CanEquity Mortgage & Financial Blog

The latest consumer price index report from Canada Statistics found consumer prices climbed 2.5 percent over the past year ending in January, spurred by increases in food and energy.

Food prices rose 4.2 percent and energy costs increased 6.5 percent in January in a year-over-year comparison. In mortgage news, the report said home loan interest cost decreased 0.4 percent for the month after dropping 0.7 percent the month before. Also, shelter costs were up 2.1 percent on a year-over-year basis.

MCAN Mortgage Corporation of Canada recently reported its earnings for the fourth quarter of 2011, and found a strong showing with $5.2 million in earnings, up from the $2 million reported net income for the year before. Continue reading »

Toronto-Dominion Bank has told its mortgage brokers to start enforcing lending policies on new immigrants and the self employed immediately, according to a recent report by Dow Jones.

TD's Equity Lending program previously allowed Canadian residents who could not confirm their stated income to qualify for a mortgage; however, the bank will no longer allow equity lending applications whose loan-to-value eclipses 75 percent and will require brokers to include the customer's stated gross income and complete liability and asset information.

"TD has been a share-growth leader in mortgages over the last few years," David McVay, a financial-services industry consultant at McVay & Associates, a firm that tracks the latest retail-banking trends, told the news source. "They have been aggressive in the branch, broker and mortgage specialist channels."

The nation's second largest bank, TD recently raised its four-year closed fixed rate mortgage 40 basis points to 3.39 percent last week after offering ultra low mortgage rates of 2.99 percent. The bank also introduced a five-year closed fixed rate mortgage at 4.04 percent.

A recent report on the U.S. and Canadian life insurance industries reveals a greater number of providers are turning to mobile-based technology as a way to offer their services.

The Mobile on the Move: Reaching Insurance Stakeholders Wherever They Are report polled life insurance companies across North America and found nine in 10 are meeting producer demands with mobile technology offerings.

"Like we saw with social media, life insurers recognize that using mobile technology is not negotiable if the company wants to be competitive now and in the future," said Mary Art, LIMRA research director, technology in marketing and distribution research. "In fact, three of four companies surveyed said they were using mobile technology to keep pace with their competitors and nearly as many anticipate these investments will increase sales." Continue reading »

A recent report from Greater Toronto Realtors found a total of 3,206 home sales through the Toronto MLS system for the first two weeks of February 2012.

This is a 9 percent increase compared with the 2,933 home sales recorded during the same time last year. In addition, new listings were up 13 percent on a year-over-year basis.

"The Greater Toronto Area resale home market became better supplied during the first 14 days of February," said Richard Silver, president of the Toronto Real Estate Board. "If growth in new listings continues to outstrip growth in sales this year, competition between home buyers will ease. More balanced market conditions on a sustained basis would result in a lower annual rates of price growth later in 2012."

Also, the city of Toronto registered 1,214 home sales during that two-week period, compared with 1,244 sales for the same time last year. The rest of the GTA recorded 1,992 sales between February 1 and 14 this year, compared with 1,689 last year. Continue reading »

British Columbia Premier Christy Clark recently announced the new provincial budget could contain early harmonized sales tax relief for the home building sector in Canada.

The move comes as Clark continues to stick to the 2013 deadline for eliminating the tax struck down by voters in a referendum last year, the newspaper states. Clark is using talk radio as the preferred method for communicating with Canadian voters.

“I have always believed that talk radio is a unique place where you can actually get feedback from citizens,” she said. “It’s the town square where a politician can be held accountable in real time by real people and be required to answer questions.”

A separate report from The Globe and Mail reveals B.C. is outlining a post-HST plan for the home building industry. It is likely that prospective home loan applicants will continue with the wait-and-see approach as the transition is made between the harmonized sales tax and the provincial sales tax.

A recent report from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation on the outlook of the Atlantic housing market shows performance for this year could be impacted by the remaining inventory of apartments currently under construction.

Although single housing starts increased over the latter half of 2011 due to ultra low interest rates, weak employment and wage expansion are expected to lower the outlook for this year with single housing starts expected to decline as much as 7 percent.
"Although more favorable financing conditions available in the second half of 2011 continued to support apartment construction last year, the expectation is that activity will slow in 2012," said Alex MacDonald, regional economist with the CMHC Atlantic Business Centre. "Notwithstanding the decline, the level of construction is forecast to remain historically high. Multiple starts, including apartments, are forecast to decline 15 percent in 2012." Continue reading »