January 2014 Canadian Economic Fundamentals

[Ally]

Canadian home prices stable, but still too high





Fitch Ratings thinks that Canadian home prices will manage to stay flat or dip just a little bit this year, despite its belief that they are 20 per cent too high, because of the strength in the housing market.








The expected decline in the pace of home price growth, coupled with high consumer debts, will likely lead to a rise in mortgage delinquencies, although they will remain at relatively low levels, the rating agency added.





Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Canada housing market to stay the course in 2014





Few predicted 2013 would turn out as well as it did for Canada`s housing market.








Around this time last year, sales were slipping and sellers were worried they may have missed the opportunity to make a decent profit on their homes. Buyers, meantime, were starting to feel like they had the upper hand.





Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

IMF raises outlook for global and U.S. economies





WASHINGTON (AP) -- The International Monetary Fund is slightly more optimistic about the global and U.S. economies this year than it was three months ago.








In an updated outlook released Tuesday, the global lending organization forecasts that the world economy will grow 3.7 percent in 2014 and that the U.S. economy will grow 2.8 percent. The global forecast is 0.1 percentage point higher and the U.S. forecast 0.2 point higher than the IMF's October forecast.





Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

BlackBerry to sell of most of its Canadian holdings





BlackBerry is selling the majority of its commercial real estate holdings in Canada, but the struggling smartphone maker refused Tuesday to say how much it expects to make from the deals.





Waterloo, Ont.,-based BlackBerry said it plans to use a combination of vacant sales and sale-leaseback arrangements in divesting the properties.






Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Canadian home prices stable, but still too high





Fitch Ratings thinks that Canadian home prices will manage to stay flat or dip just a little bit this year, despite its belief that they are 20 percent too high, because of the strength in the housing market.





The expected decline in the pace of home price growth, coupled with high consumer debts, will likely lead to a rise in mortgage delinquencies, although they will remain at relatively low levels, the rating agency added.





Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

IMF forecasts Canadian GDP to grow 2.2% in 2014





The IMF forecasts the Canadian economy will grow 2.2% in 2014.








Meanwhile, the IMF is slightly more optimistic about the global and U.S. economies this year than it was three months ago.





Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Bank of Montreal latest lender to cut mortgage rates





Bank of Montreal (BMO-T 72.84 -0.18 -0.25%) is cutting its mortgage rates, one of a number of lenders to do so this month.





BMO is cutting various fixed rates by 10 and 20 basis points, after Royal Bank of Canada (RY-T 71.5 -1.68 -2.3%) cut many of its rates by 10 basis points this past weekend. Other lenders that have reduced rates recently include Home Trust and First National Financial LP. And Bank of Nova Scotia has cut its five-year rates by 10 basis points, according to an analyst at Ratehub.ca.





Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Number of Canadian banks quietly cut mortgage rates





TORONTO - At least two more big Canadian banks have joined Royal Bank (TSX:RY.TO - News) in quieting reducing some of their mortgage rates.








Bank of Montreal (TSX:BMO.TO - News) and Scotiabank both lowered rates Tuesday although, like the Royal Bank, neither issued a news release announcing the changes.





Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

For the Bank of Canada, it's the economy, not the dollar





The current state of the Canadian economy can be summed up in one word: mediocre. It`s not bad, and it`s better than most. But it`s not even close to very good. Consider unemployment: It plummeted in the three years after the recession, as Canada`s recovery outperformed that of our peers. But in 2013, Canada hit a speed bump. The unemployment rate, at 7.2 per cent, was higher at the end of the year than at the beginning. The participation rate ` the percentage of Canadians in the labour force ` fell by nearly half a percentage point over the same period. Employment growth was the slowest since 2009. Demand for workers is hot in Alberta and Saskatchewan, but not strong enough in most of the country. In the largest province, Ontario, the jobless rate in December hit 7.9 per cent ` unchanged from a year earlier.





Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Bank of Canada lowers inflation forecast, keeps key interest rate at 1%





The Bank of Canada is warning that inflation will remain below target until at least 2016, even though the economy is showing signs of improvement.





The central bank said Wednesday that it is keeping its key interest rate at one per cent, where it`s remained since September 2010.




Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

CIBC still expects next rates move will be up, in the first half of 2015





10:31 AM EST, 01/22/2014 (MidnightTrader) -- CIBC says the Bank of Canada's statement and MPR, as expected, retains a "broadly dovish flavour", although the bias as before remains broadly balanced between a possible rate reduction and potential increase. Further stressing its continuing concerns about inflation, downsides risks on that front are seen as having "grown in importance." Offsetting that to some extent, the Bank has slightly upgraded its near-term growth projections for the Canadian economy. The risk from household balances has not materially changed.





Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

TD fourth big bank to reduce mortgage rates





Another big Canadian bank has lowered some of its mortgage rates slightly after an initial reduction by the Royal Bank over the weekend.








TD Canada Trust now has a posted discounted rate of 3.69% for its five-year fixed mortgages, down from the rate of 3.79% that had been in effect since August.





Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Canada takes over the U.S. as the second-best place in the world to do business





Canada, struggling to emerge from a two-year slump brought on by weak exports, has swept past the U.S., Germany and Japan in a Bloomberg ranking of the best countries for doing business.





Canada rose four places to reach second place, behind only Hong Kong, which led for a third straight year. The U.S. fell one spot to third place in the index that`s based on six criteria, followed by Singapore and Australia.





Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

A low Canadian dollar: It's complicated





As Canadians, we like to think of ourselves as at least equal to our American neighbors. Although we do have better skiing. And hockey. And banks. And way better beer...








Ahem. Anyway...there`s one serious national shortcoming that we can`t overlook: At the moment, we`re poorer, at least as far as our currency is concerned. This month, the loonie`s value tumbled to a four-year low, settling at 92 cents per U.S. dollar. It sounds tragic, but the low dollar isn`t all bad. In fact, you might be surprised by who it hurts - and who it helps.





Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Falling Canadian dollar will spur inflation, growth: TD Economics






Here`s another benefit of the falling Canadian dollar: it will help inflation pick up again, and that will ultimately be good for the Canadian economy.










Huh? How could inflation, a steady increase in the prices that we pay for goods and services, be good for us?





Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Who's shopping for BlackBerry's real estate?





BlackBerry is selling 15 office buildings in Waterloo Region, totalling more than 2 million square feet of commercial real estate, and according to one commercial real estate insider in Waterloo, investors are already eyeing what are considered to be some very hot properties.





Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Canada's economy





Canada`s economy has done better than most since mid-2009, but recent job losses, deflationary pressures and a rapidly falling dollar indicate more problems ahead. The situation calls for some major initiatives, most notably rebuilding our troubled manufacturing sector.








Statistics Canada says that nearly 46,000 jobs were lost across the country during December alone, sending unemployment to 7.2 per cent. The loss of 60,000 full-time positions was offset by the creation of only 14,000 part-time ones. More large cuts have since been announced by Bombardier in Montreal, Sears Canada and Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan. The job losses have caused our dollar to hover around 90 cents, the lowest level since 2009. But on the bright side this can help our manufacturers to compete internationally.





Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Zero savings: A fifth of Canadians put nothing aside in 2013





Almost a fifth of Canadians saved nothing at all last year, not a cent.





Blaming bills or debt or a lack of funds, 17% of individuals polled by Pollara for BMO`s household savings report, said they couldn`t save.








Respondents cited insufficient income to save (69%), high expenses (67%) and debt management (50%) as barriers for meeting their savings goals.





Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Canada's economy: Dull and plodding





It is almost difficult to remember the pre-2008 era of impregnable optimism for the U.S. economy and with it, the global economies generally.








It was indeed a period of `irrational exuberance` as then-Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan put it, but was based on what were believed to be economic verities: that inflation was under control; that real estate had `sky`s the limit` prospects; that banks/loans/mortgages were adroitly attended by gimlet-eyed accountants; and that tweaks and twitches by government would resolve any peripheral economic problems.





Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Calculation of 2014 rent increases





MONTRÃAL, Jan. 24, 2014 /CNW Telbec/ - The RÃgie du logement has established the applicable percentages for the purpose of calculating the 2014 rent increases, in accordance with the Regulation respecting the criteria for the fixing of rent. The percentages enable the amounts attributed to each component of the calculation to be determined on the basis of the actual expenses incurred for the building or dwelling in question.





Read the full article here.