OTTAWA–Confronting an economic crunch created by the subprime-mortgage meltdown in the United States, Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney says he`s worried about the increasing popularity of the 40-year mortgage in Canada.
"We have concerns with the increased prevalence of very high loan to value mortgage products," he told members of Parliament on the House of Commons finance committee yesterday.
"They add to momentum in the housing market and, if everyone has a 40-year amortization mortgage, then you just have higher housing prices."
... Turner`s latest book, Greater Fool: The Troubled Future of Real Estate, is filled with dire scenarios of Canadians losing just about everything they`ve sunk into their homes.
... Canadians` net worth in residential real estate rose 4.7% in the fourth quarter of 2007 at an annualized rate, reports National Bank Financial, while it fell 11% for Americans during the same period.
... Nearly four of every five Canadian homeowners say they want to pay off their mortgages as fast as possible, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. Almost 85% make weekly or biweekly payments to speed up amortizations, while a third have made a lump-sum payment against principal. Canadians are pretty averse to carrying debt compared to their American counterparts, but paying it down could backfire if your life savings are plowed into property and the market does tank — even if the hit is only a short-term correction.
In some parts of the country, impatient homeowners can`t wait to begin preening and greening their lawns after winter recedes. Few are keener than Richard Dupuis, who devotes at least 90 minutes a week to trimming, fertilizing and tending to the lawn surrounding his home in Ottawa.
"My lawn is an extension of my gardens, it gives the home curb appeal," says the man, who`s known around his neighbourhood as the Wayne Gretzky of lawn care and gardening.
Oil price surge persuades some to switch their ways
OTTAWA -- With some economists predicting gas prices will hit the $1.50 a litre mark this summer, Canadians may begin trading planes, trains and automobiles for buses, bikes and scooters.
While a switch is seen as positive for the environment, it has left some cities dealing with the looming problem of overcrowded transit systems.
Motorists have long been advised to drive more slowly if they want to save on fuel costs because fuel is burned faster at higher speeds.
Well, airlines are now seeing the benefits of slower flying as they seek to reduce millions in jet-fuel costs.
Air Canada, among the leaders in this area, created a series of steps to save on fuel costs more than a year ago, according to spokesperson Isabelle Arthur.
At least that is what`s making the headlines these days.
The world has suddenly found itself in an inflationary food spiral as the cost of everything from corn to rice rockets upward. The big story centres on the food riots in less developed countries, where the strain of rising costs have boiled over into the streets.
TORONTO - Eighteen months ago, a group of lawyers, bankers and Toronto Stock Exchange representatives flew from Toronto to Tel Aviv, Israel, to make a pitch to about 300 of the country`s business leaders. Their message was simple: come list your stocks with us.
But then it got complicated.
"On that first trip, the two most common questions were, `What does TSX stand for?` And `Isn`t that a mining exchange?`" says Henry Harris, a partner at Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP.
Never let yourself be seduced by `financial pornography`
As the old saying goes, "sex sells." Just look around at the advertising world and you can`t help but see the barrage of sexual images to sell products and services that really have nothing to do with sex.
In the financial world, there are not a lot of pictures of half-naked men or women selling mutual funds or other investment products, but there are other forms of what I call financial pornography.
The most expensive words in remodelling: While we`re at it ...
My friend, who just finished building a gorgeous custom home, has as her computer screen saver a picture of two boats: a dinghy named Original Contract floating next to a yacht called Change Order.
"I think that`s my contractor`s new boat," she said, pointing to the yacht.
We laughed the way people laugh about their taxes. Turns out the picture is making the rounds on the Internet drawing knowing smirks from builders and gasps of recognition from their clients.
During the last few weeks, I have received a number of questions.
I picked out a few of these because I thought they might be of general interest.
I have changed them a bit, taken out intros -- and phrases such as "Ozzie, you are great" (but that was hard) -- and have just given you the nuts and bolts.
When it comes to recreation properties, nothing is hotter than real estate in tropical locations.
The strength of the Canadian dollar, combined with a slowdown in the economy in the United States has many developers in warmer climes pitching their projects to Canadians looking a a winter getaway.
However, there are additional things to consider when purchasing real estate in a distant country, says Don Campbell, president of Cutting Edge Research, a long-time real estate investor and author of the best-selling Real Estate Investing in Canada.
It`s fair to say the world economic system is waiting to exhale.
And waiting. And waiting ...
Central bankers have done their part, injecting billions of dollars into the system to prevent a global banking meltdown. The banks themselves, particularly in the U.S. – where contrition trumps shame, unlike the U.K. – have written down most of the global industry`s $225 billion (U.S.) worth of soured loans from the U.S. subprime debacle to date. And Uncle Sam this month is sending out cheques to hundreds of millions of Americans in an emergency bid to stimulate a faltering consumer economy.
OTTAWA -- When Prime Minister Stephen Harper gathered the country`s premiers at 24 Sussex Drive last fall, he wanted them to focus on what he saw as the country`s No. 1 economic problem: Within a decade or two, there simply will not be enough workers in the country.
Although recent headlines about thousands of layoffs in Canada`s struggling manufacturing sector may suggest otherwise, Harper and his cabinet are struggling to find ways to boost training programs and increase immigration to find more workers to avoid what some Conservative strategists say is an "economic time bomb."
If you sent off your taxes to Ottawa last week as most of us did, read this, but only if you are sitting down.
I have not written about this for several years, but research and sources report a combination of tax evasion and immigration fraud is as big as ever because Ottawa continues to be so badly managed by civil servants and politicians.
OTTAWA -- Canada`s holiday from inflation is nearing an end and the Bank of Canada will be compelled to start pushing interest rates higher, the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce says. The report by CIBC`s chief economist Jeff Rubin says that Canada`s current low 1.4 per cent inflation rate is primarily the result of the rapid appreciation in the Canadian dollar, which rapidly gained strength against the U.S. dollar from August to November.
Foreign direct investment in Canada in 2007 rose by the biggest amount in eight years, led by a continued wave of acquisitions by foreign investors, particularly in resource-based industries, Statistics Canada said Tuesday.
Corporate investment inflows in 2007 pushed foreign direct investment holdings in Canada over the half a trillion dollar mark at the end of 2007 -- a rise of 14.4 per cent from 2006, according to the federal agency.
Canadians face risks in not telling insurers about renovations
Canadians are forgetting to tell their insurance companies when renovating their homes, a new survey suggests.
About 40 per cent of Canadians renovated their homes in the last year.
However, 67 per cent of them didn`t alert their insurance broker or company before doing the upgrades, according to the survey done for insurer Royal & SunAlliance
Make tax-smart investments, not returns, the priority
If you had to choose between two investments, one offering returns of 10% and the second offering returns of 8%, which would you choose?
This is not a trick question. Most people would choose the 10% investment. However, if the first investment produced an after-tax return of 6% while the second investment produced returns after tax of 7%, which would you choose now? No matter what return you make, the real indicator of success is the after-tax return.
As the saying goes, "It`s not what you make, but what you keep that counts." This is crucial in the investment world.
OTTAWA -- Nervous Canadian investors are sitting on a record $45 billion in excess cash, putting themselves in danger of missing out on billions in investment returns, warns a major Canadian investment firm.
"With the level of stock market volatility at a five-year high, Canadian investors are seeking asylum in the safety of cash," CIBC World Markets said on a report released Wednesday.
Condos increasingly attractive to urban buyers: Canada Trust
OTTAWA -- Condos are increasingly becoming urban Canadians` residence of choice, as the lure of low maintenance and affordability boosts the number of potential buyers to almost half of the marketplace, says TD Canada Trust.
Forty-eight per cent of city-dwelling Canadians said they would consider buying a condominium as their primary residence, up significantly from the 39 per cent recorded a year ago, Canada Trust said in its condo poll survey of 1,200 online interviews.
