by Ephraim Vecina For a growing number of Canadians, shared financial or property goals are now more important than looks when it comes to evaluating potential romantic partners. The HSBC-sponsored Beyond the Bricks annual survey, which polled 1,077 Canadians regarding their attitudes toward home ownership, found that fully 61% of Canadian millennials hold serious anxieties regarding housing. A significant proportion of … Read More

by Duffie Osental With the federal election looming large, the Ontario Real Estate Association is lobbying all four major parties to make homeownership cornerstones of their respective campaigns. The real estate association has been particularly vocal about the plight of first-time homebuyers, many, if not most, of whom are shuttered out of the housing market for reasons ranging from general affordability … Read More

While it didn’t happen this week, the likelihood that the Bank of Canada slashes interest rates is growing, according to observers. “If we were only looking at domestic factors, we might think that the Bank would soon start to consider further rate hikes,” said Stephen Brown, an economist with Capital Economics. “Economic growth is on track to outperform the Bank’s … Read More

by Neil Sharma While there’s near consensus among economists that the Bank of Canada will hold the interest rate at 1.75% on Wednesday, quite a few of them also believe a rate cut is just around the corner. “If we were only looking at domestic factors, we might think that the Bank would soon start to consider further rate hikes,” said … Read More

by Neil Sharma With the mortgage stress test, only one in 13 Vancouver families can afford to buy a home. “Only one in eight families earns the income necessary to manage ownership costs in the Vancouver area, and one in five families in the Toronto area and Victoria. And this isn’t taking into account the mortgage stress test,” said RBC’s report … Read More