Consumers on the long end of the borrowing spectrum appear to be getting a better deal with the five-year term fixed-rate mortgage reaching an all-time low over the past month. Rock-bottom long-term mortgage rates appear to have handed the housing sector the lifeline it desperately needs, helping to push up sales for a second consecutive […]

The Canadian economy appears to be on the mend again after a major stumble earlier this summer that rekindled fears of a possible double-dip recession. Fresh evidence that July may have been an aberration, rather than the beginning of a downward spiral, built Friday as Canadian manufacturing, housing, and U.S. retail sales all came in […]

For some first-time buyers, arranging financing is more daunting than the actual purchase of a home. There’s a glossary of terminology associated with taking out a loan, including variable- and fixed-rate mortgages, debt-service ratio, amortization period, maturity date, and mortgage insurance. Many first-time buyers look to a mortgage broker to help them stickhandle around these […]

Many Canadians are having difficulty meeting their savings goals with 38 per cent indicating they are unable to save, either because they have nothing left over after paying bills (30 per cent) or because they are impulse spenders (eight per cent), according to the RBC Savings poll. More than half of Canadians find it difficult […]

While plenty of individuals live from paycheque to paycheque, most consumers know they should be saving money and reducing debt. The recession has drummed that concept into everyone’s head as people have watched their neighbours and friends lose jobs and sometimes their home. Many people say that money worries keep them awake at night, but […]

Interest rate hikes appear to be on the back burner for the foreseeable future after Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney said Thursday that overstretched households and weak U.S. demand would crimp economic growth in the coming months. At a speech in Windsor, Ont., Carney said Canadians should brace for months of “modest” economic growth, […]

As you tuck into the organic, range-fed turkey with all the trimmings this weekend, you can give a quiet, low-key, typically Canadian thanks for living in this quiet, low-key country. Sure, unemployment remains at high levels and the economic recovery is slowing. But Thanksgiving 2010 will be a good one, relatively speaking, for the great […]

The Bank of Canada raised its benchmark interest rate for a third consecutive time on Wednesday and sounded surprisingly hawkish despite predicting a more gradual than expected economic recovery. The central bank nudged its overnight rate target up 25 basis points to 1 percent and, contrary to most economists’ expectations, did not signal a pause […]

The number of U.S. homes lost to foreclosure surged in July, as lenders take back more properties from homeowners who have been in default for months on end. Lenders repossessed 92,858 properties last month, up 9 per cent from June and an increase of 6 per cent from July, 2009, foreclosure listing firm RealtyTrac Inc. […]

Canada avoided the brutal financial meltdown that plagued the U.S. economy, but there are some red flags that make recovery for this country “by no means a sure thing,” says a leading U.S. economist. Paul Krugman, a Nobel Prize winner, New York Times columnist and renowned economic pundit, described Canada as “a very calm, very […]