Canada’s Oliver does not see a housing or mortgage crisis
Jamie Henry
Other
It’s Official – No Housing Crisis in Canada
Finance Minister Joe Oliver says there is no impending housing or mortgage crisis in Canada. Speaking in an interview with CTV News, Oliver said the government has stepped in to cool the market a number of times and is watching the situation but doesn’t “think we’re confronting a crisis at this point.”
The Canadian government is watching the housing and mortgage market carefully, but does not see a crisis, Finance Minister Joe Oliver said on Thursday.
“We’re going to monitor the market, but we don’t think we’re confronting a crisis at this point,” he told CTV News.
He noted that the government had intervened a number of times to cool the market.
Oliver also said the federal budget was well on track to achieve a surplus of C$6 billion ($5.5 billion) in the fiscal year that begins next April, on top of a contingency reserve.
….But Academic Points To Lacklustre Market
Despite rising house prices, and a rise in month to month figures, house sales are still down year over year (April figures) and the gains are skewed by the red hot figures from the major markets. Real estate expert John Andrew from Queen’s University says the year over year drop in sales is “fairly significant” and that even after a long winter there hasn’t been the pick-up many were expecting.
Positivity Boosts Mortgage Companies
With more positive noises emerging regarding the likelihood (or not) of a housing bubble, it means good news for some of our biggest mortgage companies, as buyers err on the side of “no bubble.” Home Capital and Genworth have both seen activity rise and Home Capital, in particular, is seeing gains in the uninsured mortgage market from immigrants and others who don’t qualify for a standard product.