Grandparents killed in wrong-way crash on Hwy. 401 identified
A 60-year-old man and a 55-year-old woman killed in a wrong-way crash on Highway 401 earlier this week have been identified by the Consulate General of India in Toronto.
Move over credit card debt, there is a new financial focus for Canadians: mortgage debt.
Homebuyers have pushed new mortgages to unprecedented levels, according to a new report from Equifax Canada.
"Much of the growth in consumer debt, which stands at $2.08 trillion, up 4.78% from Q1 2020, has been driven by new mortgage growth particularly in B.C. and Ontario, which saw huge increases of 59.2% and 44.3% in volume respectively,” says Rebecca Oakes, assistant vice president of advanced analytics at Equifax Canada.
Low interest rates, a keen desire to move outside of urban centres, more demand than supply and even blind bidding wars have all conspired to ramp up competition, fuelling a housing frenzy.
So much so that in an effort to slow things down, the Office of the Superintendent of Financial institutions introduced on June 1 new guidelines on the qualifying rate for uninsured mortgages at a contracted rate plus two percentage points or 5.25%, whichever is higher. The intent is to slow things down by forcing potential homebuyers to save more money for a downpayment resulting in a little more wiggle room should rates go higher.
The effectiveness of the change should play out in future debt level reports.
Meanwhile, the irony is that for years the alarm bells were ringing that a potential day of reckoning would hit Canadians who had been spending beyond their means. Fears mounted that rates could go higher, compromising the ability to make payments. However, it wasn't a rate increase that forced Canadians to rein in their spending - it took a pandemic for many to change their consumer behaviour. Fewer places to spend money due to lockdowns and restrictions, lower costs working from home, fear of unemployment and even government benefits left many with extra cash and opting to pay down their credit cards, resulting in the average credit card balance dropping year over year by 9.9%.
The average consumer debt (excluding mortgages) dropped to $20,430 or 4.2% year over year.
Not only are balances dropping, the number of credit cards we hold is also on a downward trajectory. And younger Canadians who may have missed payments in the past have cleaned up their act with a drop in spending and paying off their credit cards.
Before we panic about the size of mortgages, mortgage payments delinquent 90 days or more dropped 19% year over year and stand at an all-time low with the exception of Vancouver, which showed a 14.6% increase and Fort McMurray, with a significant spike of 38%.
We are handling our debt levels well.
While the road to recovery is thought to be uneven, I refuse to think like "Chicken Little" and caution the financial sky is falling or about to fall.
I'm optimistic that as vaccines take hold, economies open up, and lessons are learned from a pandemic the appreciation of having a little financial flexibility in households will go a long way. Canadians are no longer spending as if there is no tomorrow. That can't be a bad thing.
Rates will ultimately go higher, many people will be fully weaned off government support but I believe we have changed.
The question is: will the housing market hold up, will rates increase in mid-2022 and will payments continue to be made?
Being house poor is a horrible feeling but for now, Canadians are holding their own.
A 60-year-old man and a 55-year-old woman killed in a wrong-way crash on Highway 401 earlier this week have been identified by the Consulate General of India in Toronto.
Electric scooters (e-scooters) have been gaining popularity in the capital and this season comes with some changes and updates.
The adorable trio of child actors from the 1993 classic comedy 'Mrs. Doubtfire,' which starred the late and great Robin Williams, are all grown up and looking back on their seminal time together.
Quebec Premier François Legault reiterated that the pro-Palestinian encampment at McGill University must be dismantled while police remain 'on the lookout for new developments.'
Drew Carey took over as host of 'The Price Is Right' and hopes he’s there for life. 'I'm not going anywhere,' he told 'Entertainment Tonight' of the job he took over from longtime host Bob Barker in 2007.
The United Nations food agency warned Sudan's warring parties Friday that there is a serious risk of widespread starvation and death in Darfur and elsewhere in Sudan if they don't allow humanitarian aid into the vast western region.
Ontario Provincial Police say two people were killed after a car and a transport truck collided in the westbound lanes of Highway 417 near Limoges, Ont. on Tuesday afternoon.
York Regional Police say they are continuing to search for a suspect in an auto theft investigation who was captured on video running over a police officer in Toronto last month.
Crucial witnesses took the stand in the second week of testimony in Donald Trump's hush money trial, including a California lawyer who negotiated deals at the center of the case and a longtime adviser to the former president.
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.
Since 1932, Montreal's Henri Henri has been filled to the brim with every possible kind of hat, from newsboy caps to feathered fedoras.
Police in Oak Bay, B.C., had to close a stretch of road Sunday to help an elephant seal named Emerson get safely back into the water.
Out of more than 9,000 entries from over 2,000 breweries in 50 countries, a handful of B.C. brews landed on the podium at the World Beer Cup this week.
Raneem, 10, lives with a neurological condition and liver disease and needs Cholbam, a medication, for a longer and healthier life.