October 2012 Canadian Economic Fundamentals

[Ally]

Agree or Disagree with your Walk Score? Let us know






Influence and Share Your Walk Score

Brag about your Walker`s Paradise location and support walkability by sharing your score on Facebook and Twitter. Disagree with your Walk Score? Suggest a different score and add places to help us give your neighborhood credit for what`s nearby. The next time the score for your address is updated, we`ll use this information.






Also New: Neighborhood Photo Tours

Our neighborhood tours are now bigger and better! Simply click on `Neighborhood Tour` to browse a photo tour of what`s nearby. Easily add comments to any photo and contribute photos of the places that make your neighborhood unique.





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[Ally]

Landlord fumes over tenant damages




When landlord Jean-Guy Lecours stepped foot into his London Road rental last month, he couldn't believe his eyes.




Cigarettes has been meticulously stuffed into closed heating vents. His beige carpet was the colour of soot. The handles of all the windows were broken off.




`I told (the tenants) it was a pigpen,` he recalled.




Lecours also had the family ` a mother, her partner and two children ` evicted from the home. But that hasn't solved all his problems.





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[Ally]

Tax hike passed passed on to renters, says landlord




Bryan McDonald knows what the perception is of landlords.




`A lot of people think landlords are rich fat cat people who make a lot of money,` McDonald said Monday.




But he sees what the reality is for many owners of rental units: Ballooning property values, growing utility charges and higher municipal taxes.




He started his Ottawa property portfolio about 10 years ago. Today he has 21 units in four buildings in the central-east area, plus a duplex and a house for rent just west of Centretown.





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[Ally]

BMO Relsease Housing Confidence Report




According to the first BMO Housing Confidence Report released today, nearly half of Canadian homeowners (46 per cent) intend to buy a property in the next five years, signalling a high level of confidence in Canada's housing market. A modest increase in prices, however, would derail plans to buy; meanwhile, three-quarters (72 per cent) of households would feel a significant strain if they were to experience a modest increase in monthly mortgage payments, such as one caused by an increase in interest rates.




The report reflects the sentiment of Canadian homeowners after the new mortgage regulations introduced by the Federal Government came into effect in July 2012.




"The fact that 46 per cent of Canadian homeowners intend to buy a property in the next five years implies that Canadians are feeling confident in the current real estate market environment," said Martin Nel, Vice President of Lending and Investments, BMO Bank of Montreal. "However, that certainty is tempered, given the adverse effect moderate increases in home prices and mortgage costs would have on the average homeowner."





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[Ally]

Many homeowners have made cutbacks to make monthly mortgage payments: BMO



TORONTO - A new survey suggests many Canadian homeowners have made cutbacks in the past year to make mortgage payments and three-quarters would feel a significant squeeze in their finances from even a modest rise in mortgage payments.





The inaugural BMO Housing Confidence Report finds one-third of those surveyed say they've already cut back on spending, while one-quarter have reduced the amount they're saving and 17 per cent have dipped into savings to meet mortgage obligations.





And 72 per cent of respondents say they would feel significant strain from a modest increase in their monthly mortgage payments, such as from an increase in interest rates.





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[Ally]

7 Rules for Property Investors



Don Campbell. The name needs no introduction for Canadian real estate investors. Less well-known, however, are the seven investment rules the REIN founder shared with CREW for a recent feature profile. Got a pen and paper?





1. Manage Your Expectations. The road to sustainable wealth is not a straight one. There will be economic curves to navigate, tenant potholes to avoid and financing road-blocks to get around. Investors need to face the reality of the business they are entering and use a system that helps them navigate through the inevitable twists and turns while at the same time keeps them moving forward.





2. Never sign anything that`s inaccurate. A supposed shortcut that some people justify while trying to navigate the real estate investing highway is to not be honest 100% of the time. Sadly many are coached to sign documents that are truly inaccurate.







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[Ally]

Canadians would feel the squeeze of higher interest rates: BMO




TORONTO ` A new survey suggests many Canadian homeowners have made cutbacks in the past year to make mortgage payments and three-quarters would feel a significant squeeze in their finances from even a modest rise in mortgage payments.




The inaugural BMO Housing Confidence Report finds one-third of those surveyed say they`ve already cut back on spending, while one-quarter have reduced the amount they`re saving and 17% have dipped into savings to meet mortgage obligations.





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[Ally]

What if interest rates went even lower?




Everybody thinks interest rates have nowhere to go but up. What if they can go down?




Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney signalled Tuesday he is still looking to raise borrowing costs `over time.` Well, time must really stand still for Mr. Carney because this threat never moves to action and for the past three years the overnight lending rate has remained unchanged at 1%.




But that doesn`t mean rates charged by some lenders couldn`t drop below the current record lows, says Rob McLister, editor of Canadian Mortgage Trends. `There is no question rates can go potentially lower,` he said. `We are very slowly seeing spreads tighten.`





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[Ally]

It's official: Recession lasted 7 months in Canada




It`s official: The Great Recession lasted just seven months in Canada, or more than a full year shorter than the U.S. slump.

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[Ally]

Household debt headlines don't tell the whole story



The headlines this week were on the verge of hysteria: Household debt
surpasses levels foreshadowing U.S. housing bust. Canadian household
debt hits new high. Canadian household debt much higher than believed.
Household debt hits record. And so on.



The reason for all the fuss was a report from Statistics Canada that
said the ratio of credit market household debt to disposable income
reached 163.4 per cent in the second quarter, up from 161.8 per cent in
the previous quarter.



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[Ally]

Bank of Canada says economy is bouncing back






OTTAWA ` When it comes to telegraphing monetary policy, the Bank of
Canada governor has sent the clearest signal yet that higher borrowing
costs are off the table, for now.


After weeks of market speculation, Mark Carney attempted Wednesday to
draw a line through that uncertainty, saying `the case for adjustment in
interest rates has become less imminent.`



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[Ally]

Carney says inclination to hike rates 'less imminant'




The governor of the Bank of Canada, Mark Carney, said Wednesday his
inclination toward raising interest rates is `less imminent,` given
risks to economic growth from tepid global demand and high household
debt in Canada.



`The case for adjustment of interest rates has become less imminent,`
Carney said at a news conference, but adding that `over time, rates are
more likely to go up than not.`



He also asserted that despite inserting concerns about debt as a factor
in setting monetary policy, it remains "the last line of defence" and
that the federal government has better tools to address the problem.

 

[Ally]

IMF Chief hails Canada as economic model for the world




TORONTO ` The head of the International Monetary Fund says measures
taken to protect Canada`s economy should be a model for countries trying
to fix their financial systems.



Christine Lagarde said Thursday that Canada has been a leader in
creating policies intended to rein in the build-up of household debt.





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[Ally]

Oilsands investments flow beyond Alberta




EDMONTON - The economic benefits of Alberta`s oilsands development `
estimated to be $364-billion between today and 2035 ` have spread
across Canada and to other countries, says a new study released
Wednesday.



The Conference Board of Canada looked at private investment and the
spinoff economic activity ` including the chain of supplies and services
needed to develop the oilsands.





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[Ally]

Are we worrying ourselves into a housing crash?





Just sit back and do nothing. It doesn`t sound like the most proactive
advice when it comes to the housing market, but it might just be what
everybody needs to hear.


Panic is the worst thing that could happen because when that mentality
sets in and people become irrational, it`s hard to forecast how low
prices will go, says Benjamin Tal, deputy chief economist at Canadian
Imperial Bank of Commerce. He is among the many who predict that prices
will fall but by a moderate level that does not resemble the U.S. crash





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[Ally]

Flaherty still expected to balance federal budgets by 2015-16, new figures show




OTTAWA ` The federal government is girding for a potential multibillion-dollar hit to its revenues this year due to changing economic circumstances and softening commodity prices, although spending restraint should still allow it to balance the books by 2015-16.




The Conservative government and the parliamentary budget watchdog released competing economic projections Monday, with the PBO predicting slower growth than the government that could erode $22 billion annually from the national economy.





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[Ally]

Canadians blindly submitting to Canada-China treaty




In the 19th century, China was subjected to unequal treaties at the barrel of a gun. This week, Canada will finalize an unequal treaty with China, at the option of the prime minister.




The treaty will not make us a colony of China. But it will be the biggest sacrifice of Canadian sovereignty since the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), perhaps since our independence. It will put us in a position of economic dependence for 31 years, on five weeks` notice to Canadians.





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[Ally]

Flaherty is told Canadian economy will do worse in 2013 than predicted




OTTAWA`Finance Minister Jim Flaherty is being told the Canadian economy will perform significantly lower next year than was forecast in his federal budget in March.




Private-sector analysts informed Flaherty at a meeting Monday that they see economic growth of 2 per cent in 2013, well below the 2.4 per cent prediction indicated in the 2012 budget.




For 2014, however, the economists see the economy bouncing back to 2.5 per cent growth, slightly higher than the 2.4 per cent forecast in the budget.





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[Ally]

Financial literacy still elusive in Canada



Has anyone noticed that the big push to make people more financially literate in the past few years has coincided with rampant growth in household debt?



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[Ally]

Youth unemployment outlook not so bleak





Employment prospects for younger Canadians looking for work are not as dismal as widely believed, a report released by the Certified General Accountants Association of Canada today suggests.




The report argues that the peak unemployment rate among those aged 15 to 24 peaked at 15.2 per cent during the latest recession, lower than the high of 19.2 per cent in the 1983 downturn and 17.2 per cent in 1992.





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