Reporting on Sherry

The Canadian housing market showed continued signs of stabilizing last month with sales edging upward and prices easing a bit. National home sales increased 0.9% in August, the fourth consecutive monthly gain. Sales in Toronto advanced 2.2% while they rose 2.9% in Vancouver. Nevertheless, the pace of sales activity remains below levels in most other…

In a real shocker, Statistics Canada announced this morning that employment dropped by 51,600, retracing most of the 54,100 gain in July. Economists had been expecting a much stronger number, but the Labour Force Survey is notoriously volatile, and job gains continue to average 14,000 per month over the past year. Full-time employment growth has…

As expected, the Bank of Canada held its key overnight rate this morning at 1.5%, asserting that July’s surprising spike in CPI inflation to 3% was in large part because of a jump in airfares. The Bank expects inflation to move back towards 2% in early 2019, as the effects of past increases in gasoline…

This morning, Stats Canada released the second quarter GDP figures indicating a sharp rebound in growth to its most robust pace in a year. Real gross domestic product growth accelerated to 2.9% (all figures quoted in annual rates), up sharply from the 1.4% pace in Q1. The Q2 result is only slightly above the Bank…

Statistics Canada announced this morning that employment increased in July and the jobless rate fell .2 percentage points to 5.8%–returning to its lowest level since the 1970s posted earlier this year. The economy added a stronger-than-expected 54,100 net new jobs last month–its most significant advance this year. This gain, however, was driven by increases in…

Metro Vancouver The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) reported this week that July’s residential housing sales in Metro Vancouver* skidded to their lowest level for that month in 18 years. Residential property sales in the region totalled 2,070 last month, a 30.1% decline from the record level posted in July 2017, and a…

National home sales rose by 4.1% in June compared to May, the first such rise this year. Even so, June’s sales activity remains well below the monthly pace of the past five years (see chart). The sales gains were led by the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) as 60% of all local housing markets reported increased…

As expected, the Bank of Canada hiked its key overnight rate this morning by 25 basis points to 1.5%. What wasn’t expected was the hawkish tone of the press release which brushed aside the threat of greater protectionism, instead emphasizing the need for higher interest rates to keep inflation near its target. In today’s Monetary…

As we said last month, April is usually the start of a spring housing market ramp-up, but this year the new mortgage stress test and rising mortgage rates have continued to be a negative factor. Those expecting an early-stage pick-up marking an end to the payback for sales pulled forward into the fourth quarter of…

Statistics Canada announced this morning that Canada’s employment was little changed in May, and the jobless rate remained at a low 5.8% for the fourth consecutive month. The headlines, however, highlighted the modest 7,500 job losses last month on the heels of a 1,100 job loss in April. The job declines are small in a…