Month: May 2019

In a terse statement, the Bank of Canada maintained its benchmark overnight rate for the fifth consecutive meeting and stated that economy was performing in line with the projections in the Bank’s April Monetary Policy Report (MPR). Following a slowdown in economic activity late last year and in the first quarter of this year, the…

Statistics released Wednesday by the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) show that national home sales increased in April with most markets recording increases in both transactions and prices. The number of homes sold rose 3.6% compared with March, on a seasonally adjusted basis. The rebound in sales over the past two months still leaves activity…

Canada posted a record job gain last month, along with a decline in the jobless rate and a pick-up in wages, providing the strongest signal yet that the economy is coming out of a six-month slowdown. Other data this week portend a rebound in economic activity, including a strong bounce-back in exports and a surge…

In a speech early this week, Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz said that it is time for some fresh ideas for Canada’s mortgage market. He suggested that changes could include encouraging longer than 5-year duration fixed-rate mortgage loans, the creation of a market for private mortgage-backed securities and the launch of shared-equity mortgages for…