TREB’s Jason Mercer suggests that if the market progresses beyond current government policy, it could stablize and price should rise moderately. True,yet none of the June 7th election candidates have said they would change anything. There seems to be a big belief in normal demand/supply economics, however there is nothing ordinary about Toronto’s housing market. Sellers will demand their big price, that is, until the slide, then reality will hit them. Most experts ignore high consumer debt, huge interest rate sensitive mortgages, an insecure NAFTA agreement and a US Preside read more
Housing advocates believe something is missing from the housing mix in urban Canada. The new housing construction is dominated either by high-rise towers or low-rise detached housing. Some proponents of mid-density housing, also known as the missing middle, consider it to be a panacea for meeting the growth targets in the greater Toronto area. A recently released report calls for a greater share of medium- to high-density housing in new construction. A failure to increase the supply of mid-rise and stacked housing types will “lead to more households facing shelter unaffordability and living in units that do not fit their needs,” argues an independent report commissione read more
Canadian Real Estate Price Gains Continue To Taper, Annual Growth Falls Below 2% DECEMBER 24, 2018 After years of overheated growth, Canadian real estate price gains are tapering. Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) numbers show prices for a benchmark (a.k.a. typical) read more
“Buyers knocked out of the market by the stress test are being saved, not persecuted,” says Globe & Mail writer Rob Carrick in a recent article. With interest rates still not far off historical lows, 5% of the economy “highly exposed to a sales slump in housing” (according to a year-old RBC Economics report), and the potential impact of a decline in consumer spending following a fall in home values, “Cumulatively, the economy could be seriously affected,” he says. While it may feel like legislators are squelching the C read more
The Bank of Canada once again left interest rates unchanged today but dropped clues suggesting a strong chance of a hike at its next meeting in July. In today’s announcement, the Bank of Canada noted that inflation has been close to its two per cent target and will likely be higher than forecast in the near term. It also referenced recent data points that show upside to the U.S. economic outlook, weighed by ongoing uncertainty about NAFTA negotiations and stresses in some emerging markets. “Overall, developments since April further reinforce the governing council’s view that higher interest rates will be warranted to keep inflation near target,” the read more
Starting Jan.1, home buyers faced a new challenge in addition to rising prices and a restricted supply of available homes — a mortgage stress test designed to cool the overheated housing markets. The test, introduced by the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OFSI), requires the qualifying rate for an uninsured mortgage to be the greater of the Bank of Canada’s five-year benchmark rate (currently sitting a read more
OSFI is setting a new minimum qualifying rate, or “stress test,” for uninsured mortgages (mortgage consumers with down payments 20% or greater than their home price). The rules now require the minimum qualifying rate for uninsured mortgages to be the greater of the five-year benchmark rate published by the Bank of Canada (presently 4.89%) or 200 basis points above the mortgage holder’s contractual mortgage rate. “The main effect will be felt by first-time buyers,” says James Laird, co-founder of Ratehub.ca. “No matter how much money they put down as a down payment, they will have to pass read more
ANU BARARIA BENGALURU REUTERS AUGUST 31, 2017 read more
Photo: Kevin Cabral/Flickr One of these foreign-homebuyer taxes is not like the other. read more
Paying down your mortgage faster. It's one of those boilerplate suggestions that financial advisers love to make to their clients. After all, throwing extra money at the biggest debt most Canadians have can result in big interest savings and being mortgage-free years sooner. So why isn't everyone doing that? According to a spring analysis by the chief economist at the Canadian Association of Accredited Mortgage Professionals, only 35 per cent of Canadians with mortgages took some kind of action in the past year to speed up the date of their "burn the mortgage" party. That suggests that almost two-thirds of those mortgage holders paid off their mortgages as the read more
Toronto home sales dip in sign that real estate market may be cooling down by ALEXANDRA POSADZKI, THE CANADIAN PRESS Posted May 3, 2017 7:00 am EDT Last Updated May 3, 2017 at 5:40 pm EDT A sold sign is shown in front of west-end Toronto homes Sunday, April 9, 2017. The Toro read more
The GTA Real Estate Market is crazy! Buying a new home now is probably scarier than ever before, especially if you are a First Time Home Buyer. This is why the more professional advice you have on your side, the better you will sleep at night after all is said and done. At Queensway Real Estate Brokerage Inc., we have access to some of the greatest Mortgage Specialists in the City, contact us and we will help you seek out your best options. WHY WORK WITH A MORTGAGE BROKER? 1. Get independent advice on your Financial options. Mortgage agents and brokers not tied to major institutions a read more