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March 2014 Ontario Economic Fundamentals

Ally

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News articles for March 2014.
 

Ally

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An astonishing number of condos are going to hit Toronto





You can read warnings from the Bank of Canada, or simply look out a window of a Toronto office building and see that there are a ton of condominiums going up in Canada`s biggest city.





Some economists, like CIBC`s Benjamin Tal, aren`t too concerned about the prospect of overbuilding in Toronto resulting in a sharp decline in prices down the road. `A careful analysis of the magnitude of the projected supply/demand mismatch suggests a much gentler adjustment than feared by many,` he wrote in arecent report.





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Toronto struggling with unemployment despite boom in jobs





Toronto more than doubled its job creation numbers in 2013, but still struggles with high unemployment, says a new report released Tuesday.






More than 120,000 jobs were created in the city, according to TD Economics` Metro Beat report, a `whopping` number marking a `spectacular` jump from 2012`s 36,000 jobs and 2011`s 50,000.





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Winter's chill can't freeze condo boom





Neither weather nor worry is putting a chill on condominium construction.





Developers began building a surprisingly high number of condo units in February, despite freezing temperatures and fears of overbuilding in cities like Toronto, Montreal and Quebec City.





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New condos in eastern Canada pull housing starts higher





New condos in the eastern part of the country pulled Canadian housing starts slightly above economists` expectations for February.





Housing starts for the month came in at 192,094 on a seasonally adjusted annualized basis, above the consensus call for 190,000.





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London-St. Thomas unemployment rate continues to climb





The London region unemployment rate rose to 8.0% last month up from 7.9% in February.





A Statistics Canada report released Friday morning showed it was a fairly flat month. The increase in unemployment in London-St. Thomas was due to a slight increase of about 100 people in the labor force, reversing a trend in recent months. But the number of people employed fell by about 100.





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Chrysler picks Windsor to build more minivans





Chrysler will continue to build its popular minivan in Windsor, Ont., and has withdrawn all requests for government financial assistance in relation to the redevelopment of its assembly plants in Windsor and Brampton.





Chrysler directly notified Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne of its decision





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GTA condo apartment numbers continue to make investment sense





Do condo apartment rental numbers make investment sense? In this post, we would like to share some information with our readers on the basic economics of purchasing a condo apartment at the pre-construction stage as an investment, based on elements of a presentation by the President of RealNet Canada, George Carras, at its January 22, 2014 `Insiders Briefing`.





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Orillia ranks poorly in household income study





ORILLIA - Orillia ranks fifth lowest in average household income among 98 municipalities examined in BMA Management Consulting Inc.`s annual municipal study.





This has Orillia Mayor Angelo Orsi concerned.





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February housing starts in Ontario





TORONTO, ONTARIO`(Marketwired ` March 10, 2014) -
Housing starts in the Ontario region were trending at 58,938 units in February, compared to 60,639 units in January, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). The trend is a six month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates (SAAR)[sup]1[/sup] of housing starts.





`Despite an easing in the construction trend, Ontario residential construction activity inched higher in February. Weakness in low density starts was offset by strength in high density construction. Strong demand for resale homes, a backlog of apartment units awaiting construction in combination with a gradual improvement in the job market are factors supportive of housing construction in early 2014,` said Ted Tsiakopoulos, CMHC`s Ontario Regional Economist.





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February housing starts in KWC





ONTO, ONTARIO`(Marketwired ` March 10, 2014) -
Housing starts in the Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) were trending down at 1,935 units in February compared to 2,227 in January, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). The trend is a six month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates (SAAR)[sup]1[/sup] of housing starts.





`Supported by a balanced resale market, housing starts in Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo continued at a reasonable pace. Of note this was the strongest month of apartment construction since last August`, said Anthony Passarelli, CMHC`s Market Analyst for Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo.





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Highrise hell for low-income families in Toronto






Overcrowding, elevator breakdowns, broken door locks, persistent pests, peeling paint and the ever-present worry about paying the rent.







That is the growing reality for families with children living in Toronto`s aging highrise apartment towers that dominate the city`s low-income neighbourhoods, according to a University of Toronto study being released Wednesday.





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GTA home prices tell a tale of two cities: Condos vs. Family homes





Real estate in the Greater Toronto Area is becoming increasingly divided between existing single family homes and a crush of new condo towers, one of Canada's biggest banks says in a report issued Monday.





TD Bank economists Derek Burleton and Diana Petramala said people's obsession with house prices in the Toronto area has obscured the differences between various subsections of the market: the 905 area versus the 416; detached houses versus condos; and new builds versus existing homes.





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How to play it safe during a bidding war






Real estate markets in Toronto and Vancouver are still red hot with bidding wars driving up prices, mainly for detached homes under $1 million. One reason is that listings are in short supply.







In at least one case, I know of, more than 20 offers were received and in others buyers are paying tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars over the asking price. What`s worse, many buyers are putting in offers without any conditions, hoping this will help them clinch the deal.





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BlackBerry cuts another 120 jobs in Waterloo





WATERLOO ` BlackBerry has cut another 120 jobs in its Waterloo operations, bringing the total number of local employees let go to 1,140 since the latest round of cost cutting began in September 2013.





"These employees were part of BlackBerry's productive development and wireless technology teams," the company said Monday in a statement.





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Ontario's debt size nearly double California's





TORONTO - Ontario`s debt is nearly twice as large as California`s ` even though the province has far fewer people and a much smaller economy, the Fraser Institute says.





The right-wing public policy think-tank will release a report Tuesday that compares Ontario`s debt burden to that of California.





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First-time homebuyers in Toronto plan to spend $408,000 on average






A Bank of Montreal report on first-time home buyers says the average budget has increased to $316,100.







That's up nearly six per cent from an average of $300,000 in last year's report on first-time home buyers.





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New priority neighbourhoods model on its way






Tammy Clarke lives in L`Amoreaux, one of the eight neighbourhoods that would lose its `priority` status under a reorganization of Toronto`s list of at-risk communities.







She, like many of the deputants who appeared before the community development committee Monday afternoon, was there to warn councillors that cutting off future funding and resources would undo the gains that have been made.





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We're back to spinning fantasies on transit funding






So much for that `adult conversation` we were going to have about funding transit. Now that Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne has backed down from her pledge to get serious about its $50-billion price-tag, we`re back where we started, spinning fantasies about the vast sums to be found in `efficiencies,` corporate tax hikes and private-sector partnerships.







Bowing to internal pressure, Wynne removed gas, sales and income tax from the list of `revenue tools` presented by the advisory panel she appointed last year. But as its chair Anne Golden made clear, either we pay now, despite the cost, or pay more later.





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Oshawa job numbers dipping





Statistics Canada`s latest numbers suggest fewer Oshawa residents are finding work.





The most recent labour force study pegged the three-month moving average of the Oshawa census metropolitan area`s (CMA) unemployment rate at 7.3 per cent. It was an increase of 0.1 per cent from January to February.





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