British Columbia’s effort to cool the effect of foreign money on the hot Vancouver housing market may be getting some help from Quebec.  That province’s government is reported to be tightening the conditions of its Immigrant Investor Program. Quebec wants to stop immigrants from using the program to gain access, only to move elsewhere. […]

The Bank of Canada’s decision to hold rates steady once again was very much as expected, even though first half growth was well below the forecast in the July Monetary Policy Report. US growth in the first half of this year was also disappointing, reflecting weakness in business and residential investment. US consumer spending was […]

Despite headline-grabbing stories about million-dollar houses pushing home ownership out of reach in Canada’s large cities, there’s still plenty of opportunity for first-time buyers in certain segments of the Canadian real estate market, says Dominion Lending Centres Chief Economist Sherry Cooper. Single-family home prices have been surging in cities like Toronto and Vancouver, but that’s […]

The two hottest housing markets in the country appear to be heading in opposite directions even though they are suffering from the same, fundamental problem – under supply. July sales in Greater Vancouver dropped nearly 27% compared to June and were off 19% from a year ago. Prices, though, continued their unprecedented climb. MLS figures […]

Pre-approvals are certainly beneficial. However, they can also be very disappointing if you are not prepared to know what they actually mean. They DON’T mean… They don’t mean that you have a mortgage. Until there is a Purchase Agreement (a written up contract to purchase a property) actually submitted to a bank and a commitment […]

So you’ve graduated from high school and off to university or college. Before you start, take the time to set down some goals and a budget for your financial future as a post secondary student. Your parents have probably been telling you to put aside some money from your part time job into savings. However, […]

Another woeful jobs report in Canada for the month of July triggers further pessimism. Following three consecutive months of stagnant employment, payrolls fell by a much-worse-than-expected 31,000 in July as the unemployment rate increased 0.1 percentage point to 6.9 percent. Gloomily, all of the loss was in full-time employment, which fell by 71,000 from June […]

Canadian and U.S. data gatherers posted GDP figures this morning.  The numbers looked pretty bad for both countries, but fortunately, digging deeper, they were not as bad as at first glance.    Canadian GDP Data  The May figure for Canadian Gross Domestic Product by Industry posted a decline of 0.6 percent, but the weakness was largely […]

The level of documentation required for the average mortgage these days can be very frustrating. It can seem endless, very nitpicky and annoying because we are able to purchase a vehicle with just a paystub. There are a few reasons for the increased documentation requirements. Click to continue reading… Give me a call if you […]

One cost that can be overlooked by home buyers is mortgage default insurance. So, what exactly is mortgage default insurance and why do you need it? If you’re buying an owner-occupied home with less than 20% down payment, you are required to purchase mortgage default insurance in order to arrange your financing.  When buying a […]