August 2022

Gasoline Prices Dipped, But No Time To Celebrate

While we are all grateful that gasoline prices declined from record highs in July, today's release of the July inflation data shows that the underlying inflation momentum remains too strong for comfort. Governor Macklem will likely continue to hike the policy rate aggressively when they next announce...

Canadian housing starts rose by 2.9k (1.1 per cent) to 275.3k units in July at a seasonally-adjusted annual rate (SAAR). Comparing year-over-year, starts were up from July of 2021 (0.5 per cent). Single-detached housing starts rose 1.6 per cent to 72.6k, while multi-family and others rose 0.9 per cent to 202.7k (SAAR).

In British Columbia, starts f...

Canadian prices, as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), rose 7.6 per cent on a year-over-year basis in July, down from 8.1 per cent last month. The deceleration was driven by declining gasoline prices, but price growth remains high among other components of the index. Excluding gasoline, the CPI rose 6.6 per cent year over year in July, up...

The British Columbia Real Estate Association (BCREA) reports that a total of 5,572 residential unit sales were recorded by the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) in July 2022, a decrease of 42.4 per cent from July 2021. The average MLS® residential price in BC was $923,449, a 3.6 per cent increase from $891,376 recorded in July 2021. Total sales doll...