This morning, Finance Minister Bill Morneau announced new housing measures, changes meant to alleviate risk in Canada’s current housing market. The measures include: Standardizing lending criteria for high- and low-ratio mortgages, including a mortgage stress test Closing tax loopholes for capital gains exemptions on principal residence sales Consulting with industry stakeholders to ensure risk is […]
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Before reading this you should be warned that the following content is pretty dry… like eating 8 saltine crackers without drinking water dry. If you need to go and get something to drink before proceeding, no worries, we will wait here. Take your time. The quick and dirty version, as of November 1st 2016, OSFI is going […]
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In an article I recently published called “Is Now a Good Time to Buy?” we identified that interest rates are at all time Canadian lows and as it’s never been cheaper to borrow money, now is a good time to buy property. In no way was it being said that “because interest rates are low, you should rush out […]
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The Bank of Canada Rate Announcement today showed that it is maintaining its target for the overnight rate at 1/2 per cent. The Bank Rate is correspondingly 3/4 per cent and the deposit rate is 1/4 per cent. Global growth in the first half of 2016 was slower than the Bank had projected in its […]
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If you’re getting tired of all the media headlines claiming impending housing market and economic doom and gloom, you’re not alone. It seems every time you browse the news another US economist is predicting terrible things for Canada. Articles like this one, claiming an ‘extreme bubble’ is just around the corner… note, not just a bubble… but an […]
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Although no firm changes have been announced regarding regulations for mortgages in Canada, it looks like this might be the beginning of something. The following is correspondence shared by Mortgage Professionals Canada by email to the mortgage industry, it has been shared here for your benefit. The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) issued […]
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VERICO’s Economic Consultant Michael Campbell has just released the Economic Update for Q3 2016, a VERICO Exclusive. “Brexit is important but it’s part of a much bigger story…The key to know is that the Brexit vote and the demise of the European union is driven by economic and financial events not politics.” Don’t miss out. […]
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The Bank of Canada today announced that it is maintaining its target for the overnight rate at 1/2 per cent. The Bank Rate is correspondingly 3/4 per cent and the deposit rate is 1/4 per cent. Inflation in Canada is on track to return to 2 per cent in 2017 as the complex adjustment underway […]
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Since at least 2008, there have been repeated bursts of commentary that there is a housing bubble in Canada. Those comments have generally assumed that rapid growth in house prices (or a rising ratio of house prices versus incomes or of house prices versus rents) is sufficient evidence of a bubble. To the contrary, these […]
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It’s been said that talking about the Canadian Housing Market is like talking about the weather in Canada. “How’s the weather in Canada today”? seems like a rather odd question, it all depends where you are! Similarly, the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) just released a report on the housing starts in Canada for […]
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