TORONTO – The loonie has been living up to its name in recent weeks, swooping crazily from just above parity with the U.S. greenback to well below as it navigates a violently turbulent global economy. The Canadian dollar’s latest move was a 2.12-cent retreat, as panicky currency traders looked for somewhere safe to park their […]

Thursday, 20th May All eyes were on the Canadian Dollar (CAD) on April 6th as it hit parity against the US Dollar (USD). However the run seems to be over as commodity prices drop off and the CAD falls to 0.9350.   Historically, commodity prices drive the CAD, no real surprise for this export led […]

Private sellers shaking up real estate industry Steve Ladurantaye Globe and Mail  Gordon Ives is the sort of customer who keeps real estate agents awake at night: a former customer.   Last year, after several years of trying to sell his Charlottetown home through an agent, the retired banker decided to change tack and find […]

Friday’s inflation rate expected to open door to interest rate hikes: economists  By Julian Beltrame, The Canadian Press OTTAWA – Canadians likely have only two weeks left to enjoy historically low interest rates. With global markets beginning to stabilize following the recent fears over a Greek debt default, economists say the pieces are falling into […]

Andrew Allentuck, Financial Post  Published: Thursday, May 06, 2010 Taking on a mortgage is a big commitment. Every buyer who uses a mortgage has the choice of floating or going with a fixed rate that often costs a couple of percentage points higher per year. Today, for example, one can get variable rates at an average […]

At this time it is important to put the Greek situation in perspective. Will we be talking about Greece 12 months from now? Clearly, no one can predict how the stock and bond markets will react in the coming weeks to developments in Europe. After all, as we all know, in this kind of situation […]

Spring 2010 Prudence is paying off for Canadian mortgage holdersCanadian Association of Accredited Mortgage Professionals releases spring survey report on residential mortgage market Toronto, ON (May 10, 2010) – Canadians appear well prepared to face the new phase of the residential mortgage market, where interest rates are rising and house activity is easing off, according […]

By Charles Rusnell, CBC News This house in the Bearspaw district of Calgary was bought for nearly $900,000 and in three years, its value was inflated to $2.3 million, a profit of $1.4 million for the alleged fraudsters. (CBC) The Bank of Montreal is suing hundreds of people in Alberta, including lawyers, mortgage brokers and […]

House prices to cool in 2011, says TD Financial Post  OTTAWA — The latest housing forecast from TD Economics leaves 2010 totals for sales and prices in Canada largely the same as its previous expectations in December, though that masks a wider discrepancy it now expects between a hot first half of the year and […]

HST New housing rebate for new homes purchased as a primary residence- a partial Enhanced new rental housing rebate, same as above rules for new primary residence homes-available to landlords who: 1. Purchase newly constructed or substantially renovated rental housing which is subject to HST, or 2. Construct or substantially renovate their own rental housing, […]