Canada ranks high in housing, safety and life satisfaction, OECD says By any measure – health, education, housing or income – Canadians are far better off than residents of the developing world.  But they’re also better off than many of the planet’s richest countries, according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development’s latest quality-of-life […]

Interest rate hike worries 4-in-10 homeowners  Four-in-10 Canadians would be unsure about whether they could afford their homes if their mortgage rate went up by as little as two percentage points, according to a new study from the Bank of Montreal.  The survey, compiled for BMO by Leger Marketing, found 43% believe an increase – […]

BMO 2.99% Possibly Not So Attractive  Brokers may ultimately have to thank RBC for shooting holes in BMO’s 2.99% – the biggest of Canada’s big banks running ads critical of the no-frills mortgage.  “What good is a low rate mortgage without the frills?” asks an RBC full-pager running in a national daily. “Switch to RBC […]

Builders welcome tax credit for first-time homebuyers  A new BC tax break for first-time buyers of new homes will help stimulate the construction industry and create plenty of new jobs, an industry executive said of Tuesday’s 2012 provincial budget.  “This is welcome,” Greater Vancouver Home Builders’ Association President and CEO Peter Simpson said of a […]

Bankers and Brokers may be in agreement  A new survey suggests Canadian bankers may be less concerned about mortgage credit risk than they were two years ago or, indeed, the government is now, given speculation it will again tinker with the country’s mortgage rules.  While credit risk topped the list of concerns for Canadian bankers […]

Flaherty keeping wary eye on housing market  Finance Minister Jim Flaherty says he stands ready to intervene in the housing market again, just as a mortgage price war breaks out among Canada’s major banks.  Flaherty said Tuesday that he’s watching the market closely, although he has no plans to tighten the market again at this […]

Canadians think we’re in a recession, but economists don’t  A surprising majority of Canadians – 70% of them – say the country is in the middle of an economic recession, even though economists will tell you Canada hasn’t been in one since 2009, and is nowhere close.  The results, from a new online survey sponsored by […]

Best Wishes For A Merry Christmas and a Happy Healthy New Year To All! Variable rate mortgage discounts disappearing  The days of getting any sort of discount on a variable-rate mortgage are over – again.  Those mortgages, tied to prime, have become a mainstay of the housing market. And, why not? While prime has stood at 3% […]

Mark Carney sees more than a year of soft growth The deteriorating global picture is turning what had been a soft patch for Canada’s export-heavy economy into more than a year of sluggish growth, the Bank of Canada said today in a new quarterly forecast.  A day after leaving their benchmark interest rate at 1% […]

Industry News….   BOC ups growth, stands pat on rates   The Bank of Canada boosted its growth forecast Tuesday but threw a curve ball at Bay Street expectations for a July interest-rate hike by warning the “persistent strength” in the loonie could cause even greater headwinds for the economy. While some analysts still expect the […]