They expect output gap closure by the middle of next year, as well as inflation running hot. Rising inflation […]
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 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 […]
The Canadian economy is recovering much faster than expected… just not in a healthy way. Canadian real gross domestic product (GDP) is down less than two points in Q4 2020. Digging into the numbers, we see the headline is better due to households doubling down on real estate mania. When housing is stripped from GDP, […]
A new mortgage stress test? Don’t bother me with those peasant details. After Canada’s property bubble attracted global criticism, they announced tighter mortgage lending. On April 8, the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) said they would make the stress test harder. By the following Monday, the first bank launched a pilot mortgage […]
The Canadian economy’s recovery is well underway, and that means easy money may be on the way out. Bank of Canada (BoC) updated its outlook earlier today. The central bank said the accelerated recovery will allow them to ease stimulus. To start, they’ll taper quantitative ease (QE), and speed up the end of their commitment […]
Time for your cheat sheet on this week’s top stories. Canadian Real Estate Canada Says Property Bubble “Not Great” For Locals, Good For Foreign Investor Canada officially said any home price drop is unacceptable, even if locals can’t buy a home. One of the country’s politicians in charge of housing policy said a 10% drop […]
Canadian real estate prices are now beyond frothy, and the government says that’s fine. They believe they can prevent home prices from falling, and let incomes catch up. If you’re in government or banking, you may have already seen me explain how impossible this is. If you haven’t, this is known as the “soft landing” […]
