Canada’s two largest real estate markets are surging – Ask a Vancouver Mortgage Broker

Home sales in Canada’s two largest cities continued their surge in August from a year earlier. Why real estate doomsayers continue to be wrong Still believe Canada’s housing market is going to implode? You’re not alone, but it hasn’t happened yet. Read more Sales in Toronto, the largest market, rose 21% from August last year to […]

Recent Court Decision On Gift Letters- Ask a Vancouver Mortgage Broker

Recent Court Decision On Gift Letters Posted on April 25, 2013  The following was written by Calgary real estate lawyer, William (Bill) Fric, regarding an Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench  judgement from earlier this month. (Citation: Henderson-Jorgensen v Henderson-Jorgensen, 2013 ABQB 213) Gift letters are often required by mortgage companies when parents are helping children buy a home. […]

New investment hot spots emerge

Two B.C. cities are tops on a list of Canada’s investment hot spots, according to a recent report from Business Review Canada. The review broke down Canada’s regional economies by province, and then dug deeper to find emerging markets in small to mid-size communities ripe with opportunity for investors. When the dust had settled, the […]

Shorter mortgage is money in your pocket

CALGARY, AB – Now that the dust has settled a little on the new mortgage lending rules, it’s time to put them into perspective. This is not the first time mortgage amortizations have been limited to 25 years. Industry veterans know people still bought homes before the amortization rules were relaxed and their main goal was to […]

Renovation Spending at $20.9 Billion Across 10 Major Centres

OTTAWA, June 7, 2012 — An estimated 1.7 million households in 10 major centres undertook renovations in 2011 according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s (CMHC’s) Renovation and Home Purchase Survey released today. This represents about 37 per cent of homeowner households, a slight decrease from 42 per cent, or 1.9 million households, in 2010. The estimated average cost of renovations undertaken in 2011 was $13,709, an […]

Home prices keep climbing, though gains are slowing

OTTAWA — A monthly measure of Canadian home prices showed that year-to-year gains continued in January, albeit at a slower pace than in December. The Teranet-National Bank house price index was up 6.5% from a year earlier. That was down from 6.8% in December. While the index showed some slowdown in the rise of prices, […]

Breaking your mortgage: ‘It’s either worth it or it’s not’

Fixed-rate mortgages are at historic lows but if you are locked in to a contract with your bank, those benefits may be yet elusive. First you have to do the math to see if breaking your contract is worth the penalties you may face. “There is no grey area,” says Cindy David, a certified financial […]

Canada’s Top 50 Rental Markets

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.’s latest survey of Canada’s rental markets yields some surprising finds and some long-term winners. And, as Peter Mithamdiscovers, rental housing is a hot topic across Canada as house prices rise above what many people can afford, prompting first-time homebuyers to defer a purchase. Add in economic uncertainties, and both tenants and […]

Bank report reveals hottest investor markets

A new report on varying provincial fortunes hints at where to make that next real estate investment. Psst, there’s oil there. “Strength in the energy sector has rekindled in-migration and helped firm up the labour market,” writes economist Robert Kavcic, touching on Alberta in the new edition of the BMO Blue Book “With the recent […]

Canadian home prices resilient in third quarter

Toronto— The Canadian Press Royal LePage says home prices remained unexpectedly resilient across Canada‘s housing market in the third quarter, but the overall strength is concealing signs of moderation in some regions. In its House Price Survey and Market Survey Forecast, Royal LePage says that Canada’s residential real estate market benefited from very low interest rates and a […]

« Previous Page — Next Page »