About Sherry
April 15, 2021
Category: About Sherry Articles Media Reporting on Sherry
March Existing Home Sales in Canada Hit New Record High As New Listings Surge To Unprecedented Levels
What is All the Policy Hysteria About? Today the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) released statistics showing national existing home sales hit another all-time high in March. What was arguably more noteworthy was that new listings hit their highest level on record in seasonally adjusted terms in March. Prices continued to rise as sales dwarfed the new supply. The number of…
April 9, 2021
Category: About Sherry Articles Media Reporting on Sherry
Blockbuster Canadian Jobs Report for March
Blowout Canadian Job Growth Continued In March This morning, Statistics Canada released the March 2021 Labour Force Survey showing much stronger-than-expected job growth for the second month in a row, pointing towards a Q1 growth rate of more than 5.5%. This survey reflected labour market conditions during the week of March 14 to 20,…
April 8, 2021
Category: About Sherry Articles Media Reporting on Sherry
OSFI Considers Setting a Minimum Qualifying Rate of 5.25% For Uninsured Mortgages
Banking Regulator Aims To Make It Tougher To Get An Uninsured Mortgage With several Big-Five bank CEOs calling for regulatory action to slow the red-hot housing market, it didn’t take long for the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI), the governor of federally regulated financial institutions, to respond. In a news release issued today, OSFI proposed an…
March 15, 2021
Category: About Sherry Articles Media Reporting on Sherry
Canadian Housing Market Still On Fire
Housing Continued to Surge in February Today the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) released statistics showing national home sales hit another all-time high in February 2021. Canadian home sales increased a whopping 6.6% month-on-month (m-o-m), building on the largest winter housing boom in history. On a year-over-year (y-o-y) basis, existing home sales surged an amazing 39.2%. As the…
March 12, 2021
Category: About Sherry Articles Media Reporting on Sherry
Roaring Canadian Jobs Market Signals Economic Rebound
Easing Restrictions Ignite Canadian Job Market In February This morning, Statistics Canada released the February 2021 Labour Force Survey showing much stronger-than-expected job growth. The early days of the latest easing in COVID restrictions reinvigorated the labour market. Economists were pleasantly surprised by the rapid rebound. To be sure, there remain risks to the outlook, a…
March 10, 2021
Category: About Sherry Articles Media Reporting on Sherry
Bank of Canada Holds Policy Rate at 0.25% and Maintains QE Program At Current Pace
Bank of Canada Holds Rates and Bond-Buying Steady Much has changed since the Bank of Canada’s last decision on January 20. While the second pandemic wave was raging, new lockdowns were implemented in late 2020, and there were fears that the economy, in consequence, was likely to grow at a 4.8% annual rate in Q4…
March 2, 2021
Category: About Sherry Articles Media Reporting on Sherry
Canadian Economy Ended 2020 On An Extremely Upbeat Note
Strong Canadian Economic Growth in Q4 and January This morning’s Stats Canada release showed that economic growth in the final quarter of last year was a surprisingly strong 9.6% (annualized). The surge in growth in January was even more interesting, estimated at a 0.5% (not annualized) pace. If these numbers pan out, it means that Canada…
February 26, 2021
Category: About Sherry Articles Media Reporting on Sherry
Interest Rates & Commodity Prices Surge On Economic Rebound Optimism
Canadian 5-Year Bond Yield Surges In an unprecedented move, bond yields are spiking around the world. Yields globally are now at levels last seen before the coronavirus spread worldwide. At the same time, commodity prices are surging, including energy, metals and minerals, agricultural products and lumber. The Biden administration’s $1.9 trillion stimulus package is has triggered…
February 23, 2021
Category: About Sherry Articles Media Reporting on Sherry
Market Interest Rates are Rising Almost Everywhere
Longer-Term Yields are Rising Despite Central Bank Inaction While central banks hold overnight rates at record lows, anchoring short-term interest rates and the prime rate, mid-to-long-term government yields have been rising since early this month. As the chart below shows, the 5-year Government of Canada bond, upon which mortgage rates are generally tethered, are currently at…
February 16, 2021
Category: About Sherry Articles Media Reporting on Sherry
Canadian Home Sales Hit An All-Time Record High in January
Housing Continued to Surge in January Today the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) released statistics showing national home sales hit another all-time high in January 2021. Canadian home sales increased 2.0% month-on-month (m-o-m) building on December’s 7.0% gain. On a year-over-year (y-o-y) basis, existing home sales surged 35.2%. As the chart below shows, January activity…