All About Real Estate, Finance & Mortgages

Two days after the Bank of Canada raised short-term interest costs, the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (TSX: CM) said Friday it is trimming its posted mortgage rates. Among the changes, CIBC's one-year closed rate slips to 6.25 per cent from 6.30 per cent, while the three-, five- and 10-year rates each decline by one-fifth of a percentage point, to 6.45 per cent, 6.75 per cent and 7.55 per cent. The bank's move followed Wednesday's quarter-point increase in the prime lending rate to six per cent at all the major commercial banks, after the Bank of Canada raised its overnight rate to 4.25 per cent from four per cent. While it increased the cost of short-term money for the seventh time since last autumn, the central bank also signalled that its series of hikes is likely over. On bond markets, where banks fund their mortgage obligations, the Canadian yield curve flattened this week, as would be expected after the central bank's increase at the short end. 'Interesti

"Unlike the United States, motor fuel prices are a sleeper issue here in Canada. At least politicians, at both the federal and provincial levels, are sleepwalking through it. Stateside, it's one of the three key issues gripping the U.S. mid-term elections (illegal immigrants and Iraq being the others) and threatening to oust the Republicans from the House and Senate, ruining George W. Bush's final two years in office. It may be resting peacefully in the minds of the politicians here, but Canadians are wide awake on how they are getting hosed at the pumps. Serious discontent According to a damning - if you are an oil company or elected official - Ipsos-Reid poll released yesterday, there's a serious mood of discontent out there. That's even true in Alberta, where high energy prices bring mega-millions into the provincial treasury and have touched off the largest energy boom in the province's history. Albertans seriously resent the high cost of gas and diesel. So

The strong dollar has Canadians snapping up properties in Point Roberts. Out of all my buyers this month, 50 per cent were Canadian, says Paul Rush of the Points National Real Estate, via telephone. Ive had an increase in Canadian buyers in the last two to three months, prior to that it was mostly US buyers. Canadians are strictly going by the exchange rate and they know (Point Roberts) is close. Waterfront properties, after all, may seem more affordable in the U.S. as the going price is about $10,000 per foot (measured along the shore). Small beach-front properties are selling for US $550,000 to $600,000 although at least one luxurious home is selling for US $1.6 million. In Tsawwassen, however, RE/MAX manager Bob Cooke could find only two listings for waterfront homes and the cheapest was $1.7 million for 3,500 square feet and a 35-foot shoreline frontage, looking west. Views are anywhere from $1 million to $2 million, Cooke says. Waterfront starts at about $1.8 million. I think ther

Renovation market also staying strong May 20, 2006. 01:00 AM More than 380,000 households in major Canadian cities indicated they were ready to buy a home this year, according to a survey released this week by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. The results of the CMHC's Consumer Intentions to Buy or Renovate a Home survey represents an average of 8 per cent of households in Halifax, Montreal, Toronto, Calgary, and Vancouver. While 8 per cent declared that they have a high chance of buying a home and could be considered as 'ready to buy' within the next 12 months, 5 per cent indicated that they have a 50-50 chance of buying. The survey is conducted using a sample of about 4,000 households in each centre surveyed. 'Intentions to buy are up from 2005 when 5 per cent of households were ready to buy a home. This year, strong intentions to buy are consistent with continued high levels of housing starts and sales of existing homes. Favourable economic conditions, such as lo

Boosted by Alberta�s red-hot housing market, national home sale prices jumped by the highest amount in more than 16 years in March, Statistics Canada said this week. Eye-popping increases of 29.6 per cent in Calgary and 14.3 per cent in Edmonton helped to increase the national average rise in houses prices to an annualized 7.6 per cent in March � an increase not seen since at least January 1990. More moderate price increases were seen in Vancouver, with a 6.9 per cent rise, while Quebec saw a 6.6 per cent increase. The average price for a residential property in the Halifax area was $279,748, a 4.8 per cent increase last year. Toronto reported a 4.3 per cent annualized increase while in Montreal, home prices rose by 3.3 per cent. The only monthly drop was in St. John�s, Nfld., where prices slipped 0.1 per cent from February. But if you haven�t bought your home yet, don�t panic � the federal housing agency says the market should begin to soften in 2006. Rising mortgage prices and market

Eric Beauchesne, CanWest News Service Published: Saturday, April 29, 2006 OTTAWA - Home sales and prices hit all-time highs in the first quarter of this year, according to a report Friday which will add to puzzlement, and possibly more inflation worries, at the Bank of Canada. There were 125,142 existing homes sold from January through March, up 2.4 per cent from the fourth quarter of last year, and 0.2 per cent above the previous record high set in the third quarter of last year, the Canadian Real Estate Association said. Earlier in the week, Bank of Canada governor David Dodge said ``we're a little bit surprised'' at the strength of the housing market considering the steady climb in interest rates and prices since last summer. And real estate association chief economist Gregory Klump agreed it was a surprise that sales hit new record highs. ``Rising household incomes and upbeat consumer confidence are keeping resale housing activity on a tear, even with rising home prices

14:42:51 EDT Apr 26, 2006 MALCOLM MORRISON TORONTO (CP) - Base and precious metals stock helped lift the Toronto stock market slightly higher Wednesday afternoon as investors took in another slew of positive earnings reports. The Canadian dollar was up 0.29 of a cent at a 14 1/2-year high of 88.65 cents US, a day after the Bank of Canada raised interest rates and said another hike is likely. 'There is certainly not a lot of inducement to buy (stocks) right now,' said Julie Brough, assistant vice-president at Morgan, Meighen and Associates. 'It does look a little bit tired and the valuations, in my mind, are not anything to get excited about.' U.S. indexes were higher on some better-than-expected corporate earnings reports, a broker upgrade for General Motors Corp. (NYSE:GM) and positive economic data. Toronto's S&P/TSX composite index was 21.67 points higher at 12,351.46, held back by declines in tech stocks and energy stocks as oil continued to move away from l

Fiona Anderson, Vancouver Sun Published: Wednesday, April 26, 2006 Homeowners with variable mortgages will see their interest rates increase in response to a boost in the Bank of Canada's trendsetting overnight rate on Tuesday. BMO Bank of Montreal and Scotiabank both announced rate increases of 0.25 percentage points, raising their three-year open rate to 5.75 per cent after the Bank of Canada said it was increasing its overnight rate by 25 basis points. All major banks also increased their prime lending rates to 5.75 per cent. But fixed mortgage rates have remained unchanged, at least for now. Rob Hafer, regional sales manager for Invis on Vancouver Island, said variable rates are attached to prime rates, so anyone with a variable mortgage will see rates rise. But even though fixed rate mortgages depend on a number of factors other than the prime rate, those rates have also been going up recently. 'So the costs of borrowing for all consumers is going up unless you are already

16:41:56 EDT Apr 25, 2006 TARA PERKINS TORONTO (CP) - Tuesday's rise in variable mortgage rates will have some homeowners looking to lock in their rates, but experts say not to be hasty. It could be just a blip. The cost of a variable mortgage has risen for the sixth time since the summer, after the Bank of Canada announced Tuesday it is hiking its benchmark interest rates by a quarter-point. About 22 per cent of Canadian mortgages are now variable, moving in step with the bank's prime lending rate, says CIBC World Markets (TSX:CM) senior economist Benjamin Tal. Andrew Moor, CEO of mortgage brokerage firm Invis, says more customers have been opting for fixed-rate mortgages over the last few months as interest rates have risen. But, he adds, the carrying costs on a variable mortgage are still less than those on a fixed-rate mortgage. After Tuesday's rate hikes, a competitive variable mortgage rate will be about 4.85 per cent, up from 3.45 per cent at the beginning of Septemb

Updated Tue. Apr. 25 2006 11:29 PM ET CTV.ca News Staff The Bank of Canada boosted its trend-setting overnight rate by a quarter of a percentage point to four per cent on Tuesday. The latest hike will impact the prime interest rate charged by commercial banks, affecting variable mortgage rates, as well as the cost of car loans and lines of credit. This marks the sixth consecutive rate increase by the Bank of Canada since last summer -- when it was 2.5 per cent -- and some are wondering how many more rate hikes could be on the way. In its statement today, central bankers said 'some modest further increase in the policy interest rate may be required to keep aggregate supply and demand in balance and inflation on target over the medium term.' The Bank of Canada said the global economy is strong. 'At the same time, global competition and the past appreciation of the Canadian dollar continue to pose challenges for a number of sectors of the economy.' Meanwhile, the core infl

By The Canadian Press VANCOUVER � Runaway housing prices and a highly competitive mortgage industry are contributing to a growing problem with mortgage fraud across the country, experts say. But it�s a complex issue and one lenders don�t really want to talk about. 'Mortgage fraud is a problem, and I don�t think anybody can deny it,' said Ken Fraser, executive director of investigations for B.C.�s Financial Institutions Commission, which investigates fraud complaints involving mortgage brokers and real-estate agents. 'A lot of figures have been bandied back and forth over the years about the degree of it, but I don�t think anybody has a figure on it. It is definitely escalating.' Mortgage fraud is any act that convinces a lender to grant a mortgage that would have been rejected if the truth were known. For instance, providing a letter of employment listing an inflated salary, or a note from a relative confirming a gift toward the down payment on a purchase when the money

April 20 (Bloomberg) -- GE Money, General Electric Co.'s consumer-finance arm, is expanding in Canada in a bid to capture 10 percent of the country's C$10 billion ($8.8 billion) market for high-risk mortgages, said Stephen Motta, chief executive of the Canadian unit. The finance company plans to sell mortgages through independent brokers across Canada by year-end, and is trying to hit its market share target in three years, he said. GE Money started selling mortgages in Ontario last year, and has since become licensed in Alberta and British Columbia. ``We're on a pretty significant growth trajectory, but growing from zero,'' Motta, 43, said in a telephone interview. ``It is a longer-term vision we have for the Canadian market, rather than bursting on the scene, making some noise, and not being here three years from now.'' GE Money, a unit of the world's No. 2 company by market value, is competing with firms such as Toronto-based Xceed Mortgage Corp. Xcee

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House bought from her after signature forgedA serious problem in GTA, says title insurance officialApr. 13, 2006. 11:10 AMHAROLD LEVYSTAFF REPORTEREarlier this year, Susan Lawrence discovered that the 100-year-old Victorian home she had been living in for 30 years had been stolen by identity thieves.The North York widow had been blissfully unaware the thieves had used her forged signature to purchase the house from her and discharge a mortgage she had put on the property.They had then put a new mortgage on the property for almost $300,000, pocketed the money, defaulted on the mortgage, faded out of sight, and left her facing eviction.Lawrence soon learned she had become a victim of mortgage fraud — one of the growing number of people in the Greater Toronto Area who are being victimized by real estate savvy swindlers."I just could not believe it, and anybody I talked to couldn't believe it either," Lawrence said in an interview. "They all asked, `How could anybody sel

Apr. 12, 2006. 06:45 AM ELLEN ROSEMAN What do tax tips and spring flowers have in common? They pop up in April. I've gone through my garden of money-saving tax advice and picked some of the prettiest blooms for your inspection" Don't pay interest on top of interest. If you owe money, the government will charge daily compound interest on your debt. This means you pay interest not only on the original amount you owe, but also on the interest that starts adding up. "If you can't pay the amount that's due, talk to your financial institution about a loan or a line of credit that charges a lesser interest rate than the Canada Revenue Agency," says lawyer Stanley Kershman, author of Put Your Debt on a Diet (Wiley). Ottawa can also charge you a late-filing penalty — and interest on the penalty. So, you should file your return on time to avoid penalties, even if you can't pay the amount due. Work out your tax factor. This is important to know when you're m

"Want to buy a house in Vancouver? Hope you have lots of cash. The average price of a house in Lotus Land hit $490,004 in February. Think about it for a second. That's nearly half a million dollars--and 26.5% higher than a year ago. Put another way, it now takes a household income of $142,000 a year to comfortably purchase a place to live. Wasn't the real estate market supposed to slow down this year? Apparently not. And it's not just Vancouver that's experiencing double-digit price increases so far this year. Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) figures show the average home price from February 2005 to February 2006 rose 26% in Calgary and 15.5% in Edmonton, both economic boomtowns of late. But even relatively moribund Toronto saw an increase of nearly 6%, for an average price of almost $354,000. That's a lot of money to put on the line if you're thinking of investing in the real estate market--let alone looking for a place to live. No wonder people are

Created from a senior’s perspective, a CHIP Reverse Mortgage is a unique home equity borrowing opportunity for homeowners in Canada who are age 62 and older. Senior homeowners can access up to $500,000 tax-free with no payments required on the loan until the home is sold or owners move out. The amount available to the homeowners is based on the appraised value of the home, the age and gender of the homeowners, marital status, property type, and location. CHIP Reverse Mortgages are available in most areas across Canada, on most types of homes. Leaseholds, co-ops, manufactured homes and large rural acreages are not eligible. The proceeds from the reverse mortgage are received as a cash lump sum. Homeowners are initially approved for a maximum sum, but may choose to receive a lesser amount initially and then request subsequent advances on the remaining available proceeds. As part of a well-balanced financial plan, a CHIP Reverse Mortgage can add new flexibility to a senior’s finances and

If you have been turned down for a loan or for a mortgage loan based on your Credit Report, don't continue to apply elsewhere. You need to know the reasons why and unfortunatley most of the time lenders will not advise you of any errors on your report or how to fix it. Each time you apply for credit, it lowers your beacon score. (Credit Score). Your Beacon Score is a significant factor in calculating your ability to repay, rates and terms for your loan. With a low Beacon Score you should expect to pay higher interest and the lenders may look at is as though you are too much of a risk and will not be able to repay your loan. The best way to save time is to find out what is stopping you from getting approved and if there are some problems, how to fix them. You can get your credit report from one of the following two credit bureaus in Canada Equifax or Tranunion You can pay for a copy of your credit report and see it immediately at the Equifax web site or you can fill out an appli