Is Toronto’s housing market decline for real? + MORE Jun 8th

Mortgage lender Home Capital Group Inc. is fielding preliminary takeover offers and is in negotiations to settle regulatory allegations as Canada’s largest alternative mortgage lender bounces back from a financial crisis

(Mark Sommerfeld/Bloomberg/Getty Images)
It’s official: after a long period of extraordinary home sales and home price growth, the Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB) reported that the Greater Toronto Area’s housing market posted the first set of this year’s declines in May for a market that’s been hot for at least the last two years. But will this be a one-month blip, or a turning point followed by falling prices and sales in the coming months?
Forecasting real estate market performance is a tricky business. But a closer look at the TREB data seems to provide enough support for a reasonable call: sales and prices will continue to fall for at least two or three more months.
In its news release, TREB states that home sales in May 2017 were 20.3 per cent lower than in the same month last year. This was a second month in a row of falling sales as in April 2017 sales dropped year-over-year by 3.2 per cent. Single-detached home sales fell 26.3 per cent in May, while condominium apartment sales were off 6…

The country’s financial system has become increasingly exposed to economic shocks amid the continued rise of household debt and still-scorching housing prices in major markets, the Bank of Canada said Thursday.
But even as the central bank warned the country’s most significant weak spots have widened, governor Stephen Poloz offered words aimed at reassuring Canadians.
He said the financial system remains sturdy in the context of brightening economic conditions.
“At this stage, I’m just comforted by the fact that the economy is showing better dynamics and that does go into this equation of financial risk as a positive,” Poloz told reporters.
“It means that the resilience is rising in the background, even if the vulnerabilities are also rising in the foreground.”
The bank’s assessment was rolled into its bi-annual review, which explored and identified the key vulnerabilities and risks surrounding the stability of the financial system.
Poloz often uses a tree as a metaphor for the economy with vulnerabilities represented by cracks in the tree and risks akin to gusts of wind that could knock it down…

The unfortunate reality is that our system of financial regulations is broken and out of date, with glaring gaps that fail to ensure the competence and proficiency of all those who hold themselves out as financial advisers

As Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr explores avenues in China to expand foreign investment in the oilsands, his government is being accused of allowing Chinese takeovers of Canadian firms with little regard for national security.
Carr is on a five-day trade mission to China, pursuing partnerships and new markets for the energy and forestry sectors. The trip comes as the two countries pursue exploratory free trade talks, and the federal Liberals adjust their foreign policy to confront the headwinds of Donald Trump’s “America First” doctrine. Carr’s message? Canada welcomes Chinese investment, including in the oilsands, he told a conference call from Beijing—a departure from the previous Conservative policy of keeping state-owned-enterprises out of Canada’s energy sector.
“We think there is opportunity and we laid out along with experts from the industry what we believe to be Canadian opportunities for them,” Carr said.
“Chinese investors are no different than investors from anywhere else…