January 2022

While the majority of expert opinion had swung toward the Bank of Canada raising its overnight rate this morning, the Bank instead maintained its overnight rate at 0.25 per cent. However, in the statement accompanying the decision the Bank noted that slack in the economy has been absorbed and it is ending what it calls its

"exceptional forward guida...

Canadian prices, as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), rose 4.8% on a year-over-year basis in December, up from 4.7% in November. On a month-over-month basis, the CPI declined 0.1% in December, the first monthly decline since December 2020. The Bank of Canada's preferred measures of core inflation (which use techniques to strip out volatil...

Canadian housing starts fell to 236.1k units in December at a seasonally-adjusted annual rate (SAAR). This brings the total number of housing starts in 2021 to 271.2k, 16% above the previous record in 2004. Housing starts were down by 67.7k (22.3% m/m) in December (SAAR). Comparing year-over-year, starts were up slightly from December of 2020 (1.3...

Metro Vancouver home sales reached an all-time high in 2021 as housing needs remained a top priority for residents in the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) reports that residential home sales in the region totalled 43,999 in 2021, a 42.2 per cent increase from the 30,944 sales recorded in 2020...