February 2013 Ontario Economic Fundamentals

[Ally]

Dealing with a detached reality





Earlier this week, RealNet Canada and the Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD) released the official and comprehensive new-home market results for 2012.






A strategic review of those results suggests the formation of a market condition that`s best described as `detached reality.` This condition occurs when people`s perceptions of what`s happening in the real estate market end up influencing their actions more than the market reality itself.






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[Ally]

January 2013 Kitchener housing starts






TORONTO, ONTARIO`(Marketwire ` Feb. 8, 2013) - Housing starts in the Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) were trending at 2,180 units in January, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). The trend is a six month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates (SAAR)[sup]1[/sup] of housing starts. The standalone monthly SAAR was 1,865 units in January, down from 3,382 in December.




`Many households have put their home purchases on hold due to a slowing economy. As a result, housing starts declined. Demand for the more affordable townhomes increased, while starts of single-detached homes which are relatively higher priced declined. A low number of lots for single-detached homes in some municipalities is also limiting starts,` said Erica McLerie, CMHC`s Senior Market Analyst for Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo.





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[Ally]

January 2013 Brantford housing starts






TORONTO, ONTARIO`(Marketwire ` Feb. 8, 2013) - Housing starts in Brantford Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) were trending at 379 units in January, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). The trend is a six month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates (SAAR)[sup]1[/sup] of housing starts. The standalone monthly SAAR was 251 units in January, down from 583 units in December.




`Brantford`s total housing starts were down in January 2013 compared to the same month in 2012. Semi-detached, row and apartment starts were completely responsible for the decrease in total housing starts this January. Meanwhile, single-detached starts remained virtually unchanged. The steady performance in single-detached starts this January suggested that the move-up buyer segment in Brantford remained very active. Typically, buyers in the group (aged 45 to 64) demand single-detached dwellings,` said Abdul Kargbo, CMHC`s Senior Market Analyst for the Hamilton and Brantford CMAs.





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[Ally]

January 2013 Hamilton housing starts






TORONTO, ONTARIO`(Marketwire ` Feb. 8, 2013) - Housing starts in Hamilton Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) were trending at 2,537 units in January, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). The trend is a six month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates (SAAR) [sup]1 [/sup]of housing starts. The standalone monthly SAAR was 3,334 units in January, up from 2,273 units in December.




`Hamilton`s total housing starts were up in January 2013 from the same month a year ago. The strong performance in single-detached and apartment starts completely offset the sharp decline in semi- detached and row starts. Similar to the pattern seen last year, single-detached starts began 2013 on a high note, recovering from two consecutive monthly declines,` said Abdul Kargbo, CMHC`s Senior Market Analyst for Hamilton and Brantford CMAs.





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[Ally]

January 2013 Toronto housing starts






TORONTO, ONTARIO`(Marketwire ` Feb. 8, 2013) - Housing starts in Toronto Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) were trending at 42,200 units in January, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). The trend is a six month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates (SAAR) [sup]1 [/sup]of housing starts.




`Home building, especially in multi-unit starts, slowed in January after experiencing elevated levels of condominium apartment starts throughout 2012. Housing construction in 2013 is expected to remain lower than last year, but should continue to receive some support from strong pre-construction condo sales activity in late 2011 and early 2012,` said Shaun Hildebrand, CMHC`s Senior Market Analyst for Toronto.





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[Ally]

January 2013 Ontario housing starts






TORONTO, ONTARIO`(Marketwire ` Feb. 8, 2013) - Housing starts in the Ontario region were trending at 65,914 units in January, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). The trend is a six month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates (SAAR)[sup]1[/sup] of housing starts. The standalone monthly SAAR was 41,912 units in January, down from 74,767 units in December.




`Ontario residential construction activity weakened in January. However, the magnitude of declines in January both on a monthly trend and year over year raw basis were exacerbated for two reasons. Firstly, monthly activity deviated significantly from the more stable six month moving average trend which is not uncommon early in a calendar year. This suggests some reversal is expected in the next few months. Secondly, relatively mild weather last January likely accelerated construction that normally would have started in future months,` said Ted Tsiakopoulos, CMHC`s Ontario Regional Economist.





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[Ally]

Ontario lost most jobs of any province in January


TORONTO - Ontario lost more jobs last month than any other province in the country.




Tory MPP Monte McNaughton said premier-designate Kathleen Wynne, who will be sworn in with her new cabinet Monday, needs to take dramatic action to stem the bleeding.





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[Ally]

Toronto condos cool




TORONTO`The once red-hot condominium market here is suddenly teetering, as sales plummet and prices ease.










The downdraft is threatening a boom that has transformed the skyline of Canada's largest city and come to symbolize the country's economic outperformance in recent years. As real-estate markets crashed in the U.S. and elsewhere amid the global financial and economic crisis, Canadian home prices quickly bounced back and then took off on a multiyear tear.










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[Ally]

Less than half of Peterborough residents have jobs




Less than half of Peterborough residents have jobs, an economist told a group of people that met Tuesday night to begin forming a Workers` Action Centre in Peterborough.




`You cannot keep a community going on only half the community working,` said Armine Yalnizyan, a senior economist at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.





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[Ally]

Niagara employment numbers jump in 2012






NIAGARA - Niagara`s unemployment rates are gearing down as the economy begins gearing up.




And the rates are expected to continue decreasing, according to the Conference Board of Canada`s Metropolitan Outlook for winter.





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[Ally]

Ridership rises again on Brampton transit





Brampton Transit ridership continues to increase in leaps and bounds, rising 12 percent in 2012 compared to the national average increase of just four per cent.







Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Capital region jobless rate down despite loss of government jobs




OTTAWA ` The National Capital Region`s jobless rate slipped to 6.4 per cent in January compared to 6.6 per cent in December though trends north and south of the river differed markedly.




Unemployment on the Gatineau side of the river actually jumped to 6.8 per cent in January compared to 6.6 per cent in December while the jobless rate in Ottawa fell to 6.3 per cent from 6.6 per cent over the same period, according to a survey published Friday by Statistics Canada.





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[Ally]

Ottawa home sales slow in January




OTTAWA ` The capital`s real estate market continued to cool in January as the number of resale homes dipped when compared with the same month last year.




According to the Ottawa Real Estate Board, 602 units were sold in the month, an 11.7-per-cent drop from the 682 reported in January 2012. It was the most sluggish January for home sales since 2009.



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[Ally]

Bloom or bust for Toronto real estate this spring?





Economist David Madani sent shock waves through the real estate industry when he predicted that Toronto`s overheated housing market was due for a 25 per cent correction.






That was two years ago.






He`s still waiting ` and watching closely ` as the GTA heads into one of the most pivotal spring markets of the last two decades.






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[Ally]

Toronto's finally talking transportation




For years now, people have been saying we need to have an adult conversation about how to pay for better transit in Toronto. Well, we`re having it now. The city is buzzing with talk about revenue streams and dedicated taxes.




City Hall is in the first phase of an elaborate, three-part consultation exercise designed to wake Torontonians up to the transit challenge and get them to help choose how ` or whether ` they want to be taxed. It`s called Feeling Congested? Toronto Talks Transportation, and organizers have been holding public meetings around the city.



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[Ally]

Home sales pick up steam in Toronto





Home sales picked up steam in Canada`s two most-watched cities in January, outpacing the rest of the country, according to figures from the Canadian Real Estate Association.






Toronto saw month-over-month sales increases of 5.6 per cent, followed by Vancouver at 4.7 per cent, both markets that have seen considerable softening since tighter mortgage lending rules took effect last July.






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[Ally]

Catch ya later, Toronto






Stop me if you`ve heard this one before. No, wait, don`t stop me`I know you`ve heard this one before. This is the story that every city magazine in North America runs every couple years or so, when it seems that some outlying neighbourhood, city, or town is about to become The Next Big Thing. The Next Big Thing has usually replaced the Last Next Big Thing because it`s a) cheaper, b) cooler, c) weirder, d) further away, or e) all of the above, and this Next Big Thing`it could be Portland, Guelph, or Long Island City`is the place that everyone`s moving to. And if you`re broke, cool, or weird you`d better be thinking about moving there, too.





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[Ally]

London city hall's $60 million scramble





Consider, for a moment, the old fable of the tortoise and the hare, a well-known story that offers a simple moral: slow and steady wins the race. It`s a tale that works just fine for the kiddies at bedtime. But at city hall in London, another story altogether should be unfurling.




With stubbornly high unemployment and a stated goal by city council to kick-start job creation, there`s no room for a plodding pace. Where sparking the local economy is concerned, time is of the essence.





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[Ally]

GTA realtors release mid month housing resale figures




TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Feb 19, 2013) - Greater Toronto Area REALTORSÂ reported 2,823 sales through the TorontoMLS system during the first 14 days of February. This result represented a decline of 8.3 per cent compared to the same period in 2012.




"The number of transactions was lower for most home types in comparison to last year, but so too was the number of new listings. This means that market conditions remained quite tight, especially for low-rise home types. The result was continued price growth over last year," said Toronto Real Estate Board President Ann Hannah.





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[Ally]

Oshawa economy to grow 2.6%




The resurgence of the local manufacturing industry will continue to drive Oshawa`s economy in 2013, according to the Conference Board of Canada, which is predicting 2.6 per cent growth for the city`s economy.




The Conference Board`s latest Metropolitan Outlook said Oshawa`s economy grew by 2.5 per cent in 2012. Among the 28 municipalities researched last year, Oshawa finished sixth.





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