Condos drive Canada’s housing start surge

Canada’s condo building frenzy showed no sign of abating last month, as housing starts surged to their highest level since 2007. While some analysts had predicted housing starts would weaken after a particularly strong March, starts in April rose to an annualized rate of 244,900, readily beating predictions of 204,000 made by most economists.   […]

Are you shopping for a home?

Are you trying to navigate Canada’s red-hot real estate market, sick of renting and on the prowl for a home to call your own? On May 1st, Globe Investor launched a new month-long Home Buying site, packed with stories, videos and expert opinions to help readers make what for many will be the biggest financial decision […]

Canadians getting the message on debt load, Carney says

JEREMY TOROBIN OTTAWA— From Wednesday’s Globe and Mail Canadian house prices are now almost five times higher than incomes, the latest illustration of why policy makers are worried about parts of the housing market. The average price is roughly 4.75 times the average income, Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney said Tuesday, noting that the historical […]

Finding the right home, with or without Mr. Right

ANGELA SELF | Columnist profile Globe and Mail Update I have a single friend sitting on the fence between buying and renting. She’s financially ready to make the leap into homeownership, but hesitant about doing it solo in case she meets someone soon. Waiting for Mr. Right can derail a number of women’s homeownership plans, according to […]

Canadian real estate market a tale of two cities

ANDY HOFFMAN AND NICOLAS JOHNSON VANCOUVER AND TORONTO— From Tuesday’s Globe and Mail It’s a title Vancouver is more than happy to relinquish. Canada’s hottest real estate market is finally cooling off, new sales figures show, much to the relief of those who have grown weary of talk of a West Coast property bubble. At more […]

Canada Household Debt: Majority Frets About What They Owe, But Still Think Others Are The Real Problem

With policymakers warning about rising household debt levels, a new survey shows that Canadians are both worried about what they owe, and in denial about how their debt compares to those around them. The seemingly contradictory conclusion was reported on Monday by the Toronto-based online mortgage comparison service 

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, […]

Home ownership becoming more affordable despite rising debt

By Julian Beltrame OTTAWA—Despite ongoing concerns about household debt, home ownership is becoming more affordable in Canada, not less, says new research by the Royal Bank. RBC’s latest report says home affordability actually improved in the final months of 2011 for the second consecutive quarter, thanks to softening house prices and income gains. Owning a […]

No housing crash for Canada: BMO

Canada will likely avoid a crash or serious correction in its “somewhat pricey” housing market, with the possible exception of Vancouver, says a new paper from Bank of Montreal. The analysis by BMO economists suggests alarms about Canada’s housing market by international observers, from the International Monetary Fund to The Economist magazine, are exaggerated or […]

Buying a condo: New or resale?

When it comes to buying a condo, what’s a better investment? Buying one that’s already built and is being resold, or buying on the hype of a new building that’s yet to be constructed? Jana Masiewich considered both a resale and pre-construction condo before deciding that buying a condo prior to it being built presented […]

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