27 Oct

Hawkish Bank of Canada Decision

General

Posted by: Tony Passalacqua

Bank of Canada RespondsTo Mounting Inflation: Ends QE and Hastens Timing of Rate Hike The Bank of Canada surprised markets today with a more hawkish stance on inflation and the economy. The Bank released its widely anticipated October Monetary Policy Report (MPR) in which its key messages were: The Canadian economy has accelerated robustly in […]

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15 Oct

Canadian Home Sales Rise in September For The First Time Since March

General

Posted by: Tony Passalacqua

Canadian Home Prices Continued to Rise As Insufficient Supply Creates Excess Demand Today the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) released statistics showing national existing-home sales rose 0.9% between August and September 2021, posting the first monthly gain since March (see chart below). On a year-over-year (y-o-y) basis, the number of transactions last month was down 17.5%. […]

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16 Sep

Insufficient Housing Supply Boosted Home Prices Again In August

General

Posted by: Tony Passalacqua

Home Prices Still Rising As Falling Sales Reflect Insufficient Supply   Today the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) released statistics showing national existing home sales fell a slight 0.5% nationally from July to August 2021–the fifth consecutive monthly decline. Over the same period, the number of newly listed properties edged up 0.8%, and the MLS Home Price Index […]

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14 Jul

Bank of Canada Tapers Bond-Buying Again

General

Posted by: Tony Passalacqua

Bank of Canada ‘On the Vanguard’ of Unwinding Stimulus   The Bank of Canada raised its inflation forecast in the newly released July Monetary Policy Report (MPR), making it one of the most hawkish central banks in the world. The Bank announced its third action to reduce its emergency bond-buying stimulus program by one-third. The central bank […]

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2 Jun

Housing is Driving The Canadian Economy

General

Posted by: Tony Passalacqua

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 the […]

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17 May

Housing Market Slowed in April as Renewed Lockdown Took Its Toll

General

Posted by: Tony Passalacqua

Starting to See a Slowdown in Canadian Housing 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, […]

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9 Apr

OSFI Considers Setting a Minimum Qualifying Rate of 5.25% For Uninsured Mortgages

General

Posted by: Tony Passalacqua

 Banking Regulator Aims To Make It Tougher To Get An Uninsured Mortgage 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 […]

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16 Mar

Canadian Housing Market Still On Fire

General

Posted by: Tony Passalacqua

Housing Continued to Surge in February Today the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) released statistics showing national home sales hit another all-time high in February 2021. Canadian home sales increased a whopping 6.6% month-on-month (m-o-m), building on the largest winter housing boom in history. On a year-over-year (y-o-y) basis, existing home sales surged an amazing 39.2%. As the […]

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24 Feb

Market Interest Rates are Rising Almost Everywhere

General

Posted by: Tony Passalacqua

Longer-Term Yields are Rising Despite Central Bank Inaction While central banks hold overnight rates at record lows, anchoring short-term interest rates and the prime rate, mid-to-long-term government yields have been rising since early this month. As the chart below shows, the 5-year Government of Canada bond, upon which mortgage rates are generally tethered, are currently at […]

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20 Jan

Bank of Canada Expects to Hold Overnight Rates Steady Until 2023

General

Posted by: Tony Passalacqua

Bank of Canada Still Expects No Rate Increases Until 2023 The Bank of Canada, this morning, released its January Monetary Policy Report (MPR), showing they expect to keep overnight interest rates at its “effective lower bound” of 0.25% until 2023 (see chart below). To reinforce this commitment and keep interest rates low across the yield […]

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