May Was Another Sleepy Month For Housing The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) announced today that national home sales fell 0.6% in May, remaining slightly below the average of the past ten years. Actual (not seasonally adjusted) monthly activity was 5.9% below May 2023. With the Bank of Canada rate cut on June 5, housing activity […]

May Jobs Report In the first major data release since the Bank of Canada cut interest rates on Wednesday, Statistics Canada Labour Force Survey for May showed a marked slowdown from the April surge. Employment was little changed and the employment rate fell 0.1 percentage points to 61.3%, the seventh decrease in the past eight months. […]

A Collective Sigh of Relief As The BoC Cut Rates For the First Time in 27 Months Today, the Bank of Canada boosted consumer and business confidence by cutting the overnight rate by 25 bps to 4.75% and pledged to continue reducing the size of its balance sheet. The news came on the heels of […]

Odds of a Rate Cut Next Week Rise with Disappointed Canadian GDP Growth The likelihood of a rate cut next week has increased due to disappointing Canadian GDP growth. Real gross domestic product (GDP) only rose by 1.7% (seasonally adjusted annual rate) in the first quarter of this year, which is well below the expected […]

Canadian Inflation Eased Again in April, Raising the Chances of a June Rate Cut The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 2.7% year-over-year (y/y) in April, down from 2.9% in March. This marks the fourth consecutive decline in core inflation. Food prices, services, and durable goods led to the broad-based deceleration in the headline CPI. The […]

Homebuyers Cautious As New Listings Surge In April The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) announced today that national home sales dipped in April 2024 from its prior month, as the number of properties available for sale rose sharply to kick off the spring housing market. Home sales activity recorded over Canadian MLS® Systems fell 1.7% […]

April’s Strong Job Gains Likely Postpone Rate Cuts Until July Today’s StatsCanada Labour Force Survey for April blindsided economists by coming in much more robust than expected. Employment in Canada rose a whopping 90,400 in April, the most in 15 months, following a decline in March, surpassing forecasts by a large margin. Substantial job gains were posted […]

March’s Weak Jobs Report Sets The Stage For A June Rate Cut Today’s StatsCanada Labour Force Survey for March is much weaker than expected. Employment fell by 2,200, and the employment rate declined for the sixth consecutive month to 61.4%. Total hours worked in March were virtually unchanged but up 0.7% compared with 12 months earlier. The details […]

Great News On The Inflation Front The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 2.8% year-over-year in February, down from the 2.9% January pace and much slower than the 3.1% expected rate. Gasoline prices rose in Canada for the first time in five months, which led many analysts to forecast a rise in February inflation as seen […]

February data bode well for a strong spring housing market The Canadian Real Estate Association announced today that national home sales dipped 3.1% m/m in February while home prices were flat, ending a five-month price decline that began last fall. It was noteworthy that prices remained unchanged from January to February, given that they dropped […]