May 2013 Canadian Economic Fundamentals

[Ally]

Commercial real estate report: East still outpacing west in major urban commercial real estate deals




Commercial real estate pros in swaggering Vancouver and Calgary like to boast that their markets are on a giant roll, but when compared with Canada's biggest city both cities appear like dwarfs.










In this special report with Western Investor, Toronto-based RealNet (www. realnet.ca) notes that 2012 was a banner year in all three centres, but also confirms that Toronto real estate sales are more than four times higher than they are in either of the two largest Western municipalities. And Toronto is widening its lead





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[Ally]

Canada's role as 'superproducer' could bring billions in royalties




A study from the Fraser Institute argues becoming an energy `superproducer` would work in Canada`s favour, funnelling billions of dollars into the national economy and spurring job growth.




The study, titled Canada as an Emerging Energy Superproducer, concludes that by 2033, Alberta`s oil industry alone could result in $50 billion in royalties filling provincial coffers, not including additional taxes and revenue from exports, compared to $4.5 billion in 2011.





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[Ally]

Up to $9 billion could be lost if Keystone cancelled




TORONTO - A Canadian bank estimates that the cancellation or a continuing delay of the Keystone XL pipeline could endanger more than $9 billion of oilsands investment over the next seven years.




RBC Dominion Securities ` part of the group that includes Royal Bank of Canada (TSX:RY) ` says a negative decision on the pipeline would be felt by construction, engineering and project management companies, among others





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[Ally]

Canada's growth stronger than expected, but Bank of Canada keeps policy rate unchanged




OTTAWA - The Bank of Canada signalled Friday that the country's slumbering economy will require the stimulant of artificially low interest rates for some time to come, although it conceded first-quarter growth was surprisingly perky.




As expected, outgoing governor Mark Carney's last public move at Canada's central bank was to stick to the course he has charted since September 2010, keeping the trendsetting policy rate at one per cent to induce continued borrowing and spending on the part of consumers and businesses.





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[Ally]

OECD says Bank of Canada to raise rates in 2014




The Bank of Canada will start hiking interest rates in the second half of next year, according to the

Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).




The Paris-based agency, which performs research for 34 developed economies, said that the central bank will be moved to raise rates due to a "tightening" labour market and higher inflation.




The unemployment rate will fall to 6.9 percent ` from its current level of 7.2 percent ` by the end of next year, while inflation will increase to 1.7 percent over the same time, the OECD said.





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[Ally]

Rookie mistakes homebuyers make





And the majority of past buyers`when asked about their first house purchases in a TD survey from August 2012`said there were three things they would have done differently:

• More than half would have put together a more thorough budget that included all possible costs of home ownership (60%)
  The majority would have increased their down payments to 20% of the home`s value (60%)

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[Ally]

Canadian real estate benefitting from U.S. retailers




VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) ` There`s a prediction US retailers coming into Canada will shape the future of shopping in this country.




Commercial real estate firm Colliers International says Canada`s cities are having a retail building boom as this country closes the gap to much-larger US malls, although BC`s retail sales have been weak since last fall.





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[Ally]

Young, bright, and underemployed




Young Canadians, like young people around the world, are paying far too much of the cost of the global financial crisis, with high unemployment rates, many stuck in part-time or short-term contract jobs, low rates of pay and growing pressure to work as unpaid interns.




It`s not that hard today to find young Canadians who at the age of 30 have never had a full-time, regular job.





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[Ally]

Canada's economy rebounds, sets the stage for a muted 2013




Canada`s economy posted renewed growth in the first quarter of 2013, setting the stage for a solid, if unspectacular, balance of the year.




Gross domestic product expanded by 2.5 per cent, on an annualized basis, in the first three months of the year, a sharp turnaround from the anemic, revised 0.9-per-cent gain in the fourth quarter of 2012, Statistics Canada said Friday.





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[Ally]

Why it's worth paying for public transit





Ontario politics in the coming months are set to revolve around a debate on whether taxes should be raised to pay for a massive expansion of public transit and transportation infrastructure in the highly urbanized and acutely congested Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA), home to about half of the province`s population.







Read the full article here.