Latest News Kim Stenberg 16 Aug
Today the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) released statistics showing national existing home sales fell 3.5% nationally from June to July 2021–the fourth consecutive monthly decline. Over the same period, the number of newly listed properties dropped 8.8%, and the MLS Home Price Index rose 0.6% and was up 22.2% year-over-year. While sales are now down a cumulative […]
Read MoreLatest News Kim Stenberg 9 Aug
Canada’s labour market continued its recovery in July as health restrictions were lifted, but the gains were shy of expectations. The report signals the economic rebound is intact and shows companies are finding workers as pandemic restrictions vanish. The smaller-than-expected increase, though, could cast some doubt on the pace of hiring. The gains last month […]
Read MoreLatest News Kim Stenberg 12 Jul
This morning, Statistics Canada released the June 2021 Labour Force Survey showing employment rose 230,700 (1.2%) in June, rebounding from a cumulative decline over the previous two months of 275,000. Total hours worked were little changed. The national unemployment rate fell 0.4 percentage points to 7.8%. Jobs continue to swing back and forth as the various COVID waves […]
Read MoreLatest News Kim Stenberg 15 Jun
The Slowdown in Canadian Housing Continued in May Today, the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) released statistics showing national existing home sales fell 7.4% nationally from April to May 2021, building on the 11% decline in April. Over the same period, the number of newly listed properties fell 6.4%, and the MLS Home Price Index rose 1.0%, a marked deceleration from previous […]
Read MoreLatest News Kim Stenberg 2 Jun
Housing Drove the Economic Expansion in Q1 Yesterday’s Stats Canada release showed that the economy grew at a 5.6% annualized rate in the first quarter, after a revised 9.3% pace in the final quarter of last year. That was somewhat below economists’ expectations. Housing investment grew at an annualized 43% pace, by far the biggest impetus of […]
Read MoreLatest News Kim Stenberg 17 May
The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) released statistics showing national existing home sales fell 12.4% nationally from March to April 2021. Over the same period, the number of newly listed properties fell 5.4%, and the MLS Home Price Index rose 2.4%. While home sales fell month-over-month in April, largely due to the new lockdowns, April sales were still the strongest ever for […]
Read MoreLatest News Kim Stenberg 7 May
This morning, Statistics Canada released the April 2021 Labour Force Survey showing a major deterioration in the jobs market following the third-wave Covid containment measures. Employment fell by 207,100 (-1.1%) in April, and the unemployment rate rose 0.6 percentage points to 8.1%. Employment declined in both full-time (-129,000; -0.8%) and part-time (-78,000; -2.3%) work. The number of employed people working less than half their […]
Read MoreLatest News Kim Stenberg 21 Apr
Chrystia Freeland’s First Budget is as Promised In more than two years, the first federal budget extends Ottawa’s COVID-19 “lifeline” for workers and struggling businesses another few months as it aims to pull Canada through the pandemic once and for all. Clocking in at a bulky 724 pages, this is a highly detailed budget that sets […]
Read MoreLatest News Kim Stenberg 15 Apr
What is all the policy hysteria about? Today the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) released statistics showing national existing home sales hit another all-time high in March. What was arguably more noteworthy was that new listings hit their highest level on record in seasonally adjusted terms in March. Prices continued to rise as sales dwarfed the new supply. The number of […]
Read MoreLatest News Kim Stenberg 9 Apr
With several Big-Five bank CEOs calling for regulatory action to slow the red-hot housing market, it didn’t take long for the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI), the governor of federally regulated financial institutions, to respond. In a news release issued today, OSFI proposed an increase in uninsured mortgages’ qualifying rate to the higher of the mortgage contract rate […]
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