An upswing in vacant land transactions helped the commercial real market maintain a steady pace in line with historical activity in the Lower Mainland, according to data from Commercial Edge, a commercial real estate system operated by the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV). 

The total dollar value of commercial sales in the region was $1.4 billion in the first quarter (Q1) of 2014, a 45.5 per cent increase from Q1 2013. This is the second highest Q1 dollar value total in the last five years.

There were 441 commercial real estate sales in the Lower Mainland in Q1 2014, according...

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), one of Canada’s most trusted sources of housing information and analysis, today launched its Housing Market Information Portal (the Portal). A new, dynamic, web-basedtool, the Portal lets users meet their information needs by accessing CMHC’s wealth of housing market data in one, easy location. Unrivalled in scope and flexibility, the Portal provides housing market information to address a wide range of strategic business needs — at no cost to users.

“As Canada’s housing authority, CMHC...

According to statistics released today by The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA), national home sales activity posted a sizeable month-over-month increase in May 2014.

Highlights:
National home sales rose 5.9% from April to May.
Actual (not seasonally adjusted) activity stood 4.8% above May 2013 levels.
The number of newly listed homes climbed 3.8% from April to May.
The Canadian housing market remains in balanced territory.
The national average sale price rose 7.1% on a year-over-year basis in May.
The MLS® Home Price Index (HPI) rose 5.0% year-over-year in May.

The number of home...

The British Columbia Real Estate Association (BCREA) reports that a total of 8,729 residential sales were recorded by the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) in May, up 13.9 per cent from May 2013. Total sales dollar volume was $4.9 billion, an increase of 20.6 per cent compared to a year ago. The average MLS® residential price in the province rose to $565,233, up 5.8 per cent from the same month last year.

“Consumer demand was noticeably stronger last month, with unit sales posting their highest level for the month of May since 2007,” said...

The Bank of Canada today unveiled an enhanced framework to gauge the evolving risks to financial stability in its semi-annual Financial System Review (FSR), finding that the Canadian financial system is robust but still faces significant vulnerabilities.

“After weighing the risks to financial stability through our improved framework, our level of comfort as policy makers remains roughly what it was six months ago,” said Governor Stephen S. Poloz. “Our analysis shows that household imbalances remain the most important vulnerability and could amplify the impact of external shocks....

The Bank of Canada today announced that it is maintaining its target for the overnight rate at 1 per cent. The Bank Rate is correspondingly 1 1/4 per cent and the deposit rate is 3/4 per cent.

Total CPI inflation has moved up to around the 2 per cent target, sooner than anticipated in the Bank’s April Monetary Policy Report (MPR), largely due to the temporary effects of higher energy prices and exchange rate pass-through. Core inflation remains significantly below 2 per cent although it has drifted up slightly, partly owing to past exchange rate movements.

Global economic growth in the first...

Housing starts in Canada were trending at 184,438 units in May compared to 183,872 in April, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). The trend is a six-month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates (SAAR)1 of housing starts.

“In May, the trend in housing starts was virtually unchanged for the third consecutive month. This is in line with CMHC’s analysis indicating that the new home construction market in Canada is headed for a soft landing in 2014,” said Bruno Duhamel, Manager, Housing and Economic...

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) announced today two additional changes as it has completed the review of its homeowner and multi-unit mortgage loan insurance business. These are:

• CMHC mortgage loan insurance for the financing of multi-unit condominium construction will be discontinued effective immediately. CMHC’s mortgage loan insurance for the homebuyers wishing to purchase a condominium is unaffected by this change; and
• CMHC will align its low-ratio transactional mortgage loan insurance product with its high-ratio product by establishing maximum house prices, amortization...

An increase in home buyer demand put Greater Vancouver in the upper reaches of a balanced real estate market in May.

The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) reports that residential property sales in Greater Vancouver reached 3,286 on the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) in May 2014. This represents a 14 per cent increase compared to the 2,882 sales recorded in May 2013, and a 7.7 per cent increase compared to the 3,050 sales in April 2014.

Last month’s sales were 6.5 per cent below the 10-year sales average for May of 3,514.

The sales-to-active-listings...