Almost all mortgage holders 'in good standing'
Posted on Aug 25, 2024
The countdown is on for the next Bank of Canada interest-rate announcement after Labour Day. For homeowners, it’s most important for first-time buyers trying to get into the market…and trying to qualify for a mortgage.
However, it may also apply to existing mortgages that are coming up for renewal because, as it stands now, the homeowners holding th...
Canada, the U.S. and falling interest rates
Posted on Aug 16, 2024
Greater interest rate sensitivity in Canada means that economic growth this year is likely to once again underperform relative to the U.S. We have pencilled in real GDP growth of 1.2% for Canada and 2.6% for the U.S. Below-trend growth in Canada should make the BoC confident that it has inflation under control. The Fed, however, does not have this...
Interest rate down by another .25 per cent
Posted on Jul 24, 2024
The message is clear from the Bank of Canada, and it should at least be encouraging for homeowners: record-high interest rates are now trending in the right direction with a drop of .25 per cent. The “overnight rate” is down to 4.50 per cent.
The latest cut is the second in a row — both of them by a quarter of a per cent — after four years of zero c...
Housing starts drop…will the interest rate?
Posted on Jul 17, 2024
With another Bank of Canada announcement coming next week (July 24), the impact of high interest rates continues to slow the housing industry. Investors or contractors have little interest in starting when they don’t know what the end game will be.
Will there be buyers? At what price? At what cost? The higher interest rates are discouraging some of...
Just the facts: reflecting on the job markets
Posted on Jul 10, 2024
Employment begets the economy and the economy begets the real estate market. This blog is a simple factual report on employment in Canada, courtesy off the B.C. Real Estate Association.
Last month, Canadian employment was slightly unchanged from May, to 20.516 million, a drop of less than one per cent, leaving unemployment one per cent higher than i...
The law about wood-burning fireplaces
Posted on Jun 17, 2024
Of all the strategies to address the many tentacles of climate change, a story in The Vancouver Sun discovered what seems to be a new one…both the tentacle and the strategy.
To help keep the air cleaner, wood-burning fireplaces must be registered in Metro Vancouver.
In reality, registering said fireplaces has been a law since 2020. Now it’s going to...