These are stories Report on Business is following Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2014.
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Bank of Canada official seeks change
The Canadian government is now too "exposed" to the country's hot housing market, warns a top central bank official who's calling for more private-sector involvement.
Lawrence Schembri isn't the first official to warn how dangerous this could be.
But his paper, published today, is notable in that it comes from a deputy governor of the Bank of Canada, which only recently again cited the threats from the massive debt loads of Canadian households.
Mr. Schembri stresses that the system is sound, as long as there's no "severe" shock that would drive up unemployment, and that the "imbalances" among consumers will probably ease as mortgage rates inevitably rise.
Nonetheless, he writes in the National Institute Economic Review, things have to change given, among other things, debt-to-income levels that have been at or near record levels in Canada.
"These post-crisis imbalances have accelerated a trend in which the government has become more exposed to the Canadian housing market via its guarantees on mortgage insurance mortgage securitization," Mr. Schembri writes in the journal published by Britain's National Institute of Economic and Social Research.
"This trend is not sustainable," he adds.
"The housing finance framework needs to be adjusted and strengthened by rebalancing the risk exposures among the participants in this market."
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp., the government insurer, is, of course, a key player here, while the mortgage market is dominated by the big banks.
The government has taken several steps to cool the market over the past several years.
"However, more work is needed to determine the appropriate adjustments in the pricing of, and quantitative restrictions on, mortgage insurance and securitization to create the right incentives, leverage market forces and achieve a sustainable rebalancing in risk exposures," Mr. Schembri says.
"In particular, measures should be considered to develop a liquid private-label securitization market in Canada."
Under the former governor, Mark Carney, the Bank of Canada warned frequently of the dangers to consumers, even threatening a rate hike should households not take steps.
The current governor, Stephen Poloz, has dropped that, though the central bank's latest monetary policy report again highlighted the risks.
Indeed, the Bank of Canada had, until recently, said the country's housing market appeared headed for a soft landing.
But in its latest missive, it said the eastern Canadian market was looking that way, while Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia were still running strong.
For the record, the central bank wasn't saying those markets were in danger of crashing, but observers took it as a warning where Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver were concerned.
And Mr. Schembri returns to this theme today.
"Much of this strength in house-price growth is coming from the greater Vancouver and Toronto areas – which are popular destinations for immigrants and also, based on anecdotal evidence, for foreign investors – and from Calgary, which is benefiting from strong income growth due to high energy prices and elevated levels of economic activity," he writes.
- Boyd Erman and Tara Perkins: CMHC to return to lower-risk roots
- Tara Perkins: Housing markets other than Toronto, Vancouver may be of concern: National Bank
- From west to east, a look at projected house price gains across Canada
- Bank of Canada raises red flags over Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary housing markets
- Follow our coverage of Canada's real estate market
Toronto home sales up
Proving Mr. Schembri's point, just hours after his paper was published, the latest reading of Toronto's housing market showed strong growth yet again.
Sales in the Toronto area climbed 7.7 per cent in October from a year earlier, to 8,552, while the average price surged 8.9 per cent to $587,505, according to the Toronto Real Estate Board today.
New listings, on the other hand, rose by 3.4 per cent.
The outlook?
"While sales growth has tracked strongly so far this fall, many would-be home buyers have continued to have difficulties finding a home due to the constrained supply of listings in some parts of the Greater Toronto Area, particularly where low-rise home types are concerned," said Jason Mercer, the board's director of market analysis.
"The resulting sellers' market conditions are forecast to drive strong price growth through the remainder of 2014 and indeed into 2015 as well."
- Brent Jang: Vancouver housing prices head towards new record high
- Home sales, prices rise sharply in Calgary, Canada's hottest market
Earnings flood in
From autos and auto parts to coffee and doughnuts, corporate earnings are flooding in again today.
And newspapers. And from the oil patch.
First, Toyota Motor Corp. today boosted its profit outlook, sharply, amid the decline in the yen, while its second-quarter operating profit rose.
Canadian auto parts giant Magna International Inc., meanwhile, reported a solid increase in third-quarter profit and revenue as demand in North America surged.
Profit climbed to $470-million, or $2.19 a share, diluted, from $319-million or $1.39 a year earlier. Sales rose to $8.8-billion from $8.3-billion.
And if you happen to be waiting for your car to be serviced today, ponder this over a cup of coffee: Tim Hortons Inc. beat analyst expectations as same-store sales, the key retailing measure, rose in both Canada and the U.S.
Its profit slipped to $98.1-million or 74 cents from $113.9-million or 75 cents, primarily on the costs associated with its deal to be swallowed by Burger King Worldwide Inc.
- Toyota raises full-year profit forecast on weak yen
- Magna profit jumps on strong North American sales
- Tim Hortons beats estimates on rise in same-store sales
- Penn West posts quarterly loss as production falls
- Torstar swings to profit on boost from Harlequin sale
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