Improving economy, low mortgage rates to boost housing sales in B.C., CMHC says

Vancouver Sun- A new report suggests that low mortgage rates combined with a growing population and an improving economy bode well for Metro Vancouver home sales for the rest of 2010 and 2011.

“For the next year, we’re looking at favourable mortgage rates, a steady flow of migrants to the Lower Mainland, and a growing job market,” Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. senior market analyst Robyn Adamache said in an interview about the federal agency’s housing market report that concluded sales will remain stable until mid-2011 before trending higher. “We’re looking at about 33,000 sales for Greater Vancouver [in 2011]. We’re looking at 31,000 this year. The 10-year average is about 34,000…

Improving economy, low mortgage rates to boost housing sales in B.C., CMHC says

Housing weakness expected to be a drag on growth

Financial Post- Canada’s housing market helped lift the economy in the early part of the recovery but will now act as a drag on growth, with starts falling for two straight quarters and expected to continue to fall in the months ahead, economists say.

Canada Mortgage and Housing reported Friday housing starts declined 1.5 per cent in September from the previous month, bringing the seasonally adjusted annual rate to 186,400 units in September.

Analysts had called for a bigger drop in starts, to 179,000.

Starts have now fallen for four of the past five months, leading to two straight quarters of overcall declines.

"After helping to support the rebound in real GDP growth over the last year, residential investment is likely to be a drag on economic growth through the second half of this year," said Diana Petramala, an economist at TD Economics…

Housing weakness expected to be a drag on growth

Housing will be banks’ next sore spot

Vancouver Sun- Canada’s housing market was a key source of strength that shielded the banks from the financial crisis but a flurry of recent warnings about a market bubble is raising concerns the vast mortgage holdings on bank balance sheets is about to become a millstone.

The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives Tuesday released a study arguing that the red-hot residential real estate market in Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary and other cities is “an accident waiting to happen.”

“Canada is experiencing, for the first time in the last 30 years, a synchronized housing bubble,” said the report by David Macdonald.

The warning comes after a report from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development argued that bloated debt levels of Canadian households are a threat to the economy…

Housing will be banks’ next sore spot

Bank of Canada bumps up rate

Calgary Herald- The Bank of Canada raised its benchmark policy rate by 25 basis points to 0.75 per cent, even though it scaled back its growth outlook on the belief budget cutting among households and governments in advanced economies will "temper" the pace of the global recovery.

Many of Canada’s commercial banks followed suit by raising their prime lending rates.

The central bank acknowledged the economy is weaker than initially believed — but not feeble enough to call off yet another rate hike and likely more in the future.

Certainly, the interest-rate decision delivered yesterday teemed with caution. The central bank’s statement accompanying its decision highlighted how a "greater emphasis" on budget cutting among governments and households would slow the pace of the global recovery…

Bank of Canada bumps up rate

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