Alberta home resales to slide 16%, RBC says

Sales of existing homes will slide 16% in Alberta this year as a plunge in oil drags down the provincial economy, according to Royal Bank of Canada. Oil prices are making housing forecasts a tough call in Alberta Plunging oil prices have made it almost too difficult to predict what will happen in the Calgary […]

Why more Canadians are turning to non-traditional lenders for mortgages

OTTAWA — Squeezed out by stricter bank regulations, a growing number of mortgage-hunting Canadians have been turning to non-traditional lenders to overcome borrowing hurdles like bad credit. The proportion of mortgages given out by alternative institutions, other than banks or credit unions, remains small at roughly 2.2% of the entire market, said a recent analysis […]

IMF says housing in Canada overvalued by as much as 20%

Canada’s housing market is overvalued by as much as 20%, says the International Monetary Fund which is forecasting a soft landing for the sector. Follow Financial Post On Facebook On Twitter The IMF opinion, released Friday, is for the country as a whole and it noted there are important regional differences when talking about overvaluation […]

Should you withdraw from your RRSP to buy a house?

Certified financial planner Jeanette Brox says young Canadians still have a good reason to withdraw from their retirement plan to buy a house: current prices. Ms. Brox, who works for Investors Group, says taking money out of an RRSP is the only way some first-time buyers can scrape together enough for a down payment. “I […]

With rate cut, sub-2% mortgimageages are coming to a bank near you

If you’ve ever dreamed of living somewhere else — maybe Rio, Berlin, Trieste — the value in your Canadian home right now could take you further than ever before. With rate cut, sub-2% mortgages are coming to a bank near you By this time next week, Canadians borrowing for a home might be looking at […]

Bad news for borrowers: The economy could improve this year

Indebted people aren’t going to like the return to stronger economic growth. Rising interest rates will offset any benefits they get when the economy accelerates from the sluggish pace of recent years. If you owe a lot, plan now for higher rates to avoid nasty surprises ahead. The decline of oil prices adds some uncertainty […]

Real estate flippers beware, the taxman is watching

With the economy in turbulence, some Canadians have openly started to wonder whether our housing market may be next. Despite that possible scenario, the temptation to buy, renovate and then sell real estate at a profit is still irresistible for many. And, if you don’t know how to get started, a number of U.S. TV […]

B.C. couple worries that unexpected pay cuts could severely jeopardize their retirement plans

Situation: With their jobs downsized and pay cut, a couple worries their retirement will be spare Solution: Count the pension dollars, estimate what savings can generate, compare to future budget   Can a couple who have made their lives in the Armed Forces manage a comfortable retirement given the numerous job cuts, position terminations and […]

Canadian housing bulls are joining real estate doubters as warnings and oil collapse sink in

Canadians who last year brushed off predictions of a real estate slowdown and kept buying houses are increasingly joining the doubters. The nation’s households are the least optimistic since May 2013 that home prices will keep rising, according to weekly polling data compiled by Nanos Research for Bloomberg. The share of survey respondents predicting higher […]

Calgary home prices were the fastest growing in Canada in November

Calgary, Canada’s oil capital and hottest real estate market last year, continued to lead national home price increases in November. Prices for new homes in Calgary gained 0.3 per cent in November, the biggest advance among the nation’s largest real estate markets, Statistics Canada said today in Ottawa. From a year earlier, prices in the […]

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