This Week’s Top Stories: Canadian Households Set A New Record For Mortgage Debt, and They Aren’t Saving A Whole Lot

Time for your weekly cheat sheet on this week’s most important stories.

Canadian Real Estate

Canadian Households Are Saving A Quarter Of What Americans Do
Canadian households aren’t saving a whole lot for a rainy day – in fact, they’re saving less than nothing. Households spent $5.82 billion in savings in Q2 2019, saving just $15.62 billion in the year ending that quarter. The past year of savings was a decline of 29.52%, compared to the period a year before. This represents just 1.96% of income, compared to 2.3% of income one year before. To contrast, American households save 8% of their income.
Read More

Two-Thirds Of Mortgages In Arrears At Canadian Non-Bank Lenders, Are Uninsured
Most of the mortgages in arrears at non-bank lenders are uninsured. They held 13,069 insured mortgages in arrears in Q1 2019, totaling $2.48 billion in mortgage debt. The number of uninsured mortgages reached 20,224 in Q1 2019, totaling $3.78 billion of debt.
Read More

Canadian Mortgage Growth Improves, But It Was Still A Very Weak September
Canadian mortgage credit is growing, but it was still a very weak September. The balance of mortgage debt reached $1.6 trillion in September, up 4.2% from a year before. That’s up from last year, but last year was the slowest September in 3 decades. This year, we saw the second slowest September. An improvement, but not a big one.
Read More

Toronto Real Estate

Greater Toronto New Home Sales Improve, But On Target For A Weak Year
Greater Toronto new home sales are improving, but still had a weak year. Altus Group reported 3,061 sales in September, up 73.0% from last year. Year to date (YTD) there was just 24,410 new home sales, up 43.3% from last year. However, the YTD sales volume is 19.67% below the 5-year median for sales over this period. An improvement from last year, but still slower than usual.
Read More

Toronto Condo Price Growth Falls Below 905 Condos 
Toronto condo prices are rising quickly, but faster in the suburbs. TREB reported the price of a benchmark condo reached $546,900 in September, up 8.0% from a year before. In the City of Toronto, the benchmark reached $578,000, up 7.9% over the same period. The benchmark in the city decelerated, while prices in the 905 are accelerating. Condo prices in the 905 are now growing faster than those in the city.
Read More

Vancouver Real Estate

Greater Vancouver Pre-Sale Real Estate Makes A Big Jump, But So Does Inventory
Greater Vancouver condo pre-sales made a sharp increase. There were 352 pre-sale units released and absorbed in September, up 34.9% from last year. The number of units released in the month hit 978, up 42.2% from last year. The number of sales increased, but not as fast as new inventory released. Rising inventory is relieving any pressure on pushing prices higher.
Read More

Vancouver Condo Buyers Are Back, But Prices Are Still Falling
Greater Vancouver condo sales are rising, but prices are still dropping for now. The REBGV condo apartment benchmark price fell to $651,500 in September, down 6.5% from last year. Sales reached 1,166, up 43.6% from last year. The increase in sales so far hasn’t place much upward pressure on prices to rise. However, the size of declines are getting smaller.
Read More

Like this post? Like us on Facebook for the next one in your feed.