National Mortgage Related News Archive

• The real weak sister of the global economy
  Jun 26, 2009 — From a contrarian perspective, China looks vulnerable these days - which perhaps explains why U.S. economist Stephen Roach, chairman of Morgan Stanley's operations in Asia, says India's economy will soon begin to grow at a faster rate than China's.
  Source: Neil Reynolds, The Globe and Mail
  
• Fed cautious, world economy limps forward
  Jun 25, 2009 — The embers of the global economy glowed a little brighter in Asia and Europe on Thursday, but comments overnight from the U.S. Federal Reserve that the recession there was easing were too cautious to raise a flame.
  Source: Will Waterman, The Globe and Mail
  
• Building a net-zero energy home
  Jun 25, 2009 — "We're building a net-zero energy home, which means it can generate as much energy as it consumes in a year," said Paul Arsenault, president of AlternaHome Solutions Inc., a Moncton-based sustainable-development construction company. "This is the home of the future." The official sod turning ceremony for the cutting-edge home, sponsored by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, will take place today in northern Moncton.
  Source: Brett Bundale, Business Journal
  
• The mortgage that you don't know you have
  Jun 25, 2009 — In an age of extensive consumer protection laws and regulated banking, how do people end up with mortgages that they are unaware of? The answer lies in the fact that many consumers unknowingly use their homes as security for loans and lines of credit. Unsecured borrowing occurs when no security is taken by the bank or finance company. The loan is offered to you based on your promise to repay it and the lender's confidence in your ability to repay. With secured borrowing, the lender has a legal charge, a mortgage, over your property.
  Source: Elias Metlej, Metro News
  
• Bank lending sees third steep drop
  Jun 25, 2009 — Canadian businesses are increasingly scaling back bank borrowing for everything from expansion to buying inventory, reinforcing expectations that there will be further hurdles for the economy to surmount before a recovery begins in earnest.
  Source: Tara Perkins, Boyd Erman, The Globe and Mail
  
• Mortgage arrears soar in B.C.
  Jun 24, 2009 — The number of B.C. and Yukon residential mortgages in arrears has nearly doubled year over year ending in March, and numbers are predicted to keep on climbing in the wake of global economic woes.
  Source: Carla Wilson, Times Colonist
  
• Markets look for bold Bernanke
  Jun 24, 2009 — Is Ben Bernanke set to steal a page from the Bank of Canada playbook? Analysts say the powerful chairman of the U. S. Federal Reserve needs to be more specific about interest rate expectations, as his counterpart Mark Carney has been, to lower borrowing costs and put a cap on market expectations that inflation is just around the corner.
  Source: Paul Vieira, Financial Post
  
• Global recession is close to hitting bottom
  Jun 24, 2009 — A new report says the global recession is close to bottoming out but that recovery will be weak unless governments do even more to restore confidence in banks. In its half-yearly economic outlook, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said Wednesday it expects the economies of member countries to shrink by 4.1 per cent in 2009.
  Source: News Staff, CTV
  
• Mortgage defaults soar
  Jun 23, 2009 — EDMONTON - Growing unemployment and the home-price slump are leading to more defaulted mortgages in Edmonton and across Alberta. Lenders began foreclosure proceedings against 1,571 Edmontonarea homeowners in the 11 months ended February 2009, up from 1,013 in the previous 12 months, according to the most recent statistics available through Alberta Justice.
  Source: Alexandra Zabjek, Jason Markusoff, Edmonton Journal
  
• Second thoughts on recovery
  Jun 23, 2009 — NEW YORK - After months of wishful thinking, investors are nervous again about financial markets and the world economy, and it may take a flurry of much better economic data to make them believe in a sustainable recovery. Anxiety grew on Monday after the World Bank cut its 2009 global growth forecast, saying the world economy will contract 2.9 per cent this year.
  Source: Steven C. Johnson, Globe Investor
  
• Oil volatile near $67 a barrel
  Jun 23, 2009 — Oil prices were volatile Tuesday, as continued uncertainty about the global economy and demand for crude were partly offset by the weaker dollar, which drew some speculators back to commodities.
  Source: Pablo Gorondi, The Globe and Mail
  
• U.S. home sales rise, but prices still down
  Jun 23, 2009 — Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes rose modestly from April to May, the third monthly increase this year, but signs of a housing recovery are fragile at best.
  Source: Alan Zibel, The Globe and Mail
  
• Calgary tenants seek mid-lease breaks
  Jun 23, 2009 — As quickly as boom turns into bust, the commercial real estate scene has changed in Calgary. More tenants aiming to ride out the recession are asking property owners for a break on rents, even in the middle of their leases. And some landlords are listening.
  Source: Terry Inigo-Jones, The Globe and Mail
  
• TSX falls below 10,000
  Jun 22, 2009 — Canada's main stock index plunged below 10,000 Monday morning after the World Bank warned in a report that the downturn would be worse than it previously predicted and oil slipped below US$68 a barrel. Shares in Manulife Financial are down more than 11% in morning trading.
  Source: Financial Post, Canada.com
  
• Consumers more upbeat, but no spending spree
  Jun 22, 2009 — Canadian consumers are feeling more optimistic about their finances and job prospects, but they are still shying away from making major purchases, the Conference Board of Canada said Monday."Responses indicate that consumers feel increasingly confident about their current and future financial situation," the board said. "As well, the balance of opinion on future employment prospects improved for a third consecutive month."
  Source: Financial Post, Canada.com
  
• Condo resales are on a roll
  Jun 19, 2009 — The new-condo market may be just starting to warm up again but the resale market is hot, according to May statistics from the Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB). In fact, condo resales, at 2,081 units in May, were up about 2 per cent from the same month a year earlier. Condo resales are again moving in lockstep with single family homes and townhouses.
  Source: Terrence Belford, The Globe and Mail
  
• TXS stocks higher on economic confidence
  Jun 19, 2009 — The Toronto stock market was higher mid morning, building on Thursday's advance, after American data boosted confidence about the economy. The S&P/TSX composite index moved up 60.5 points to 10,182 as traders also took in a Canadian retail sales report that will serve as a reminder that the economy won't likely snap back quickly.
  Source: Malcolm Morrison, The Globe and Mail
  
• Canadians hoarding cash: report
  Jun 19, 2009 — Canadians are sitting on a mounting pile of idle cash, but they're reluctant to spend or invest it, according to new research. The reluctance - probably linked to a nagging risk aversion after months of enduring the worst financial crisis in decades - helps explain why retail sales dipped suddenly in April, and why the economy can't come roaring back to life in a hurry.
  Source: Heather Scoffield, The Globe and Mail
  
• 'Irresistible' rates drive Canada's recovery
  Jun 19, 2009 — In the midst of recession, the average national price of Canadian resale homes hit a record level in May, and sales activity increased for the fourth consecutive month. While U.S. residential real estate prices have been falling for almost three years, Canada seems to have stumbled and picked itself up again in a span of 12 months.
  Source: Rob Carrick, The Globe and Mail
  
• BoC may continue cash auctions, Carney says
  Jun 18, 2009 — Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney says he is considering making permanent the special cash auctions that he has set up to help banks survive the crisis because it would be "totally unacceptable" to allow critical credit markets to seize again.
  Source: Kevin Carmichael, The Globe and Mail
  
• What you need to know about today's mortgages
  Jun 18, 2009 — In a recent test of Canadian first-time homebuyer knowledge of mortgages and homebuying terms and concepts only 25% of the participants correctly answered more than seven out of 10 questions. A mortgage insurer, the multi-national Genworth organization, is the source of that conclusion.
  Source: Michael Sasges, Canwest News
  
• Canadians are eager to purchase homes
  Jun 18, 2009 — More people now think it is a good time to purchase a home, according to a national survey. A national consumer survey released recently said nearly 90% of recent home purchasers believe that home ownership is a good long-term investment.
  Source: Mario Toneguzzi, Canwest News
  
• Answering key questions for mortgages
  Jun 18, 2009 — Questions and answers with mortgage broker Mike Averbach. Q: What do you know about mortgages that you think new-to-market house-hunters, or the typical first-time homebuyer, ought to know?
  Source: Michael Sasges, Canwest News
  
• Bond yields wither if green shoots stop growing
  Jun 18, 2009 — The garden needs watering for the green shoots to grow. Rising mortgage yields in recent weeks need tending to by the Fed or a U.S. economic recovery may not take hold. As a result, the stock market rally since the start of March has effectively stalled and bond yields have peaked for now.
  Source: David Pett, National Post
  
• Know where rates are headed, watch the bonds
  Jun 18, 2009 — Why do mortgage rates move the way they do? Why don't the rates march in lock step with other interest rates? When the Bank of Canada lowers interest rates the big banks usually play chicken for several hours, waiting to see who will drop rates first. At the last cut, the TD Bank was the first to lower prime. The others followed within the hour.
  Source: Fred Langan, Financial Post
  
• TSX dives as oil slips below US$70
  Jun 17, 2009 — North American markets were mostly lower in early trading Wednesday as oil slipped below US$70 a barrel, and despite positive consumer price data in the U.S. keeping fears of inflation at bay. The value of Canada's wholesale trade fell more than expected in April as sales of building materials as well as machinery and electronic equipment declined. Statistics Canada said Wednesday that sales dropped 0.6% to $40.3-billion during the month, with four of the seven main sectors declining. Economists had expected a 0.5% overall decline in April.
  Source: News Staff, Financial Post
  
• U.S. mortgage demand plunges
  Jun 17, 2009 — U.S. mortgage applications fell for a fourth consecutive week, with overall demand plunging to its lowest level in nearly seven months, data from an industry group showed on Wednesday.
  Source: Reuters, BNN News
  
• Toronto Real Estate Sales Up 19 Per Cent
  Jun 17, 2009 — Greater Toronto REALTORS reported 5,185 transactions in the first half of June - an increase of 19 per cent compared to the same period last year. "Households in the GTA have become more confident in purchasing a home over the past three months," said TREB President Maureen O'Neill. "Affordability, due in part to very low borrowing costs, has played a key role."
  Source: John Pasalis, Move Smartly
  
• Pace of economic decline is slowing
  Jun 17, 2009 — The outlook for the economy continues to improve, based on Statistics Canada's leading indicator. The sharpest turnarounds came in the housing and stock market components, continuing signs of improvements in the real estate market and financial stocks. The housing component climbed from a drop in April to a 1-per-cent gain in May as the rebound in existing home sales gathered pace.
  Source: News Staff, Globe Investor
  
• Missed the great Canadian mortgage sale?
  Jun 16, 2009 — With interest rates hovering near dramatic lows, many Canadian home owners have been taking advantage of rock-bottom mortgage rates to break their existing contracts and refinance at a lower rate. But mortgage rates rose quickly and dramatically last week, leading some to wonder if they have missed the sweetest mortgage recession sale in recent history.
  Source: Globe Investor, The Globe and Mail