Mortgages seem to always be the target of government intervention to limit household debt loads.  What about income taxes? An analogy to consider! Stolen from a friend, but sums up Labour in Uk and NDP in British Columbia thinking very nicely…… The UK Tax system explained in beer. Suppose that once a week, ten men […]

Bank of Canada Upgrades Forecast, But Keeps Rates Unchanged     For years now, the Governor Stephen Poloz and his Bank of Canada colleagues have held the key overnight rate unchanged at 1/2 percent, while at the Federal Reserve has hiked rates several times with more to come. The jobless rate is at a mere […]

CANADIAN UNEMPLOYMENT RATE IN APRIL AT 6.5%–LOWEST RATE SINCE OCTOBER 2008 –BUT ANNUAL WAGE GAINS FELL TO ANOTHER RECORD LOW Canada’s economy generated virtually no net new job growth in April, on the heels of a  multi-month employment rally that was the strongest in years. Employment has now increased in 15 of the last 17 […]

While slightly more than a third of Canadian millennials now own a home, nearly two-fifths of them had help from parents to get into the housing market, says a new global study from HSBC. Surveying home-buying attitudes and behaviour among 1,000 Canadians and a total of 9,000 people globally, HSBC found that 82 per cent […]

Commentary: OSFI’s Testimony  February 6, 2017   Robert McLister   1k  Are regulators oblivious to the consequence of their own mortgage policies? That’s what certain industry stakeholders and MPs suggested to Parliament’s Standing Committee on Finance this past week. Well, observers can now decide for themselves, based on officials’ own comments—starting with those of OSFI Assistant Superintendent Carolyn Rogers. Rogers testified last week. Below are a sampling of her […]

Commentary: OSFI’s Testimony  February 6, 2017   Robert McLister   1k  Are regulators oblivious to the consequence of their own mortgage policies? That’s what certain industry stakeholders and MPs suggested to Parliament’s Standing Committee on Finance this past week. Well, observers can now decide for themselves, based on officials’ own comments—starting with those of OSFI Assistant Superintendent Carolyn Rogers. Rogers testified last week. Below are a sampling of her […]

Borrowed from Kathleen Dediluke via the DLC network… supporting documents is the name of the game! WHY SO MANY MORTGAGE DOCUMENTS? Documents, documents and more documents. Yes that’s right you will need to provide your Dominion Lending Centres mortgage broker with as many documents that we request upfront as possible. Why? Because the more supporting documentation […]

CANADA SHOWS UNEXPECTED STRENGTH WITH JOB SURGE AND TRADE SURPLUS December’s jobs report was unambiguously strong showing employment gains of 53,700 (0.3%), the result of gains in full-time work. Finally, for the first time this year, full-time jobs outpaced part-time. The unemployment rate increased 0.1 percentage points to 6.9% as more people entered the labour […]

BC INTRODUCES INNOVATIVE NEW PROGRAM TO HELP FIRST-TIME HOMEBUYERS In a move to help BC citizens and residents buy their first home, the BC government announced today that it is launching a new program to augment down payments for first-time buyers. The B.C. Home Owner Mortgage and Equity Partnership program contributes to the amount first-time […]

It is no surprise to anyone that the Bank of Canada maintained its target overnight rate at 1/2 percent today, judging that although the global economy has strengthened, uncertainty continues and is damaging business confidence and dampening investment in Canada’s major trading partners. Since the Trump victory, US interest rates have risen sharply with the […]