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Is owning your first home a possibility within the next 15 years? If yes, then activating a First Home Savings Account (FHSA) before this year winds down is a savvy move. Here’s the deal: contributions to your FHSA must happen within the calendar year to count towards that year’s taxes — unlike the RRSP which allows you to contribute in the first 60 days of next year. Kickstart your account with any amount, as the FHSA’s rollover perk lets you transfer up to $8,000 of unused contribution room to the following year. That’s right, open it now and you could funnel a substantial $16,000 next year if you contribute less this year. Every dollar you contribute slashes your taxable income, potentially pocketing you hefty savings

The real estate market in Vancouver, like the weather, continues to cool in October. The sales were 29.5% below the 10-year average for October. Meanwhile new listings are increasing at 5% above the 10-year average. This is slowly increasing the total number of listings in the market. It is a formula for lower prices. While the supply and demand picture look similar for the past 3 months, as measured by the sales-to-active listings ratio, for some reason townhomes and apartments eked out a month-over-month price gain in October. I don’t expect this to continue. The Bank of Canada and the Federal Reserves both held rates unchanged in their last meetings. Most market watchers believe this is the end of the rate hikes especially in light

The real estate market in Metro Vancouver has cooled drastically in September. Along with a substantial increase in new listings, prices dropped for all categories. The sales number for September was 26.3% below the 10-year average while the number of new listings was 5.2% above the 10-year average. Obviously, some sellers have waited long enough and needed to enter the market. With this combination, one would expect prices to drop and that is exactly what happened. As you can see from the table below the sales-to-active listings ratios dropped along with the month over month price. I believe this trend will continue. The yields on long-term Canadian and US government bonds have been going up all month and hit 16-year highs on Tuesday. This will

When you talk to a mortgage broker, they will tell you that they can get you a better rate. The statement might appear biased but actually there is a lot of truth to it. In fact, the Bank of Canada actually put out a research paper that supports this assertion. Although the paper was published in 2011, the fundamental business dynamics have not changed significantly to make these conclusions invalid. Actually when I see the high renewal rates that are being offered, going to a mortgage broker for renewal is a must these days. Below, I have summarized some noteworthy findings from the paper. That’s it. If you are planning to be an economist or if your local pharmacy has run out of sleeping pills,

Hope you had a wonderful Labour Day long weekend. The real estate market in Metro Vancouver for the month of August slowed down as the higher rates weighed on the market. This is reflected in the decreasing sales numbers. For August, it was 13.8% below the 10-year average. But remember for July, it was 8.6% below, and for June, it was 1.4% below the 10-year average. As a result, townhomes and apartments gave up some of the recent price gains of the last 6 months. Last Friday, some surprisingly weak economic data for Canada came out, and now most pundits are predicting that there will be no rate increase tomorrow when the Bank of Canada makes its rate announcement. Currently, a lot of the rate

Hope you had a wonderful BC Day long weekend. The Vancouver real estate market continues to slow as the Bank of Canada raised their overnight rate again in July. In response, the yield on the bonds continued to climb which moved mortgage rates higher. This will continue to put a damper on demand. Sales in July was 15.6% below the 10-year average. The sales-to-active listings ratios dropped in all categories and as you can see from the table below, these ratios peaked in May. These are indicators of demand and supply. When it is above 20%, there is upward pressure on the price, but the trend of the ratios is equally important. As you can see when the sales-to-active listings are dropping, the price increases

This is another story about a questionable character in the financial world. Motola Omobamiduro was a former used car salesman with a conviction for not paying the owners when he sold their cars. But that is in his past, currently he is running a company that provides secured credit cards: Plastk. Secured credit cards are specifically designed for individuals who need to improve their credit but are unable to qualify for a regular credit card. These cards require the cardholder to provide a deposit equivalent to the credit limit, typically ranging from $2000 to $5000. If the client fails to make payments, the company can use the deposit to cover the outstanding balance. By making timely repayments, individuals can rebuild their credit score in under

The sales volume in June for Metro Vancouver’s housing market is relatively strong considering the high interest rate environment but it does show weakness. The sales volume was 8.6% below the 10-year June average but last month’s sale volume was only 1.4% below the 10-year May average. Tight supply continues to provide upward pressure to home prices. The table below shows increases in all segments of housing during the month of June. The sales-to-active listings ratio tapered a little indicating a slight slowing in demand. This may be an indication of things to come. The Bank of Canada’s June 7th rate hike and the possibility of future rate hikes has caused the bond market to react by driving the yield up on the bonds which

How would you like a 20% no risk return? Usually if you hear this offer, turn around and run! It is a scam. However, if you typically have an outstanding credit card balance, then this is possible. Just by paying down your credit card debt, in essence you are making a 20% return. And 20% is a lot!If you invested $1000 with a 20% return, you would get an extra $200 the first year. The resulting $1,200 would provide you with another $240 in year 2. In 10 years, the compound growth would give you a total of $5159.78. That is 5X the original amount! But what if instead you bought a $1000 LV bag or a vacation with your credit card? If you didn’t