Kitchener family says their 10-year-old needs life-saving drug that cost $600,000
Raneem, 10, lives with a neurological condition and liver disease and needs Cholbam, a medication, for a longer and healthier life.
Toronto realtor Nasma Ali has noted a marked slowdown in housing demand in the red-hot Greater Toronto Area over the past few weeks, which she sees as a likely precursor to a reckoning in the suburbs and surrounding towns that have seen blistering price growth over the past two years.
"I had listings that, in January, would have had a 100+ showings," Ali, chief executive of broker One Group, said. "All of a sudden, we're only getting five to six in four days. This is a transition period and it's not for all markets or price points. But we're seeing it."
Already, homes listed for sale in supply-constrained Toronto have fallen at a slower pace than sales in February from a year earlier, compared with most of last year when listings lagged sales.
The slowdown in major cities like Toronto and Vancouver and their surrounding areas appears to be gathering steam, driven by a confluence of factors.
Worsening housing affordability, rising fixed and variable mortgage rates, and accelerating inflation following Russia's invasion of Ukraine is shifting sentiment.
Record-low mortgage rates helped propel Canadian home prices 52% higher over the past two years. But as fixed mortgage rates rip higher alongside surging bond yields and variable rates climb following the Bank of Canada's first hike in three years, demand is cooling.
Money markets are betting the central bank will increase its policy rate to 2.25% by year-end, up from a current 0.5%.
"This is the most dramatic increase in five-year fixed rates that I can remember, and I've been in this business for two decades," said David Larock, a mortgage agent at Integrated Mortgage Planners. "I'm starting to see purchase and sale agreements come in with financing conditions, which has been unheard of in the last couple of years," he said.
Marnie Bennett, owner of Bennett Property Shop Realty in Ottawa, said she has seen a shift in the market, particularly at the lower end, as affordability concerns dissuade first-time buyers, and investors cash out near the peak.
"It's only because interest rates are so low that there's any affordability left," said BMO Capital Markets senior economist Sal Guatieri. "But that affordability will erode pretty quickly," he said, adding the central bank's rate hikes "will douse the flames somewhat."
While that is unlikely to cause major damage to household finances, it will put pressure on marginal buyers, he said.
Pedro Antunes, chief economist at the Conference Board of Canada, expects a decline of about 10% in home prices from peak to trough, driven by the end of pandemic income supports, rising interest rates and the return to more normal consumer spending patterns.
"People are going to start taking their vacation trips south and perhaps not be ready to put quite as much into a new mortgage," he said.
Despite the softness, both Toronto and Vancouver have seen price growth of 27% and 20% respectively from a year ago. Prices are up 20.6%, on average, nationwide.
"It's still a seller's market," said Toronto realtor Lisa Bednarski at BSpoke Realty. "But what we're going to stop seeing are the homes that sell for inexplicable amounts above their market values."
Raneem, 10, lives with a neurological condition and liver disease and needs Cholbam, a medication, for a longer and healthier life.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has issued a recall for a specific chocolate brand sold in Ontario and Quebec.
Ontario is introducing a suite of measures that will crack down on cellphone use and vaping in schools.
Health Minister Mark Holland says while he is 'deeply appreciative' of the work doctors in Canada do, the federal government has no plans to scrap the proposed capital gains tax changes outlined in the latest budget, despite opposition from the Canadian Medical Association.
Ontario is now home to an invasive and toxic worm species that can grow up to three feet long and can be dangerous to small animals and pets.
Quebec will invest $603 million over five years to counter the decline of French in the province, French Language Minister Jean-Francois Roberge announced Sunday.
A senior Qatari official has urged Israel and Hamas to show "more commitment and more seriousness" in ceasefire negotiations in interviews with Israeli media, as pressure builds to reach a deal that would free some Israeli hostages and bring a ceasefire in the nearly seven-month-long war in Gaza.
A recent report sheds light on Canadians living abroad--estimated at around four million people in 2016—and the public policies that impact them.
Students protesting the Israel-Hamas war woke up in tents at college campuses across the United States Sunday morning planning more protests demanding that schools cut financial ties to Israel and divest from companies accused of enabling the conflict.
As if a 4-0 Edmonton Oilers lead in Game 1 of their playoff series with the Los Angeles Kings wasn't good enough, what was announced at Rogers Place during the next TV timeout nearly blew the roof off the downtown arena.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
A property tax bill is perplexing a small townhouse community in Fergus, Ont.
When identical twin sisters Kim and Michelle Krezonoski were invited to compete against some of the world’s most elite female runners at last week’s Boston Marathon, they were in disbelief.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”