How cracking down on temporary foreign workers could hurt home values

The complaints against Ottawa’s tightening up on permits for temporary foreign workers has so far come mostly from Western Canadian restaurateurs, business associations and politicians. But opposition could catch on a lot more widely if homeowners were aware that the federal government’s crackdown could drive down residential property values. That’s because part of the glue […]

things come in small packages for millennial buyers

This is the second in a series of stories looking at the challenges faced by different generations of people who are in the market for a home – from first-time buyers, to growing families, to boomers who are downsizing. A property investor recently walked into the marketing office for a Surrey, B.C., condo tower and […]

House hunting? Here’s what $1-million buys in Toronto these days

I love visiting open houses in expensive neighbourhoods. Touring rich people’s homes combines two of my favourite things: seeing how the other half lives and pretending to have buckets of money. To scratch my itch, I settled on the west-end Toronto neighbourhood of Roncesvalles, where houses routinely snag multiple offers and winning bids often exceed […]

Over 40% of first-time home buyers in Canada can’t afford a house without their parents’ help, report suggests

TORONTO — A Bank of Montreal report suggests first-time home buyers are increasingly turning to the “Bank of Mom and Dad.” Move over Stephen Poloz, here’s the real reason mortgage rates are so low in Canada Go figure — Canada’s overheated housing market is getting the biggest shot of juice from the efforts of a […]

Here’s what’s really scary about high-ratio mortgages in Canada

Canadians buying (overpriced) houses this spring with little money down, now face an additional burden with the recent announcement by CMHC – quickly followed by Genworth — that mortgage insurance will rise in price come June 1 of this year. Remember, this is the (bizarre) coverage that most homebuyers must pay for, which protects and […]

Federal Budget 2015 holds off on new measures to cool housing

Household debt reached record levels in the last quarter, according to Statistics Canada, but Ottawa says our appetite for credit, driven by home ownership, has stabilized. It appears that Finance Minister Joe Oliver has no plans to impose further restrictions on borrowing, with the budget noting Ottawa has tightened rules on government-backed insured mortgages four […]

Frenzy defies Bank of Canada’s view of soft landing

At the central bank in Ottawa, officials are forecasting a soft landing for the housing market. On the ground in Canada, brokers and homebuyers see prices that keep going up. Move over Stephen Poloz, here’s the real reason mortgage rates are so low in Canada Go figure — Canada’s overheated housing market is getting the […]