December 2020

Canadian employment gained 62k jobs in November (0.3%, m/m), increasing in Ontario, BC, and the Atlantic provinces. This is the seventh consecutive month of increases, putting national employment within 574k of its pre-COVID February level. The national unemployment rate decreased by 0.4 percentage points to 8.5%, continuing the steady fall from th...

November home sales outpace seasonal norms and long-term averages

Housing demand in Metro Vancouver* continues to outpace historical averages with November sales eclipsing 3,000 for the first time since 2015.

The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) reports that residential home sales in the region totalled 3,064 in November 2020, a 22.7 p...

Following a record contraction of the Canadian economy in the first half of 2020, the third quarter saw a vigorous rebound in economic growth. Real GDP was up 8.9 per cent in the third quarter, or 40.5 per cent on an annualized basis, bringing the economy back to about 5 per cent of its pre-COVID-19 level. Household spending rebounded, rising 13 pe...

The BCREA Commercial Leading Indicator (CLI) rebounded in the third quarter of 2020 from 122.3 to 136.9, representing the first increase after four consecutive quarterly declines. It was the largest increase in the indicator since the start of the CLI series in 1999, reflecting a recovery from a significant drop in the first half of 2020, due to st...