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Canadian home sales drop in July |
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August 18, 2010
Canada's home sales fell in July, with Ontario and British Columbia leading the way lower as the newly introduced harmonized sales tax slowed activity in those provinces.
The Canadian Real Estate Association said Monday a total of 31,536 homes were sold in July, compared with 33,836 in June.
Declines in the country's most expensive markets — British Columbia (down 14.1 per cent) and Ontario (down 8.0 per cent) — accounted for most of the change in national activity.
But the agency said the overall decline was smaller than in the previous two months as July sales in the Prairies and Quebec came in on par with June levels.
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Mortgages ease a bit |
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August 17, 2010
Two of Canada’s major banks will reduce many of their posted mortgage rates by one-tenth of a percentage point, effective today.
The posted five-year closed mortgage rate, for instance, will fall to 5.49 per cent annually at RBC Royal Bank and BMO Bank of Montreal.
The banks’ six-month convertible mortgage and one-year closed mortgage remain unchanged at 4.55 per cent and 3.3 per cent, respectively.
The Royal, Canada’s largest bank, took the lead in announcing the rate cuts on Monday as it often does. The other Canadian banks tend to follow within a day or two, in response to the same trends on bond markets.
This is the second time RBC has cut its mortgage rates since the beginning of August and follows a report that Canadian home sales were down 6.8 per cent in July from a month earlier.
Its posted rates for mortgages with terms of two to 10 years will range from 3.55 per cent to 6.6 per cent.
Bank of Montreal’s move was similar, with a few variations. For instance, the seven-year fixed mortgage was 6.4 per cent at BMO and 6.45 per cent at Royal.
BMO also offers an 18-year fixed open mortgage, which will have a posted rate of 8.45 per cent, down 0.1 percentage point as of Tuesday. It also has a six-month convertible mortgage and a one-year closed mortgage that were unchanged.
Chronicle Herald
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New house prices rise 0.1% in June |
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August 11, 2010
New house prices across the country rose by 0.1 per cent in June, a slightly smaller increase than in May, according to numbers released Tuesday by Statistics Canada.
Saint John, Fredericton and Moncton, N.B., posted the largest gains, with prices of new homes up 1.3 per cent. Builders there said they increased their prices to make up for higher material and labour costs, as well as land development costs.
Prices fell in seven of the 21 metropolitan areas measured by Statistics Canada. Regina and Charlottetown saw the largest decreases, at 0.4 per cent and 0.3 per cent respectively.
New house prices rose 0.3 per cent in May.
Year over year, however, Regina recorded the largest increase, at 6.9 per cent.
Meanwhile, the annual rate of housing starts across the country slipped to 189,200 in July, a 1.6 per cent decline from June numbers, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. reported Tuesday.
The Canadian Press
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