TORONTO – Canadian home sales this year will be better than previously thought, helped by improving consumer confidence that will partially offset the anticipated deterrent of interest rate hikes, the Canadian Real Estate Association predicts. CREA released a revised forecast Tuesday that estimates there will be 439,900 existing homes sold in 2011, down 1.6 per […]

TORONTO, Feb. 8 /CNW/ – Canadians are less optimistic about the outlook for the national economy and their personal financial situation in 2011 than they were last year, according to the January 2011 RBC Canadian Consumer Outlook Index (RBC CCO). Less than half (43 per cent) of Canadians feel the economy will improve over the […]

Amid the noise of volatile-but-improving economic indicators, mortgage rate hikes are likely to repeat like a chorus in the coming months. Canadian banks are raising interest rates on mortgages, marking the beginning of a trend as they correlate with rising bond yields and expected monetary tightening. That’s making a strong case for borrowers to lock […]

Any move by the Bank of Canada could “easily” cause house prices to collapse, Capital Economics warns in a bleak report that suggests the Canadian housing market is likely to suffer the same sort of crash that has plagued countries such as the United States. The report released Thursday suggests that house prices in Canada […]

OTTAWA—A slower-growing economy is offering little hope to Canada’s 1.4 million unemployed, economists told Finance Minister Jim Flaherty in talks in advance of the March budget. Unemployment, now standing at 7.6 per cent, will average a slightly higher 7.7-per cent through 2011, according to the average forecast of the dozen economists who met with Flaherty. […]

TORONTO — The federal government should limit taxpayer exposure to potential problems in the housing market by reducing the role of the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. in the provision of mortgage insurance, CD Howe Institute said in a report Monday. The CMHC has a pervasive presence in the domestic mortgage market, potentially resulting in […]

OTTAWA — Canada can no longer brag that it recouped all the jobs lost during the recession. The economy is roughly 30,000 jobs short, according to Statistics Canada. The data agency revealed Friday it has revised its labour data to reflect 2006 census figures, as opposed to using 2001 population data. The new census data […]

Jan. 23 marks the fifth anniversary of Stephen Harper’s 2006 election victory and in early February, he will pass Lester B. Pearson’s time in office to become Canada’s 11th longest-serving prime minister. As Mr. Harper told Postmedia News this week, it has been a roller-coaster ride: “Some days it feels like five months, and other […]

OTTAWA — Should the Bank of Canada tinker with success? A leading economist says yes and is asking the central bank to change a policy that most consider has been an unqualified success for almost two decades — targeting annual inflation at two per cent. University of Toronto economics professor Angelo Melino has issued a […]

MONTREAL — The number of Canadians moving to another province has punched to a high not seen in 20 years as people pack up in search of better jobs and salaries elsewhere. Roughly 337,000 Canadians were on the move in 2010, says a report on interprovincial migration published Thursday by TD Economics. That’s 45,000 more […]