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Bank of Canada needs more restrictive interest rates to control runaway inflation – The Globe and Mail

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People shop at a Walmart Supercentre in Toronto on March 13, 2020. Canadian inflation accelerated to the highest rate in nearly four decades in May as calls broaden for policy-makers to find new ways of curbing runaway price growth.CARLOS OSORIO/Reuters

With every new inflation report, the job facing the Bank of Canada gets that much harder.

The alarmingly rising tide of inflation – reaching 7.7 per cent in May, the highest in an astonishing 39 years – presses the central bank to respond with bigger and faster interest-rate increases. The sweet spot for getting that grim task just right shrinks. The risk of getting it wrong – a recession – grows.

A soft landing for the economy? Sure, that’s still the dream. But as the task of stomping down inflation continues to grow, it may take more luck than skill to get there. Frankly, being delicate isn’t the top priority at this stage.

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“The most important thing is to get inflation back to target,” Bank of Canada senior deputy governor Carolyn Rogers said at a Globe and Mail event a couple of hours after the release of the inflation report. “Of course, we want to do that with the least amount of unintended consequences as possible. … That’s what we’re aiming to do, that’s why we’re increasing rates. That’s why we’re doing it quickly.”

Super savers are fighting rising grocery costs – and inflation – one deal at a time

What does inflation mean for the cost of living and everyday goods in Canada? Here’s what you need to know

That May inflation report, published Wednesday by Statistics Canada, probably cemented a 75-basis-point (three-quarters of a percentage point) rate hike by the Bank of Canada at its next rate decision in mid-July – which would be the bank’s biggest single rate increase since 1998.

Frankly, you could make a compelling argument for even more, given the situation and the timing.

The central bank has said repeatedly it wants to quickly get its key rate at least up to levels it considers “neutral” – i.e. where its rate neither stimulates nor inhibits economic activity. It estimates the neutral rate to be somewhere between 2 and 3 per cent. A 75-basis-point hike in July would put the rate at 2.25 per cent – still toward the low end of the neutral range.

While the odds of a July increase of one full percentage point don’t look high at this stage, there are some good reasons for the Bank of Canada to look seriously at that option. Such a hike would put the bank smack dab in the middle of its neutral range, which achieves at least the first stage of the bank’s rate intentions. It can say that it has withdrawn its stimulative rates, before it shifts into summer mode following the July rate decision – a long stretch of relative public silence that lasts until the next rate decision after Labour Day.

The U.S. Federal Reserve is also scheduled to set its key rate two weeks after the Bank of Canada’s July announcement, and looks poised to make its own jump to 2.5 per cent. The Bank of Canada might want to pre-emptively keep pace with its U.S. neighbour before checking out for the summer.

Regardless of the amount, it’s increasingly clear that merely returning to neutral rates won’t be anywhere near enough. The bank will need more restrictive interest rates if it is going to apply some serious brakes to domestic demand, which is running much too far ahead of the capacity to supply it. Bottom line, the bank needs to slow the economy.

It should be possible, at least arithmetically, to do that without triggering the kind of employment slump that is a hallmark of any true recession. As Statistics Canada reported this week, Canada had nearly one million job vacancies in the first quarter, at a time of 50-year low unemployment – evidence of an enormous gap between labour supply and demand. Bank of Canada officials have said that this leaves a lot of room to dampen demand – like, a million jobs worth of room – before you start hurting employment appreciably.

“We see a path to do that. Our view is we can take some of the excess demand out of the economy, bring it back into balance,” Ms. Rogers said.

But just because the numbers work doesn’t mean that engineering such a feat is easy. Far from it. And any central banker will tell you – it’s so commonly understood that it’s almost reflex – that interest rates are a blunt instrument. They are not at all well suited to the delicate economic surgery that we’re trying to perform here. No one can really say how high, or how fast, rates must climb to hit that sweet spot where we slam the brakes on demand without slamming our collective heads into the windshield.

If you’ve been watching this game for a few economic cycles (old-guy disclosure: I have), you know from experience that by the time you’re hearing and reading the phrase “soft landing” all over the place, that possibility has almost certainly already come and gone. Far more often than not, it’s the wishful thinking of those who can see the ground fast approaching underneath them.

What’s more, the time for the Bank of Canada to worry about being gentle has passed. It just needs to get inflation on the ground – any way it can – before an awful year begins to fester into a generational problem. Yes, things have become that serious.

Brace for impact.

Interest rates and inflation are closely linked, which is why the Bank of Canada has been pushing up its key rate to try and keep inflation to a target of 2%. But it’s a careful balance between controlling inflation and not tipping the economy into a recession.

The Globe and Mail

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Calgary breaks all-time record in housing starts but increasing demand keeps inventory low – CBC.ca

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Soaring housing demands in Calgary led to an all-time record for new residential builds last year, but inventory levels of completed and unsold units remained low due to demand outpacing supply.

According to the latest report from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), total housing starts increased by 13 per cent in Calgary, reaching a total of 19,579 units with growth across all dwelling types in the city.

That compares to a decline of 0.5 per cent overall for housing starts in the six major Canadian cities surveyed by CMHC.

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Calgary also had the highest housing starts by population.

“Part of the reason why we think that might have happened is that developers are responding to low vacancies in the rental market,” said Adebola Omosola, a housing economics specialist with CMHC.

“The population of Calgary is still growing, a record number of people moved here last year, and we still expect that to remain at least in the short term.”

Earlier this year, the Calgary Real Estate Board also predicted that demand, especially for rental apartments, wouldn’t let up any time soon. 

Industry can cope with demand, expert says

According to numbers from the report, average construction times were higher in 2023 for all dwelling types except for apartments.

The agency’s report suggests the increase in the number of under-construction residential projects might mean builders are operating at or near full capacity.

However, there’s optimism the construction industry can match the increasing need.

Brian Hahn, CEO of BILD Calgary Region, said despite concerns around about construction costs, project timelines and labour shortages, the industry has kept up with the demand for new builds.

Demand is expected to remain robust, but the construction industry can keep up, according to BILD Calgary region CEO Brian Hahn.
Demand is expected to remain robust, but the construction industry can keep up, according to BILD Calgary Region chief executive officer Brian Hahn. (Shaun Best/Reuters)

“I’ve heard that kind of conversation at the end of 2022 and I heard it in 2023,” Hahn said.

“Yet here we are early in 2024, and January and February were record numbers again.”

Hahn added he believes the current pace of construction will continue for at least the next six months and that the industry is looking at initiatives to attract more people to the trades.

Increase in row house and apartment construction

Construction growth was largely driven by new apartment projects, making up almost half of the housing starts in Calgary in 2023.

The federal housing agency says 9,034 apartment units were started that year, an increase of 17 per cent from the previous year. Of those, about 54 per cent were purpose-built rentals.

Apartments made up around two-thirds of all units under construction, CMHC said, with the total number of units under construction reaching 23,473.

Growth, however, was seen across all dwelling types. Row homes increased by 34 per cent from the previous year while groundbreaking on single-detached homes grew by two per cent.

“Notwithstanding challenges, our members and the industry counterparts that support them managed to produce a record amount of starts and completions,” Hahn said.

“I have little doubt that the industry will do their very best to keep pace at those levels.”

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Ottawa real estate: House starts down, apartments up in 2023 – CTV News Ottawa

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Rental housing dominated construction in Ottawa last year, according to a new report from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC).

Residential construction declined significantly in 2023, with housing starts dropping to 9,245 units, a 19.5 per cent decline from the record high observed in 2022. But while single-detached and row housing starts fell compared to 2022, new construction for rental units and condominiums rose.

“There’s been a shift toward rental construction over the past two years. Rental housing starts made up nearly one third of total starts in 2023, close to double the average of the previous five years,” the report stated.

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Apartment starts reached their highest level since the 1970s.

“The trend toward rental and condominium apartment construction follows increased demand in these market segments due to population growth, households looking for affordable options, and some seniors downsizing to smaller units,” the CMHC said.

Demand from international migration and students, the high cost of home ownership, and people moving to Ottawa from other parts of Ontario were the main drivers for rental housing starts in 2023. The CMHC says rental and condominium apartment starts made up 63 per cent of total starts in 2023, compared to the average of 37 per cent for the period 2018-2022.

There was a modest increase in rental housing starts in 2023 over the record-high seen the year prior and a jump in new condominiums. The report shows 5,846 new apartments were built in Ottawa last year, up 2.1 per cent compared to 2022.

Housing starts in Ottawa by year. (CMHC)

Big demand for condos

The CMHC said condo starts reached a new high in 2023, increasing 3 per cent from 2022 numbers.

“As of the end of 2023, there were only 13 completed and unsold condominium units, highlighting continued demand for new units,” the CMHC said.

Condominum starts increased in areas such as Chinatown, Hintonburg, Vanier and Alta Vista, as well as some suburban areas like Kanata, Stittsville, and western Orléans. Condo apartment construction declined in denser parts of the city like downtown, Lowertown and Centretown, the report says.

Taller buildings are also becoming more common, as the cranes dotting the skyline can attest. The CMHC notes that buildings with more than 20 storeys accounted for nearly 10 per cent of apartment structure starts in 2022 and 2023, compared to an average of 2 per cent over the 2017-2021 period. The number of units per building also rose 7 per cent compared to 2022.

Apartment building heights in Ottawa by year. (CMHC)

Single-detached home construction down significantly

The number of new single-detached homes built in Ottawa last year was the lowest level seen in the city since the mid 1990s, CMHC said.

“The Ottawa area experienced a slowdown in residential construction in 2023, driven by a significant decline in single-detached and row housing starts,” the CMHC said.

Single-detached housing starts were down 45 per cent compared to 2022. Row house starts dropped by 38 per cent compared to 2022, marking a third year of declines in a row.

“Demand for single-detached and row houses also declined in 2023. Higher mortgage rates and home prices have led to a shift in demand toward more affordable rental and condominium units,” the report said.

There were 1,535 single-detached housing starts in Ottawa last year, 208 new semi-detached homes and 1,678 new row houses.

The majority of single-detached and row housing starts were built in suburban communities such as Barrhaven, Stittsville, Kanata, Orléans and rural parts of the city.

“Increased construction costs resulting from higher financing rates and inflation that occurred in 2022 and 2023 contributed to the decline in construction in the region,” the CMHC said. 

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Trump’s media company ticker leads to fleeting windfall for some investors

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A man looks at a screen that displays trading information about shares of Truth Social and Trump Media & Technology Group, outside the Nasdaq Market site in New York City, U.S., March 26.Brendan McDermid/Reuters

Possible confusion over the new stock symbol for former President Donald Trump’s Truth Social (DJT-Q) saw some investor brokerage balances briefly jump by hundreds of thousands of dollars on Tuesday, the first day Trump’s “DJT” ticker traded.

Several people complained on social media about briefly seeing the value of their DJT stock holdings on Charles Schwab platforms inflated to figures more in line with what they would be worth if the shares traded at the level of the Dow Jones Transportation Average.

Some users said they faced a similar issue in pre-market hours on Morgan Stanley’s E*Trade trading platform.

Shares of Trump Media & Technology Group opened Tuesday at $70.90, while the Dow Jones Transportation Average started the session at 15,937.73 points.

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For one trader, the Schwab brokerage balance jumped by more than $1 million due to the error, according to a screen grab shared on social media platform X. Reuters was unable to contact the trader or independently verify the brokerage balance.

“It sure was nice seeing millions in the account, even if it wasn’t real,” another person, going by the username @DanielBenjamin8, who faced the issue in his E*Trade account, posted on X.

Two X users and one on Reddit surmised that the inflated balances were due to the ticker symbol for the company being nearly identical to the index.

A spokeswoman for Charles Schwab said that certain users on some of Schwab’s trading platforms saw their brokerage balances briefly inflated due to a technical issue.

The issue has been resolved and investors are able to trade equities and options on Schwab platforms, she said. Schwab declined to describe the exact cause of the issue.

E*Trade did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside of regular business hours.

Trump Media & Technology Group and S&P Dow Jones Indices, which maintains the Dow Jones Transportation Average Index, did not immediately comment on the issue.

While social media users said the issue appeared to have been resolved, many rued not being able to cash out their supposed gains from the error.

“I better go tell my boss that I’m actually not retiring,” the trader whose account balance had briefly jump by more than $1 million, wrote on X.

Trump Media & Technology Group shares surged more than 36% on Tuesday in their debut on the Nasdaq that comes more than two years since its merger with a blank-check firm was announced.

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