It seems like depending on what day of the week you open the newspaper, you’ll find such a vast difference in the news. Lets have a look at last week for example:
On Wednesday (Sep 22), The Vancouver Sun reported “Vancouver (and Regina) records sharp increase in housing starts” – The article states that Vancouver is one of five metropolitan areas in Canada that recorded a sharp year-over-year increase in August housing starts (5th out of 27 metro areas). A quote from the article “We expect more improvement in the next year in Vancouver. Basically, when the recession hit in 2008-09, housing starts took a big hit in Vancouver,” economist Jane McIntyre said. “But interest rates have remained low, there was the recovery of the economy in general, and the Olympics happened. There were a lot of things that drove the market back up. And that increased demand for housing in the region.” The rise in Vancouver housing starts was from 14,091 in August 2010 compared to 6,495 in 2009. The report also pointed out that Western Canadian cities – Regina and Winnipeg – led national metros for sharp increases in housing starts. BC cities of Victoria and Abbotsford also showed increases.
On Monday (Sep 27), the Calgary Herald reported “Calgary home resales and prices fall” – The article states “Buyers appear to be circling the wagons as favourable housing affordability has failed to spur sales following the fairly subdued rebound in activity which ran its course at the start of the year,” said Robert Hogue, senior economist, with RBC.
And while RBC is saying this, TD economist are reporting much more positive news on Alberta’s economy as a whole. The Edmonton Journal on Friday (Sep 24) reported that “Alberta’s economy is to lead Canada” – The article states that Alberta will continue to outperform the rest of the country as oil prices remain stable and good balance sheets encourage businesses to invest in the future. Western Canadian economies will grow at nearly a percentage point above the national average, and hit 3.5 per cent growth in 2012 (according to TD chief economist Craig Alexander).
We are not economist and we don’t watch every economic indicator; however, we follow the reports from the major banks (TD, RBC, BMO etc.) and industry influencers (BoC, CMHC etc.) and try to share meaningful information with our clients and prospective clients across the country. If you have any questions about Canadian mortgages or investing in Canadian real estate by investing in Canadian mortgages, we invite you to call or email us. We’d be happy to speak with you about questions you have about investing in a Mortgage Investment Corporation (MIC).
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