Richard Alfred's blog

Tiff Macklem is leaving the Bank of Canada's influential interest rate at 5% for the time being. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)

The Bank of Canada has announced its key overnight interest rate will remain at five per cent, keeping its benchmark the same for the fourth time in a row.

Today's announcement was predicted by many economists. The central bank last raised interest rates in July 2023.

At a press conference on Wednesday morning, the central bank's governor, Tiff Macklem, said discussions at the Bank of Canada are now shifting from how high to how...

Greater Toronto real estate is unlikely to have a Christmas rally like some had hoped. Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB) data shows home prices fell further in November. Home sales continue to fall while inventory builds, easing market conditions. In fact, the erosion of market pressures is occurring at one of the fastest rates in history, applying more downward pressure on prices. 

Greater Toronto Real Estate Prices Fell $20k Last Month, Back to 2022 Levels

Greater Toronto real estate prices continue to fall, now wiping out any gains made over the past year. The TRREB...

Immigration experts are calling on the government to crack down on the abuse of study permits for international students, including those gaining admission to Canada but who do not attend college or university once they get here. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) is also being urged to target people applying from abroad to attend private colleges that report high levels of “no shows.” An analysis by Statistics Canada in November found that around 19 per cent of international students with study permits did not have a record of studying at college or university here. The...

With interest rate cuts likely on the horizon, the Canadian Real Estate Association expects the number of homes changing hands this year to grow following a slowdown in 2023. However, experts say they remain cautious about the timing and scale of a potential rebound. CREA updated its 2024 housing forecast on Monday as it also reported national home sales data for December.

The association said it expects 489,661 residential properties to be sold this year -- a 10.4 per cent increase from 2023 -- and the national average home price to climb 2.3 per cent on an annual basis to $694,173....

Toronto’s real estate market may have “woke up from its slumber” as 2023 drew to a close but the trend of higher resale activity will have to persist for several more months before it leads to a rebound in prices, a new report from RBC suggests. The report from economists Robert Hogue and Rachel Battaglia was released this week. It shows that home sales in the GTA were up 21 per cent in December, rising from a near 15-year low in November. But Hogue and Battaglia point out that the “end-of-year sparks did little to alter softening price trends” with a further 1.3 per cent decline in the...

Rate falls to 4.79% to theoretically allow a borrower to be approved for a larger loan.

The Liberals have promised to increase limits and make some other changes to the First-Time Home Buyer program if they win the federal election. The flagship program, introduced earlier this month, has been criticized for limits which exclude potential buyers of homes in the priciest markets such as Toronto and Vancouver. But the party says that it would immediately expand the Incentive to provide more help to communities in the greater Toronto, Vancouver, and Victoria regions by allowing homes valued at up to $789K to qualify.

The Liberals have promised to increase limits and make some other changes to the First-Time Home Buyer program, if they win the federal election.

The flagship program, introduced earlier this month, has been criticized for limits which exclude potential buyers of homes in the priciest markets such as Toronto and Vancouver.

But the party says that it would immediately expand the Incentive to provide more help to communities in the greater Toronto, Vancouver, and Victoria regions by allowing homes valued at up to $789K to qualify.

Ontario Not-for-profit Corporations Act (“ONCA”) is targeted to come into force in “early 2020”