The majority of Vancouverites who recently purchased or intend to purchase a condo say that if they had more money, they would prefer to buy a house instead.  The 2011 TD Canada Trust Condo Poll, which surveyed Canadians who are thinking of buying, or recently bought a condo, found that affordability of condos is a […]

Canadians would like nothing more than to be rid of their mortgage debt, according to a new poll released by Scotiabank.  Almost half of Canadians (46%) are saddled with mortgage debt; of those with a mortgage, a staggering 86% indicate that it is important to pay their mortgages expeditiously. “Many Canadians know ways to reduce […]

Canadian homeowners owe $220-billion on their home equity lines of credit, according to a study on the composition of the country’s mortgage market, with most of the money going toward renovations and investments. The Canadian Association of Accredited Mortgage Professionals found in its spring survey that 5.7 million Canadians now have a mortgage, owing a […]

The Canadian Real Estate Association has been adjusting its forecast for 2011 as economic circumstances warrant, and on Monday took another crack at the numbers. Its first prediction was made in February, 2010, when it said prices would fall 1.5 per cent as sales fell 7.1 per cent. Monday’s numbers were rosier, as stronger than […]

A variety of factors can keep you from qualifying for a mortgage. The big ones include a low credit score, insufficient income for the size of the loan you want, insufficient down payment and excessive debt. All of these factors are within your control, however. Let’s take a look at your options for overcoming any […]

Hiring surged at North American companies in April, reminding investors the economic recovery continues to build underneath the wild swings in commodity markets. Canada added 58,000 jobs in April, bringing the unemployment rate down 0.1 percentage point to 7.6% and returning fulltime employment to the level of October 2008 for the first time, Statistics Canada […]

It is almost becoming an affront to the legacy of George Washington to have to grace the lowly greenback. While the currency managed to claw back some ground amid turmoil on global markets this week, it remains on the verge of sinking below a pair of important thresholds. The first is the 2008 record low. […]

Last September, my wife and I started scouring the city for a new house. We were living in a cozy bungalow, but with a growing kid and another on the way, we decided it was time to move. Buying a new house is, of course, expensive, so I wanted to do whatever it took to […]

Canada’s economy created an impressive 58,300 jobs last month, almost all of them in Ontario, and a big portion of them part-time. It was enough to bring the unemployment rate down to 7.6 per cent, matching the lowest jobless level since the early months of the recession. Economists had expected a more modest 20,000 pick-up […]

A young couple who have been renting in our modest Toronto condo building recently bought a home a couple of miles away in a nice old neighbourhood with the aim of starting a family. The house is a big, detached fixer-upper and the renovation costs will be extensive. In moving up to the rungs on […]