Data gaps show need for better foreign buyer stats + MORE Apr 9th

(Getty Images / Michael Blann)
The Canada Mortgage Housing Corporation (CMHC) recently released their April 2016 edition of the Foreign Ownership in Condominiums report.
The report aims to reveal the share of foreign ownership based on the age of the condominium building.
Not surprisingly, the report found that foreign ownership is most prevalent in new condo buildings in Toronto and Vancouver. But here’s the thing: The report only examines condo purchases by foreign buyers. It does not examine the percentage of foreign ownership in single residential homes—the one segment of the real estate market that has witnessed astronomical price increases.
CMHC acknowledges this weakness stating in the report: “Despite a range of statistics suggested by various studies on the size of foreign ownership, available factual information remains scarce.”
Actually, this lack of information was the impetus behind CMHC’s decision to start collecting data on foreign ownership in condo purchases…

Have you given your wallet its spring cleaning? With plenty of deals – and new rewards – available this month, it’s a great time to swap out stale finance products for higher earning options. Get started with our review of an exciting new cash back credit card option, and check out what our expert panel has to say about April’s sweet mortgage discounts.
Lenders Call a Truce on Spring Mortgage Rate Wars
April historically marks an uptick in mortgage price competition as brokers and banks march out their most attractive interest rates – but with today’s fixed and variable rates already at record lows, lenders are engaging in fewer price skirmishes. Is it a good time to get a mortgage? Read on for our expert panel’s take.
Read Penelope’s Blog | Lenders Call a Truce on Spring Mortgage Rate Wars
Free to Use, Free to Choose: Review of the Tangerine Money-Back Credit Card
There’s a new cash back contender in Canada’s credit card market, and it’s bringing a new level of choice to consumers…

Ottawa homebuilders are aiming high in 2016, according to a slew of new statistics released detailing the current state of affairs in the city’s housing market. Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. (CMHC) released its monthly update on new home construction Friday, stating that the number of new homes started by construction companies in Ottawa during the month of […]

If you want to know how condo investors operate, CMHC has a new report for that. It just released its 2015 Condominium Owners Survey (COS), and it’s stuffed with facts and insights on income property activity. One key stat, for example, is the number of condo flippers (buyers who “anticipate holding their unit for less than 2 years”). CMHC estimates the number at just 8% of all condo investors. That’s markedly less than some housing bears would have us believe (which is exactly why hard data is so important; thank you, CMHC). Below are some of the other mortgage-related highlights. READ MORE

OTTAWA – Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. says the pace of housing starts slowed in March.
The agency says the seasonally adjusted annual rate was 204,251 units in March, down from 219,077 in February.
Economists had expected an annual pace of 190,000, according to Thomson Reuters.
The six-month moving average of housing starts slipped to an annual rate of 196,783 units in March compared with 201,618 in February.
For March, the pace of urban starts fell 7.0 per cent to 185,022 units as work in British Columbia, Quebec, Atlantic Canada and the Prairies slowed, but picked up in Ontario. Multiple-unit urban starts dropped 9.7 per cent to 123,207, while single-detached starts slipped 1.1 per cent to 61,815.
Rural starts were estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 19,299.
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