Getting a mortgage is something most people dream about. The act of buying your own home brings with it so much freedom, and people truly enjoy the feeling of ownership over their home.  Unfortunately, not everyone can afford a mortgage, and so they may have to work hard to getContinue Reading

Had been preparing an update on the affordability numbers, but then noticed the latest arrears figures were out, so we’ll knock that one out first and leave affordability for later this week. As the title implies, there has been no slowing this spring, and as of May we were upContinue Reading

The sad state of the news media really hit home this week… literally it seems for me. I’ve been pointing out how the real estate groups have been plastering their ads all over the place, and also seem to get some to get more then their fair share of favourableContinue Reading

TUESDAY UPDATE: Reports are circulating TD is about to raise their 5-year fixed rates another 0.4% We’ve been hearing lots about central bank rates being at historic lows, and it’s influence over mortgage rates… but anyone following my Twitter feed the last while has no doubt noticed my little obsession with theContinue Reading

The Canadian Bankers Association released their latest mortgage arrears stats today, these are for March. As we can see, they’re continuing their meteoric rise, and have now passed the 0.50% threshold. 2,416 Albertans now find themselves three or more months behind on their mortgages (typically at the point foreclosure proceedings begin, thoughContinue Reading

Curious times we’re in. We’re hearing a lot of bluster, doom, gloom and just generally conflicting messages from all over the economy the last little while. Shouldn’t really be surprising, we’re in this massive economic fugue, and there is no consensus about what will come next so everyone is graspingContinue Reading

It’s been a tough week for the province… first we find out that the provincial government thinks our beaches and children are too damn ugly to use in advertising, so they have to co-opt some from England. Okay, and yeah, that foam finger is actually one for the Oakland A’s,Continue Reading

The Globe and Mail article from yesterday got me thinking about our subprime mortgage situation in Canada. Some people say it’s just as bad as in the US, but they aren’t talking about truly subprime as much as they are about effectively non-prime or non-conventional lending Read moreWe’re different, it won’t happenContinue Reading