RBC’s executive team today expressed confidence in its due diligence of HSBC Canada’s mortgage portfolio during the $13.5-billion acquisition. The question arose on today’s first-quarter earnings call in the wake of whistleblower allegations of a mortgage fraud scheme at HSBC Canada’s Greater Toronto operations prior to RBC’s acquisition of the bank. The allegations were first […]

The Bank of Canada is still likely to wait until mid-year before delivering its first rate cut, despite January’s downside surprise in inflation, economists say. Headline inflation came in below expectations with a 2.9% reading in January against expectations of 3.3% and December’s 3.4% pace. It’s the first time the headline CPI reading has fallen […]

Canadian home sales continued their upward trend in january as prices fell modestly The Canadian Real Estate Association announced today that home sales over the last two months show signs of recovery. National sales were up 3.7% between December 2023 and January 2024, building on the 7.9% gain in December. The chart below shows that […]

When the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) announced that Canada would need an extra 3.5 million homes by 2030 to keep up with demand, the figure was already staggering. But a new report from CIBC deputy chief economist Benjamin Tal suggests the housing supply gap is even worse than first thought. In his research […]

Home sales surged in most of Canada’s large metro areas in December, despite total 2023 activity being the slowest in over two decades. In Toronto, for example, December sales were 11.5% higher compared to a year ago, while total 2023 sales were down over 12%. Calgary saw December sales surge nearly 14% year-over-year, while 2023 […]

For nearly four decades, Canadians have turned to an investment strategy of writing off the interest from mortgage payments as tax-deductible. Known as the Smith Manoeuvre—after its creator, financial planner Fraser Smith—the strategy involves getting a readvanceable mortgage, which includes a line of credit. After paying the mortgage every month, a homeowner then borrows the […]