Canadian Mortgages, Insurance, Investment, Tax Planning
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Canadian Mortgage Broker News - Canadian household net worth hits $6 trillion http://ping.fm/fPDaD
Кабинетът одобри Иво Прокопиев за почетен консул на Канада за България
Кабинетът одобри Иво Прокопиев за почетен консул на Канада за България
Кабинетът одобри Иво Прокопиев за почетен консул на Канада за България
Дългоoчакваното назначение е факт. Това е голямо улеснеие за всички нас!
Правителството одобри председателя на Конфедерацията на работодателите и индустриалците в България (КРИБ) Иво Прокопиев за почетен консул на Канада в България.Това съобщи пресслужбата на кабинета след днешното заседание. Почетните консули се номинират от страната, която представляват, а кабинетът трябва да даде съгласие. Предложението е внесено от министъра на външните работи Николай Младенов.
“Канада е много важна държава за България, съюзник, част от Г-8. С удоволствие приех поканата на канадското правителство да бъда почетен консул за България и ще работя активно за засилване на двустранните отношения”, коментира Иво Прокопиев.
През ноември 2009 г. Министерският съвет прекрати правомощията на предишния почетен консул Левон Хампарцумян. Решението беше взето в отговор на постъпила от посолството на Канада в Букурещ вербална нота.
Иво Прокопиев е съиздател на вестниците “Дневник” и “Капитал” и е основен акционер в “Алфа финанс холдинг”.
Ролята на почетния консул:
Почетният консул работи на доброволни начала в помощ на гражданите на съответната държава, статутът му е регламентиран във Виенската конвенция. Работата на почетните консули не е толкова административна, а представителна. Докато консулите към посолствата се занимават например с издаването на визи, почетните консули имат за задача да поощряват икономическите взаимоотношения, да привличат чужди инвеститори и да популяризират културата на съответната страна, която представляват, организирайки напр. различни събития.
Те не са държавни служители и не получават заплата. По регламент всеки почетен консул прави ежегоден отчет за дейността си пред външното министерство. За поста не се кандидатства и въпреки че формално Министерският съвет одобрява кандидатурата, изборът е изцяло в ръцете на държавата, чийто представител става кандидатът.
Номинират се хора, които са добре познати, авторитетни и влиятелни личност в страната си. Необходимо е почетният консул да е финансово независим, тъй като не получава заплата, командировъчни или други финансови облаги. Определянето на почетни консули е много полезно в държави, в които изпращащата страна не поддържа представителство, но пък е необходимо да има канал за дипломатически контакти.
Canadian Mortgage Broker News - Canadian household net worth hits $6 trillion
Canadian Mortgage Broker News - Canadian household net worth hits $6 trillion
Tuesday, 22 June 2010
Canadian household net worth hits $6 trillion
Canadian household net worth hit $6 trillion in the first quarter of 2010. It increased by 1.3 per cent from $74 billion, and is the fourth consecutive quarterly improvement in household net worth. This means 96 per cent of net worth lost during the economic crash has been recovered, according to David Onyett-Jeffries, economist with RBC Economics, as reported on Muddy York's Toronto Real Estate blog.
Other numbers from RBC show a strong Canadian housing market. Non-financial assets, where real estate contributes 85.5 per cent, is up 0.8 per cent to $24.9 billion from the previous quarter.
Mortgage debt increased by $16.4 billion in the first quarter, signalling continued growth in the real estate market. Over all, household liabilities rose by 1.5 per cent to $1.4 trillion.
Monday, June 28, 2010
FN Mortgage rates as of 28/06/2010
FIRST NATIONAL
1 year fixed: 2.80 %
3 years fixed: 3.75 %
5 years fixed: 4.49 %
5 years 5% Cash back fixed: 5.89 %
3 years variable: Prime minus 0.30%
5 years variable: Prime minus 0.50%
First National Prime Rate: 2.50 %
Posted by
DataTracker Powered by CoolRent
1 year fixed: 2.80 %
3 years fixed: 3.75 %
5 years fixed: 4.49 %
5 years 5% Cash back fixed: 5.89 %
3 years variable: Prime minus 0.30%
5 years variable: Prime minus 0.50%
First National Prime Rate: 2.50 %
Posted by
DataTracker Powered by CoolRent
Friday, June 25, 2010
CoolRent is proud to present Data-Tracker.net - a powerful marketing tool. It tracks changes to interest rates, exchange rates, sport results, etc. and posts them to your Facebook, blogger or wordpress blogs, or sends a personalized email to you, or your client. Data Tracker can publish just the changed data or can publish all rates after any change.
RSS feed or third party services like ping.fm, can be used to transfer your email to all social networking services.
Please check our demos:
• Facebook:
http://ping.fm/t9Hwz?id=100000879636393
• Blogger:
http://ping.fm/2RqGR
• WordPress:
http://ping.fm/RgiA8
Data-Tracker is intended to help mortgage broker to reach their clients and procpects and inform them of any changes to the interest rates.
Data-Tracker.net automatically posts to your Facebook and/or blog every time there is a change to the interest rates, so you will have information of the changes and not only a “dry†sheet with actual rates
Using Data-Tracker.net to automatically publish on your Facebook and/or blog the latest changes of the interest rates will give your clients the opportunity to compare rates and trends and to be informed.
Also your clients will receive a personalized email every time interest rates are changed and they can make adequate and inform decisions – either to enter the market, or to wait, or perhaps convert from variable to fix rate.
.
Sending valuable information and keeping in touch with your clients or prospects will increase your success
Having information of any changes to the interest rates (not just actual rates, but also any changes) and keeping your clients and prospects informed is priceless – for anything else use Data-Tracker.net!
RSS feed or third party services like ping.fm, can be used to transfer your email to all social networking services.
Please check our demos:
• Facebook:
http://ping.fm/t9Hwz?id=100000879636393
• Blogger:
http://ping.fm/2RqGR
• WordPress:
http://ping.fm/RgiA8
Data-Tracker is intended to help mortgage broker to reach their clients and procpects and inform them of any changes to the interest rates.
Data-Tracker.net automatically posts to your Facebook and/or blog every time there is a change to the interest rates, so you will have information of the changes and not only a “dry†sheet with actual rates
Using Data-Tracker.net to automatically publish on your Facebook and/or blog the latest changes of the interest rates will give your clients the opportunity to compare rates and trends and to be informed.
Also your clients will receive a personalized email every time interest rates are changed and they can make adequate and inform decisions – either to enter the market, or to wait, or perhaps convert from variable to fix rate.
.
Sending valuable information and keeping in touch with your clients or prospects will increase your success
Having information of any changes to the interest rates (not just actual rates, but also any changes) and keeping your clients and prospects informed is priceless – for anything else use Data-Tracker.net!
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
FN Mortgage rates as of 22/06/2010
FIRST NATIONAL
1 year fixed: 2.80 %
3 years fixed: 3.75 %
5 years fixed: 4.49 %
5 years 5% Cash back fixed: 5.99 %
3 years variable: Prime minus 0.30%
5 years variable: Prime minus 0.50%
First National Prime Rate: 2.50 %
Posted by DataTracker Powered by CoolRent
1 year fixed: 2.80 %
3 years fixed: 3.75 %
5 years fixed: 4.49 %
5 years 5% Cash back fixed: 5.99 %
3 years variable: Prime minus 0.30%
5 years variable: Prime minus 0.50%
First National Prime Rate: 2.50 %
Posted by
DataTracker Powered by CoolRent
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Revenu Québec - Another QST Rate Increase to Take Effect January 1, 2012 http://ping.fm/cISvN
Revenu Québec - Another QST Rate Increase to Take Effect January 1, 2012
Revenu Québec - Another QST Rate Increase to Take Effect January 1, 2012
Another QST Rate Increase to Take Effect January 1, 2012
In the Budget Speech of March 30, 2010, the Minister of Finance of Québec announced another Québec sales tax (QST) rate increase, in addition to the increase to take effect January 1, 2011, which was announced in the Budget Speech of March 19, 2009.
Application of the latest QST rate increase
The increase in the QST rate to 9.5% applies to taxable supplies in respect of which QST becomes payable on or after January 1, 2012.
Taxable supplies of movable property or services are subject to QST at the rate of 9.5% where all the consideration for the supply becomes due after December 31, 2011, and is not paid before January 1, 2012. The QST rate of 9.5% also applies to any portion of the consideration for such a supply that becomes due after December 31, 2011, and is not paid before January 1, 2012.
Taxable supplies of an immovable by way of sale are subject to QST at the rate of 9.5% where the supply is made under an agreement in writing entered into after December 31, 2011, and the agreement provides for the transfer of ownership and possession of the immovable to the recipient after that date.
Taxable supplies in respect of the construction, renovation, alteration or repair of an immovable or a ship or other marine vessel are subject to QST at the rate of 9.5% where the supply is made under an agreement in writing entered into after December 31, 2011.
The aforementioned rules regarding taxable supplies of movable property or services also apply to taxable supplies of an immovable that are made other than by way of sale.
There are special rules regarding continuous supplies, budget plan arrangements with reconciliation, exchanges of movable property and primacy rules.
For further information, see page A.107 in Additional Information on the Budgetary Measures, published by the Ministère des Finances.
Consequential amendments and changes
Rounded-off mathematical factors
QST is calculated on the consideration, which includes goods and services tax (GST) at the rate of 5%. The effective QST rate is currently 7.875% (8.925% beginning in 2011) and the effective combined GST-QST rate is currently 12.875% (13.925% beginning in 2011). The rounded-off mathematical factors are 7.87% and 12.87%, respectively (8.92% and 13.92%, respectively, beginning in 2011).
A registrant can use the rounded-off mathematical factors if the cash register ordinarily used by the registrant is not sophisticated enough to calculate QST using the actual rate of 7.5% (8.5% beginning in 2011) or the three-decimal mathematical factors – 7.875% and 12.875% (8.925% and 13.925% beginning in 2011).
Once the increase in the QST rate to 9.5% takes effect on January 1, 2012, the three-decimal mathematical factors will be 9.975% and 14.975%, and the rounded-off mathematical factors that can be used will be 9.97% and 14.97%.
Taxable benefit related to automobile operating costs
For the 2011 taxation year, in the case of a benefit related to automobile operating costs, the amount of tax to be included in the calculation of the registrant's net tax is equal to 5.4% of the value of the benefit. Beginning with the 2012 taxation year, the rate will be increased to 6%.
Quick methods of accounting
Small businesses whose revenues from taxable supplies do not exceed $215,000 ($217,000 beginning in 2011) can multiply their total revenues from taxable supplies, including GST and QST, by the prescribed rate, which for vendors of corporeal movable property is currently set at 2.7% (3% beginning in 2011) and for other businesses is currently set at 5.3% (6% beginning in 2011). Once the increase in the QST rate to 9.5% takes effect in 2012, the limit on revenues from taxable supplies will be increased to $219,000, and the prescribed rate will be increased to 3.4% for vendors of corporeal movable property and 6.6% for other businesses.
As for certain public service bodies, the prescribed rate for municipalities is currently 4.6% (5.2% beginning in 2011) and the prescribed rate for other bodies is currently 5.9% (6.6% beginning in 2011). Once the increase in the QST rate to 9.5% takes effect in 2012, the prescribed rate will be increased to 5.7% for municipalities and 7.3% for other bodies.
The newest prescribed rates for quick methods of accounting and the new limit of $219,000 on the revenues that a small business can have from taxable supplies apply to all reporting periods that begin after December 31, 2011.
Simplified method for calculating rebates and input tax refunds related to expense accounts
The mathematical factors will be specified by Revenu Québec at a later date.
First National - New Ideas
First National - New Ideas
How a prepayment today can build significant future savings
You could probably find many ways to spend any “extra” cash that comes your way, whether it’s a tax refund, an unexpected gift, a bonus cheque, or just hard-earned savings. Consider using the money to prepay part of your mortgage. Even small prepayments can make a big impact over time and potentially save you thousands of dollars.
The great benefit of making prepayments on your mortgage is that every extra dollar goes toward the principal amount of the loan. Since that’s the portion you pay interest on, paying it faster means paying less interest over the long term and becoming mortgage-free sooner. The higher your interest rate and the earlier you are in your amortization period, the greater your savings.
But that’s not all. Prepaying your mortgage will help you build your home equity at a faster pace and will bring you one step closer to owning your home outright.
Explore these prepayment options
There are three ways you can prepay your First National mortgage. To illustrate the savings potential, we’ll use the example of Joe, a new homeowner paying $830 a month in mortgage principal and interest. Joe’s mortgage is $150,000 at 4.5% and has an amortization period of 25 years.
| 1. Make an annual prepayment. You can pay up to 15% of your original principal each year on any of your regular payment dates, minimum $100. Savings potential: Joe receives a tax refund of $2,000 each year and decides to use it to make a principal payment on his mortgage at the end of every year. In this case, Joe could save approximately $28,000 in interest costs over the life of his mortgage and pay it off six years earlier. |
|
| 2. Increase your payment amount. Once per year, you can increase your mortgage payment amount by up to 15%. The increased amount will go directly towards reducing your principal balance. Some exceptions apply, so check your mortgage documents. |
| 3. Double-up a payment. You can double-up your payment on any regular payment date. This is applied directly to the principal of your mortgage. Savings potential: Joe decides to double-up on a single monthly mortgage payment each year, paying $1,660 instead of $830. If he did this every year for 10 years, he would save as much as $13,000 in interest and shave two years off his amortization. |
Friday, June 18, 2010
Mortgage rate as of 18/06/2010
| Mortgage product | Posted rate | Our rate |
| 5 years Variable | 3.75 % | 1.90 % |
| 5 years Var Promo PAP | 2.50 % | 1.90 % |
| 1 year | 4.50 % | 2.54 % |
| 1 year open | 6.70 % | 6.45 % |
| 2 years | 4.40 % | 3.30 % |
| 3 years | 4.95 % | 3.75 % |
| 4 years | 5.74 % | 4.39 % |
| 5 years | 6.10 % | 4.39 % |
| 6 years | 6.30 % | 5.05 % |
| 7 years | 7.00 % | 4.99 % |
| 9 years | 5.73 % | 5.43 % |
| 10 years | 7.35 % | 5.49 % |
| 15 years | 9.55 % | 9.25 % |
| 18 years | 9.55 % | 9.25 % |
| 25 years | 9.65 % | 9.35 % |
Our commitment:
* Negociate on your behalf the best interest rates and loan conditions
* Provide you with a pre-approval service
* Explain to you the range of government programs (Home Buyers Plan, ...)
* Protect your mortgage rate for up to 120 days
* Transfer your mortgage free of charge*
*Some conditions apply, subject to change without prior notice.
Posted by
DataTracker Powered by CoolRent
Canadian Mortgage Broker News - New OECD report on the state of Canada released http://ping.fm/yOldb
CAAMP Stats
CAAMP Stats
Bank of Canada Interest Rate
Source: Bank of Canada
Top of Page
Source: RBC Quarterly Housing Affordability Study May 2010
Bank of Canada Interest Rate
| April 20, 2010 | 0.25 % |
| June 1, 2010 | 0.50 % |
| July 20, 2010 | Next meeting date |
Top of Page
| April 21, 2010 | 2.25 % |
| June 2, 2010 | 2.50 % |
| July 21, 2010 | Next meeting date |
Source: Bank of Canada
Top of Page
Conventional Mortgage - 5 Year Rate*
| April 28, 2010 | 6.25 % |
| May 12, 2010 | 6.10 % |
| May 26, 2010 | 5.99 % |
Source: Bank of Canada
*Determinant for high ratio mortgage variable qualifying rate
Top of Page
US Federal Reserve Board Discount Rate
| March 16, 2010 | 0.00 % - 0.25 % |
| April 28, 2010 | 0.00 % - 0.25 % |
| June 23, 2010 | Next Meeting date |
Source: US Federal Reserve
Top of Page
Exchange Rate $CDN($US)
| April 29, 2010 | 0.9946 |
| May 14, 2010 | 0.9693 |
| May 31, 2010 | 0.9583 |
Source: Bank of Canada
Top of Page
Government of Canada Bonds
| Bond Type | April 28, 2010 | May 12, 2010 | May 26, 2010 |
1 year Treasury Bill | 1.29% | 1.26% | 1.02% |
| 3 year Benchmark Bond Yield | 2.49% | 2.38% | 2.00% |
| 5 year Benchmark Bond Yield | 3.09% | 2.96% | 2.55% |
| 10 year Benchmark Bond Yield | 3.66% | 3.59% | 3.25% |
Source: Bank of Canada
Top of Page
Total New Housing Starts (Seasonally adjusted and annualized)
| Province | February 2010 | February 2009 | March 2010 | March 2009 | April 2010 | April 2009 |
| Newfoundland/Labrador | 5,300 | 3,200 | 6,000 | 3,300 | 3,100 | 2,800 |
| PEI | 300 | 500 | 300 | 400 | 400 | 500 |
| Nova Scotia | 6,300 | 4,700 | 3,900 | 3,800 | 3,600 | 2,500 |
| New Brunswick | 2,400 | 3,200 | 3,700 | 3,400 | 3,600 | 4,200 |
| Quebec | 47,300 | 36,900 | 55,300 | 43,600 | 53,700 | 41,100 |
| Ontario | 73,300 | 47,100 | 63,200 | 62,600 | 64,700 | 36,300 |
| Manitoba | 5,400 | 3,700 | 3,800 | 3,500 | 3,400 | 3,100 |
| Saskatchewan | 5,000 | 2,300 | 4,000 | 2,100 | 4,200 | 2,900 |
| Alberta | 28,300 | 12,600 | 34,100 | 11,900 | 35,700 | 12,400 |
| British Columbia | 30,200 | 14,200 | 24,900 | 11,900 | 28,300 | 11,700 |
| CANADA | 203,800 | 128,400 | 199,200 | 146,500 | 200,700 | 117,600 |
Source: CMHC Housing Now - May 2010 and May 2009. This seasonally adjusted data goes through stages of revision at different times of the the year.
Top of Page
Average MLS Resale Price for Local Markets
| City | April 2009 | April 2010 |
| Halifax | $245,412 | $247,168 |
| Saint John | $166,172 | $166,836 |
| Quebec | $206,739 | $232,188 |
| Montreal | $267,236 | $293,393 |
| Ottawa | $298,593 | $333,854 |
| Toronto | $385,641 | $437,566 |
| Hamilton/Burlington | $286,191 | $317,909 |
| Winnipeg | $212,541 | $236,574 |
| Saskatoon | $276,455 | $299,214 |
| Calgary | $371,995 | $395,847 |
| Edmonton | $312,127 | $339,172 |
| Vancouver | $565,003 | $673,579 |
| Victoria | $455,143 | $518,536 |
Source: Canadian Real Estate Association
Top of Page
Housing Affordability Index
Source: RBC Quarterly Housing Affordability Study May 2010
Frequently Asked Questions - The Employment Insurance Measure for Self-Employed People (Bill C-56) http://ping.fm/G1b8K
Canadian Mortgage Broker News - CREA revises 2010 forecast
Canadian Mortgage Broker News - CREA revises 2010 forecast
Wednesday, 2 June 2010
CREA revises 2010 forecast
Canadian resale home prices will be lower than previously predicted, according to revisions made by CREA to its 2010 forecast, due in large part to B.C. sales.
"Lower expected activity in British Columbia accounts for more than half of the downward revision in national sales activity," the group said in a release.
CREA cut its sales view to 490,600 units from their previous figure of 527,300. It also expects the average price to rise 1.6 per cent nationally in 2010, an almost four per cent drop from its previous forecast of 5.4 per cent.
According to the industry group, the decline in affordability in B.C. hurt sales in the province during Q1, but added sales in Ontario were on point with their predictions.
CREA now expects sales in B.C. to fall 5.9 per cent this year to 80,000 units.
Canadian Mortgage Broker News - U.S. could learn from Canadas mortgage market, blogs WSJ http://ping.fm/kIe42
Canadian Mortgage Broker News - U.S. could learn from Canadas mortgage market, blogs WSJ
Canadian Mortgage Broker News - U.S. could learn from Canadas mortgage market, blogs WSJ
Thursday, 10 June 2010
U.S. could learn from Canada's mortgage market, blogs WSJ
The superior practices of Canada's mortgage market should be imitated by the U.S., blogged Wall Street Journal mortgage and real estate reporter James R. Hagerty. At a U.S. housing-policy conference this week, Bank of Canada researcher Virginie Tract received "one of the biggest rounds of applause" by simply describing how the Canadian mortgage market works. She, however, declined to say if Canada does have a better system than the U.S, wrote Hagerty.
On the WSJ's Developments blog, Hagerty heralded the following points as outlined by Tract:
- Canadian lenders are closely regulated and conservative, with subprime loans never accounting for more than 5 per cent of the market.
- All Canadian mortgage loans give the lender recourse to the borrower's other assets, such as cars or savings, if the loan defaults.
- In Canada, when a mortgage loan is more than 80 per cent of the property value, the borrower must buy mortgage insurance.
Hagerty, after comparing these standards to U.S. practices, pointed out that "as of March, 0.44% of Canadian mortgage borrowers were three months or more past due on their loans. In the U.S., the rate was 9.5%."
Canadian Mortgage Broker News - New Housing Price Index for April released http://ping.fm/3UQJZ
Financière First National Sec; Établir et maintenir un bon crédit peut favoriser l'approbation de votre prêt - ... http://ping.fm/kqi1U
Canadian Mortgage Broker News - New Housing Price Index for April released
Canadian Mortgage Broker News - New Housing Price Index for April released
Thursday, 10 June 2010
New Housing Price Index for April released
The New Housing Price Index rose 0.3 per cent in April following an identical increase in March, reported Statistics Canada today.
Between March and April, prices increased the most in St. John's (+1.1%), followed by Regina and Saskatoon (both by +0.9%). Builders in these three areas said higher material and labour costs were key factors to the price increases.
Charlottetown, and Greater Sudbury and Thunder Bay had the largest monthly decreases in April, as both areas' prices fell by 0.3 per cent. Builders from these two places reported they lowered prices to stay competitive.
Vancouver registered the largest year-over-year increase by 6 per cent, followed by St. John's with 5.9 per cent and Winnipeg at 4.9 per cent.
Financière First National Sec; Établir et maintenir un bon crédit peut favoriser l'approbation de votre prêt - dvk.b2b2c@gmail.com - Gmail
Financière First National Sec; Établir et maintenir un bon crédit peut favoriser l'approbation de votre prêt
Établir et maintenir un bon crédit peut favoriser l’approbation de votre prêt
|
| |
|
Pour bon nombre d’entre nous, l’achat d’une maison se finance au moyen d’un prêt. Le plus souvent, l’octroi du prêt dépendra de vos antécédents en matière de crédit.
Bien que la majorité des gens sache qu’ils ont un rapport de solvabilité, plusieurs ignorent leur cote et le calcul de cette dernière. En cas de refus de votre demande de prêt ou si le prêt approuvé est inférieur à vos attentes, vous pouvez améliorer votre cote.
Votre solvabilité est évaluée en fonction de deux critères :
Les cotes de crédit varient entre 350 (faible) et 850 (élevée), 680 étant la médiane. La cote prend en considération l’historique des paiements, les dettes actuelles, la période couverte par l’historique, le nombre et la fréquence des demandes de crédit et le type de crédit obtenu. Parmi les facteurs aggravant la cote Beacon ou Fico, on compte les paiements accusant un retard de plus de 30 jours (même de petits montants) et les cartes de crédit qui atteignent leur limite. Par ailleurs, l’historique détaillé fournit des renseignements personnels et bancaires, notamment sur les comptes et les paiements.
Voici comment maintenir et améliorer son crédit :
1) régler toutes les factures à temps, les retards affectent la cote; 2) conserver le solde des cartes en-deçà de 75 % de la limite; 3) éviter les nombreuses demandes de crédit; un nombre trop élevé de demandes dans un court délai est signe de difficultés financières; 4) s’assurer que les renseignements personnels dans votre dossier de crédit sont exacts.
Vous devriez consulter votre dossier de crédit chaque année. Aucuns frais ne seront exigés si la demande est présentée par la poste ou par télécopieur. En quoi le courtier hypothécaire peut-il vous être utile? Mettre de l’ordre dans vos finances constitue parfois une lourde tâche. Grâce à son expertise, le courtier hypothécaire peut évaluer votre situation de crédit et vous suggérer des façons de le rétablir. Avec vous, il travaillera à trouver la solution qui répond le mieux à votre situation particulière. Pour en connaître davantage sur la gestion du crédit, consultez le site web de Service Canada ou communiquez avec votre courtier hypothécaire sans tarder. |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
| ||
|
|
First National à comme mandat d’offrir le meilleur service sur le marché !!! Ensemble nous pouvons réussir notre mandat. Merci pour le Support !!!!
| |
| John Fucale, Directeur du Développement Montréal-Centre et Ouest, Laval, Rive-Nord, Gatineau et Ouest du Québec
2000 rue Peel Unité 200 Montréal, Québec | | |
| | ||
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Canadian Mortgage Broker News - The Canadian dollar continues its downward plunge http://ping.fm/0YVNQ
Monday, June 14, 2010
BizAssist - My BizAssist - My Articles
The Real Estate Market: What’s on the Horizon?
By:
If the recent number of new home listings is anything to go by, Canada’s real estate market is showing all the signs of a hot market. According to the Canadian Real Estate Association, there were 233,204 new listings in the first quarter of 2010 – more than any other first quarter period on record.
Much of this activity is being propelled by the introduction of the HST in July, which will affect new homes with purchase prices above $400,000 in Ontario and $525,000 in B.C.. In addition, Nova Scotia will see an increase of two percent, bumping the province’s HST to 15 percent – the highest in Canada. Homeowners in B.C., Ontario and Nova Scotia are starting to list their properties during the robust spring market, in the hope of closing new home real estate transactions before the impending July 1 deadline. While this doesn’t impact homeowners outside of B.C., Ontario and Nova Scotia, that still represents a significant percentage of real estate transactions (even with the rebates offered on the first $400,000 of a new home purchase price). Those located outside of major urban centres will be largely unaffected, but new homeowners in major cities like Vancouver and Toronto will be deeply impacted, since the average purchase price for new homes is much higher.
In addition to the HST, rising interest rates that are already affecting five-year fixed mortgages are prompting new home buyers to lock in now, before expected rate increases continue to play out over the coming 18 months. This is causing considerable turnover in the market, as homeowners accelerate plans to upgrade to larger homes before interest rates prohibit their ability to do so. While some forecasters are worried we might be in the midst of a mini-bubble, others suggest that the rising inventory on the market will help to normalize prices in hot markets. Once the HST comes into effect in July, the market should also begin to stabilize during the second half of 2010. Then again, real estate market trends have historically defied many conservative predictions, so expect some new twists and turns as this volatile market continues to evolve in the coming months.
The potential impact on commercial real estate is of greater interest to small business owners, especially those in the manufacturing and retail sectors where the demand for significant commercial real estate is high. With the rise in interest rates, retail establishments can expect the cost of their tenancy to increase, as property owners get hit by commercial real estate mortgage rate hikes. In dense urban areas the demand for these choice real estate locations is also increasing, further driving up rent increases that are putting greater pressure on less established retail businesses. Even established retail operations are not immune to rate hikes, with many electing to make the risky move of relocating otherwise thriving businesses in sub-prime locations.
So what’s the best approach for dealing with a highly volatile real estate landscape in 2010?
- Consider Your Total Exposure: Remember, as a small business owner, your level of risk in the housing market is directly tied to your stake in the commercial real estate market. Before making the decision to buy or sell both a home and a piece of commercial real estate, think about the long-term consequences of higher interest rates. You might be able to fund the impact on one of your properties, but not both.
- Don’t React to Short-term Fluctuations: As soon as rates start to rise, both homeowners and business owners start to panic. But the fact is, only a few times in the past 30 years have fixed-rate mortgages actually been more cost-effective to carry than a variable rate mortgage. As long as you’ve negotiated your variable rate mortgage to lock in at any time, there’s no need to panic when relatively minor rate increases take effect.
- Think About Other Ways to Reduce Commercial Real Estate Needs: If you’re feeling nervous about the market, consider other ways to run your business. For example, partnering with other companies to share office space can be highly economical. You might also consider remote working arrangements where employees leverage their home office instead of coming in every day. Also, more open office plans with shared work spaces might not be ideal, but you can significantly reduce the operating footprint of your business with some innovative planning.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Travel Insurance
As Canadians recover from the recession, travel and consumer confidence is on the rise. According to Statistics Canada, "Canadian travel to the United States and overseas countries rose 3.6% in March from the previous month." In fact, 4.4 million outbound trips were taken by Canadians in March. Of those trips, 3.7 million were to the US, an increase from February. The largest increase was in overnight car trips, up 1.5%. As for overseas travel, Canadians took 690,000 trips in March, up 1.8% from February.
A recent article in Travel Weekly states, "airlines, cruise lines, hotels and tourist boards are seeing figures that are well up on 2009 and are approaching 2008 levels." Although not as strong as 2008 numbers, travel is up more than anticipated. "The pace of improvement, based on an improving global economic situation, is much faster than anybody would have expected even six months ago," said Giovanni Bisignani, International Air Transport Association's director general and CEO.
The Conference Board of Canada expects leisure trips to grow by 14% between 2009 and 2013. Without a comprehensive travel insurance plan, tourists are responsible for all medical expenses if an accident or illness occurs away from home. As well, they may lose all non-refundable prepaid travel fees if forced to cancel or interrupt their trip.Canadian Mortgage Broker News - Global bank tax dismissed
Canadian Mortgage Broker News - Global bank tax dismissed
Tuesday, 8 June 2010
Global bank tax dismissed
Due to stern opposition from Canada and several other countries, the Group of 20 finance ministers dismissed plans for a global bank tax, giving individual nations more freedom to decide how banks will pay for any future bailouts.
"By putting on a global tax, it would be treating the entire economy the same," said George Hugh, ING Direct's president of broker services and treasury. "Now they are saying there are differences between differenct countries, and leaving it up to them to come up with their own policies."
Ending this past Saturday in Busan, Korea, the two-day meeting was held to review the progress on initiatives designed to make the financial systems safer after last year's global economic collapse.
A bank tax, pushed for by the United States, Britain and France, would have levied all global financial institutions. All three countries spent billions of taxpayer dollars to save their biggest financial organizations. The money would have been placed in a fund as insurance in case of a future financial crisis, or sent to the general revenues of national governments.
Canadian Mortgage Broker News - Canada Housing Trust to sell less debt
Canadian Mortgage Broker News - Canada Housing Trust to sell less debt
Tuesday, 8 June 2010
Canada Housing Trust to sell less debt
Canada Housing Trust, the financing branch of the nation's housing agency, may sell 15 per cent less debt this year, as higher interest rates and sales taxes slow the rate of mortgage purchases, reported Bloomberg Businessweek early this morning.
The Housing Trust has issued C$13.9 billion so far this year in 5-year, 10-year and floating-rate notes, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. Based on those figures over the full year, the trust will probably sell less than C$40 billion. Last year, it sold a record $46.9 billion.
"It reflects the expectation that the Canadian housing market is going to ease from where it is now," said Carlos Leitao, Laurentian Bank Securities Inc. chief economist, to Bloomberg Businessweek. "As interest rates come up a bit and the HST becomes a reality in Ontario and British Columbia, that alone would put the housing market on a slower track."
Canada Housing Trust issues debt for CMHC, which then uses the proceeds to purchase packages of mortgage-backed securities from lenders.
Canadian Mortgage Broker News - CMHCs May housing starts
Canadian Mortgage Broker News - CMHCs May housing starts
Tuesday, 8 June 2010
CMHC's May housing starts
The seasonally adjusted annual rate of housing starts was reported as 189,100 units in May, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, down from the revised 201,800 units in April.
"Housing starts decreased in both the singles and the multiples segments in May," said Bob Dugan, chief economist at CMHC's market analysis centre. "The decrease in housing starts in May is consistent with our forecast that housing starts for 2010 will reach 182,000 units."
The seasonally adjusted annual rate for urban starts decreased by 9.5 per cent to 165,200 units in May.
Housing starts were previously expected to come in at an annualized rate of 205,000 for May. But the revised number is more in line with Canada's typical household-creation rate of 175,000 a year.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
