The Canadian housing market continues to defy gravity! 🙂 According to CREA the average home price in May increased to $416,584, a 7.1% jump from a year ago. The number of homes sold also increased by 5.9% month over month, which is the largest gain in several years. A lot of people feel concerned that this kind of growth is unsustainable. They… Read More »
What a fantastic game over the weekend 🙂 Our household debt to personal disposable income in Canada is around 163% today. In the U.S. the ratio is only 140%. This ratio is greatly affected by the price of homes. The Canadian housing market has done well since the last recession, but home prices in the U.S. have fallen.… Read More »
Mark J. Carney, the Governor of the Bank of Canada controls what our central bank does on interest rates. Governors get paid between $431,80 to $507,900. The reason our mortgages are so affordable today, and why Canada didn’t have an economic meltdown during the last recession is largely because of Mr. Carney. Prior to his current job he… Read More »
Buying a home in the US right now is a pretty good idea. Prices have come down 30% from their highs in 2006 and the cost of owning is cheap compared to renting. However it’s not the same story on this side of the border. What goes up must come down right? well apparently not when you’re in Canada.… Read More »
Starting on July 9th, the maximum amortization period for a new mortgage will be 25 years, down from 30 (only if it’s insured by CMHC.) This is a measure introduced by our finance minister to cool the housing market. This works because if someone wanted to buy a home today with a $300,000 mortgage, they can pay it… Read More »
I’ve decided to participate in 20’s Finances’ The Dollar Challenge, which is an interesting study that asks what do people spend their money on as a percentage of their income. In other words, for every 1 dollar earned, how is it spent? So here we go. On an average month, my take home pay is used up in the… Read More »