June 2020

Canadian housing starts rebounded by 16.2% m/m to 193,453 units in May at a seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR). Notably, Quebec was not included in last month's numbers, as the province shut down its construction sector due to the pandemic. Outside of Quebec, housing starts decreased in May. The trend in national housing starts fell to an avera...

Canadian employment grew by 290,000 jobs in May (1.8%, m/m), representing about 10 per cent of the jobs lost since the pandemic was declared. The number of workers who had their hours reduced also decreased by almost 9 per cent. The national unemployment rate rose by 0.7 percentage points to 13.7 per cent from the previous month, as more individual...

Once again, the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) is tightening the criteria to get a mortgage with less than a 20% down payment. Any potential home buyer with less than a 20% down payment must purchase default insurance on their loan and have a minimum down payment of 5%. CMHC is a federal Crown Corporation that provides such defaul...

The BCREA Commercial Leading Indicator (CLI) was down sharply in the first quarter of 2020 from 134.2 to 123.2, reflecting the slowdown prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Compared to the same time last year, the index was down by 4.8 per cent.

The pandemic-induced shutdown of the economy in the last two weeks of the first quarter of 2020 had a notab...

Home prices remain steady, buyers and sellers become more comfortable operating in today’s market

Metro Vancouver home prices have remained steady since provincial health officials implemented physical distancing requirements in March.

The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) reports that the MLS® Home Price Index composite benchmark price...