Rays (plural) of good news are piercing through the gloom surrounding the Canadian economy.
And not surprisingly, the country’s resilient housing sector is among the first to report a rebound.
Home sales jumped 53.2 per cent in May month-over-month, suggesting that April’s dramatic plunge in sales may have been the market’s low point.
Another crucial statistic was new listings that rose 47.5 per cent during May, compared to April, according to the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board.
The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver had also reported on Tuesday that homes sales jumped an unadjusted 34 per cent in May from April, while prices remained flat month-on-month. Benchmark prices rose 2.9 per cent to $1.03 million from a year ago.
Of course, these averages look good as the economy was wallowing in complete uncertainty in April, decimating homes sales and upending market trends.
While home sales in Toronto remain 53.7 per cent lower than May 2019, the decline was less than the 67.1 per cent year-over-year decline reported for April 2020.
“The MLS Home Price Index Composite Benchmark price was virtually unchanged in May 2020 compared to April 2020,” TRREB noted. “On a year-over-year basis, the composite benchmark was up by 9.4 per cent. The average selling price for all home types combined was up by three per cent compared to May 2019 to $863,599. On a seasonally adjusted basis, the average selling price was up by 4.6 per cent month-over-month compared to April 2020.”
A May poll by TRREB showed 27 per cent of the Greater Toronto Area households were looking to purchase a home over the next year, suggesting that sales may improve further in the coming months provided the economy is not adversely hit by new waves of the pandemic.
“As we move toward recovery, the housing sector will be a key driver of growth as consumer confidence increases and more households look to take advantage of very low borrowing costs,” said TRREB CEO John DiMichele.
Investors will also be watching a key metric that indicate where prices are headed next, especially in the pricey Vancouver real estate market.
Sales-to-active listings ratio for May 2020 was 15 per cent in the Vancouver region, detached homes at 13.5 per cent, 18.9 per cent for townhomes, and 14.8 per cent for apartments.
“Generally, analysts say downward pressure on home prices occurs when the ratio dips below 12 per cent for a sustained period, while home prices often experience upward pressure when it surpasses 20 per cent over several months,” noted the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver.
TRREB is expecting prices to remain stable over time, with some possible uptick.
“With home sales and new listings continuing to trend in unison in May, market conditions remained balanced. This balance was evidenced by year-over-year average price growth slightly above the Bank of Canada’s long-term target for inflation,” said Jason Mercer, TRREB’s chief market analyst. “If current market conditions are sustained during the gradual re-opening of the GTA economy, a moderate pace of year-over-year price growth could continue as we move through the spring and summer months.”
*** Another glimmer of hope that the economy is returning to some form of normalcy has come from the transportation sector.
The Canadian National Railway Co. said it saw a 4 per cent increase in volumes of good shipped in May compared to April.
While the recovery is expected to be slow, it’s a positive sign after shipments hit bottom last month, the company’s chief financial officer Ghislain Houle said Tuesday at the UBS Global Industrials & Transportation virtual conference, according to Bloomberg.
“I think we’re seeing the light at the end of the tunnel,” Houle said. “Hopefully, it will hold.”
Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. also said it set a new record for shipping Canadian grain and grain products in May, moving 2.80 million metric tonnes in the month.
** Finally, yet another sign consumers are ready to put COVID-19 behind them is the 113,224 new light vehicles sold in Canada in May, a 147 per cent jump over April’s sales, according to a report by DesRosiers Automotive Consultants Inc. Still, May 2020 car sales were down considerably compared to the same period last year.
“It’s a measure of the strange times in which we find ourselves in that a market decline of only 44 per cent can seem like a positive sign. However, following the estimated 74.6 per cent decline in April — which sent Canadian new light vehicle sales levels back in time to roughly the early 1950’s — May’s year over year decline can evoke a touch of cautious optimism as the first tentative shoots of recovery spring up from a badly damaged marketplace,” the consultants said in a statement.
“Of course, the ongoing situation remains in flux and an already trying year could prove to have a few tricks left up its sleeves yet,” the consultants warned.
They are wispy green shoots of recovery — but we will take it.
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PROTESTS GO GLOBAL: Protesters hold placards next to the statue of 19th century British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli outside St George’s Hall in Liverpool, northwest England, on June 2, 2020, during demonstration after George Floyd, an unarmed black man who died after a police officer knelt on his neck during an arrest in Minneapolis, USA. – The city of Liverpool lit up their civic buildings in memory of George Floyd on June 2 the death of whom in Minneapolis while in police custody has sparked days of unrest in the US city and beyond. Paul Ellis/AFP via Getty Images
Bank of Canada to make an interest rate announcement at 10 a.m. ET
Teck Resources Ltd. hosts a conference call to discuss its 2019 Sustainability Report and strategy
Quebec’s Treasury Board President Christian Dube and Finance Minister Eric Girard to discuss a bill to mitigate the effects of the pandemic and quickly revive the Quebec economy
A Papua New Guinea court is set to rule on whether Barrick Gold Corp. can proceed with a legal challenge over the government’s refusal to extend its lease on the Porgera gold mine
Case management conference for Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou in Vancouver
Transport Minister Marc Garneau, CEO of Vancouver Fraser Port Authority Robin Silvester, Robyn McVicker, a vice-president at YVR and Tim Strauss, vice-president of Air Canada cargo take part in Transportation Forum 2020
Notable Earnings: Stingray Group Inc., Canada Goose Holdings Inc., AutoCanada Inc. _______________________________________________________
Some of the biggest cannabis players when legalization took effect 20 months ago have successfully held on to their dominant positions, despite a year of bankruptcies, downsizings, revoked licences, executive firings, mass layoffs and a long market selloff, writes Vanmala Subramaniam.
It is hard enough to make money in the stock market, even without the world shut down due to a global pandemic. In fact, studies have proven that the average stock actually goes down. So how does one make money? Well, it’s all in the math. A stock can “only” decline by 100 per cent. But if you have a big winner, you can make 1,000 per cent returns, or more. A winner or two can more than make up for many losers, writes Peter Hodson.
OTTAWA – Canada’s unemployment rate held steady at 6.5 per cent last month as hiring remained weak across the economy.
Statistics Canada’s labour force survey on Friday said employment rose by a modest 15,000 jobs in October.
Business, building and support services saw the largest gain in employment.
Meanwhile, finance, insurance, real estate, rental and leasing experienced the largest decline.
Many economists see weakness in the job market continuing in the short term, before the Bank of Canada’s interest rate cuts spark a rebound in economic growth next year.
Despite ongoing softness in the labour market, however, strong wage growth has raged on in Canada. Average hourly wages in October grew 4.9 per cent from a year ago, reaching $35.76.
Friday’s report also shed some light on the financial health of households.
According to the agency, 28.8 per cent of Canadians aged 15 or older were living in a household that had difficulty meeting financial needs – like food and housing – in the previous four weeks.
That was down from 33.1 per cent in October 2023 and 35.5 per cent in October 2022, but still above the 20.4 per cent figure recorded in October 2020.
People living in a rented home were more likely to report difficulty meeting financial needs, with nearly four in 10 reporting that was the case.
That compares with just under a quarter of those living in an owned home by a household member.
Immigrants were also more likely to report facing financial strain last month, with about four out of 10 immigrants who landed in the last year doing so.
That compares with about three in 10 more established immigrants and one in four of people born in Canada.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
The Canadian Institute for Health Information says health-care spending in Canada is projected to reach a new high in 2024.
The annual report released Thursday says total health spending is expected to hit $372 billion, or $9,054 per Canadian.
CIHI’s national analysis predicts expenditures will rise by 5.7 per cent in 2024, compared to 4.5 per cent in 2023 and 1.7 per cent in 2022.
This year’s health spending is estimated to represent 12.4 per cent of Canada’s gross domestic product. Excluding two years of the pandemic, it would be the highest ratio in the country’s history.
While it’s not unusual for health expenditures to outpace economic growth, the report says this could be the case for the next several years due to Canada’s growing population and its aging demographic.
Canada’s per capita spending on health care in 2022 was among the highest in the world, but still less than countries such as the United States and Sweden.
The report notes that the Canadian dental and pharmacare plans could push health-care spending even further as more people who previously couldn’t afford these services start using them.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.
As Canadians wake up to news that Donald Trump will return to the White House, the president-elect’s protectionist stance is casting a spotlight on what effect his second term will have on Canada-U.S. economic ties.
Some Canadian business leaders have expressed worry over Trump’s promise to introduce a universal 10 per cent tariff on all American imports.
A Canadian Chamber of Commerce report released last month suggested those tariffs would shrink the Canadian economy, resulting in around $30 billion per year in economic costs.
More than 77 per cent of Canadian exports go to the U.S.
Canada’s manufacturing sector faces the biggest risk should Trump push forward on imposing broad tariffs, said Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters president and CEO Dennis Darby. He said the sector is the “most trade-exposed” within Canada.
“It’s in the U.S.’s best interest, it’s in our best interest, but most importantly for consumers across North America, that we’re able to trade goods, materials, ingredients, as we have under the trade agreements,” Darby said in an interview.
“It’s a more complex or complicated outcome than it would have been with the Democrats, but we’ve had to deal with this before and we’re going to do our best to deal with it again.”
American economists have also warned Trump’s plan could cause inflation and possibly a recession, which could have ripple effects in Canada.
It’s consumers who will ultimately feel the burden of any inflationary effect caused by broad tariffs, said Darby.
“A tariff tends to raise costs, and it ultimately raises prices, so that’s something that we have to be prepared for,” he said.
“It could tilt production mandates. A tariff makes goods more expensive, but on the same token, it also will make inputs for the U.S. more expensive.”
A report last month by TD economist Marc Ercolao said research shows a full-scale implementation of Trump’s tariff plan could lead to a near-five per cent reduction in Canadian export volumes to the U.S. by early-2027, relative to current baseline forecasts.
Retaliation by Canada would also increase costs for domestic producers, and push import volumes lower in the process.
“Slowing import activity mitigates some of the negative net trade impact on total GDP enough to avoid a technical recession, but still produces a period of extended stagnation through 2025 and 2026,” Ercolao said.
Since the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement came into effect in 2020, trade between Canada and the U.S. has surged by 46 per cent, according to the Toronto Region Board of Trade.
With that deal is up for review in 2026, Canadian Chamber of Commerce president and CEO Candace Laing said the Canadian government “must collaborate effectively with the Trump administration to preserve and strengthen our bilateral economic partnership.”
“With an impressive $3.6 billion in daily trade, Canada and the United States are each other’s closest international partners. The secure and efficient flow of goods and people across our border … remains essential for the economies of both countries,” she said in a statement.
“By resisting tariffs and trade barriers that will only raise prices and hurt consumers in both countries, Canada and the United States can strengthen resilient cross-border supply chains that enhance our shared economic security.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2024.
