TD Economics brought to you by Dina Ignjatovic, Economist
Data Release: Housing starts kick off the year on strong footing
- Canadian housing starts kicked off the year on a strong note, with homebuilders breaking ground on 207k units (annualized) in January. This extends December's sharp gain, and pushes the 6-month moving average up just shy of the 200k unit mark.
- The strength in January stemmed from the multi-family sector, which was up 4.2% following a 14% gain in December. Meanwhile, single family construction was down 4.6% on the month, reversing some of December's gains.
- Regionally, Ontario remained the key driver of growth, with starts up by a whopping 25% in January. Homebuilding in the Atlantic Provinces was also up during the month while the remaining regions recorded declines. B.C. experienced the largest pullback, as home starts slid 33% from the month prior.
Key Implications
- Overall, housing starts have been hovering around the 200k mark annualized (on a trend basis) for the last six quarters, or just slightly above the current rate of household formation. However, homebuilding construction should begin to slow over the course of the year, consistent with a cooling in overall housing market activity.
- Still, the recent strength in multi-unit projects could have further room to run given the surge in building permit approvals seen over the second half of last year. This could be partly offset by single-family construction, which is already at relatively lofty levels.
- The regional story will continue to reverberate across the housing markets, with central Canada leading the way, while B.C. and the oil-rich provinces lagging behind.
Bank penalty floors military family
March 7 2016 Posted by Jennifer Gaudet
compliments of chronicle herald July 23, 2015 http://thechronicleherald.ca/novascotia/1301027-bank-penalty-floors-military-family
A young military mother said she felt like she was being robbed when the Royal Bank of Canada told her she would have to shell out a $6,000 penalty for breaking her mortgage early because her husband was being posted to a base in Ontario.
Luckily, the bank eventually waived that penalty, but Tracy Villeneuve and her husband, Curtis, an aerospace telecommunication technician with the Canadian Forces, had some anxious moments over what they feared would be a substantial loss of equity in their home.
The Villeneuves bought the house in Greenwood in 2012, when they were relocated from the Bagotville, Que., base. The federal government then had a policy to pay any mortgage-related fees due to posting changes.
But the government ended that policy in September 2012, leaving families to foot their own mortgage cancellation fees, known as interest rate differential penalties.
Due to the difference in the price of real estate, coupled with having to leave her new full-time job, Villeneuve said her family had no choice but to opt for military housing. When she informed RBC she would have to duck out two years into a five-year mortgage, she said she was shocked at the response.
“I just had to hang up because I couldn’t imagine they were going to take that much money from us,” she said.
Since then, there have been calls, emails, and letters to bank officials of all different levels.
“(RBC) called me back today and said they’ve made a decision, and because we’ve signed a mortgage contract I have to fulfil my end of the contract and there’s nothing we’re going to do about it,” she told The Chronicle Herald early Thursday afternoon.
“For a corporation that made $9 billion last year, they’re going to take all that cash equity.… It’s just mind-boggling,” she said.
Late Thursday afternoon, hours after The Chronicle Herald asked RBC for comment, Villeneuve was contacted by the manager of the local branch who said the $6,000 penalty would be waived and apologized for the time and energy she wasted seeking a resolution.
Andrew Block, an RBC spokesman, said the bank is now looking at changing its policies for military families.
“We … understand regional price differences can make it difficult for some Armed Forces personnel to purchase homes when transferred and we are actively seeking solutions for these clients,” he said.
When Villeneuve was still trying to find a resolution, she contacted the Canadian Forces to enquire about appealing to have the penalty covered. While she said she was given information she needed for the process, she was also told no families have yet been reimbursed.
“If you bought a house before 2012, you’ve bought thinking this was going to be covered if you ever got posted. People should have been grandfathered into the process, but they just cut it completely and haven’t given anybody anything back since.”
No one from the Department of National Defence was available for comment by press time.
Jennifer Gaudet, a Nova Scotia mortgage broker specializing in military mortgages and penalties, said since the government changed its policy, BMO and TD have been waiving penalties for military families. Scotiabank doesn’t waive entirely, but only charges military families a three-month interest rate differential penalty. CIBC, RBC and credit unions don’t have measures for military families relocating within Canada, but RBC waives penalties for people posted overseas.
Jennifer Gaudet
Associate Mortgage Broker - Military Mortgage Specialist
- 902-824-2906
- jennifer@jennifergaudet.ca
- Licence # 2024-3000814
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