Canadian inflation was 1.7% in August. It’s the first time in 8 months it fell below the Bank of Canada’s stated 2% target. This increases the odds that Canada’s key lending rate will remain unchanged for at least a few more months.
- Here’s a good story on the relationship between interest rates and inflation by The Daily News.
- Chris Bryan from the Abbotsford News thinks you should get by with what you need, especially when it comes to a down payment on a house. He maintains that: “perhaps a person who can’t save $20,000 shouldn’t buy a $400,000 home.”
- If you ignore the top 4 foreclosure states in the U.S., American foreclosures actually declined last quarter.
- Coventree cuts 25 more jobs
- Canadian Senator Jerry Grafstein wants to investigate Canada’s credit crunch
- Canada’s newest entrant into the reverse mortgage market is Seniors Money. Unlike their competitor, CHIP, Seniors Money charges no penalties for early repayment. Nonetheless, the Montreal Gazette says a reverse mortgage should still be your last resort.
- Canadian mortgage insurers insured about 450,000 mortgages in 2006. (Source: The Star)
- After exiting the mortgage broker channel BMO hopes to hire “more mortgage specialists…increase volumes and regain lost share.”
- The Canadian Bankers Association says only 0.24% of Canadian mortgages are in arrears. That’s a record low.
- 2/3’s of Canadian households own their homes. That’s the highest level on record.
- Correction: Please note, in CMT’s story yesterday the sentence “Now we’re seeing some big lenders cut their discounts, to prime – 0.20%” should have read “prime – 0.50%.
