There was no rate change to report from the Bank of Canada today, and nobody expected one. 

Canada’s base interest rate remains at 1.00%. It has held that level for 952 days, an unprecedented stretch of flat monetary policy.

The Bank of Canada’s Mark Carney continues to maintain that “the next move (in rates) is likely to be up.” That so-called “tightening bias” has been in place for more than a year.

But if the next move is indeed up, it won’t be happening this year—that is, if you believe the forecasts of virtually every economist in Canada.

Here are some highlights from today’s announcement (our comments in italics):

“…the considerable monetary policy stimulus currently in place will likely remain appropriate for a period of time, after which some modest withdrawal will likely be required…”

“…the Bank continues to expect that the household debt-to-income ratio will stabilize near current levels.”

“…annual average (Canadian) growth is now projected to be 1.5 per cent in 2013” [The BoC’s forecast was previously 2.0%. A 1.5% clip would be the slowest pace since the 2009 recession and suggest little threat of a rate hike this year.]

“The economy is then projected to grow by 2.8 per cent in 2014 and 2.7 per cent in 2015, reaching full capacity in mid-2015”

“…declining mortgage interest costs” have helped “restrain” CPI inflation

“Inflation is expected to remain subdued in coming quarters before gradually rising to 2 per cent by mid-2015”

source of article: www.CanadianMortgageTrends.com

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Greater Victoria real estate sales picked up in March, but still lag behind last year’s pace, according to figures released Tuesday by the Victoria Real Estate Board. The board reported there were 483 sales last month through its Multiple Listings Service, a 23 per cent increase over February’s sales, but still well behind the 570 properties sold in March last year.

Over the first quarter of last year, there had been 1,439 sales of 3,791 listed properties. Through the first three months of this year, there have been 1,171 sales of the 3,350 listed. The average price per sold unit last month was $455,180, down from $474,656 in 2012. However, the board was focusing more on the spring upswing seen this year.

“The market continues to unfold as predicted,” said president Shelley Mann. “March resulted in the highest number of sales since July 2012 when the lending rules changed.”

Mann said she remains optimistic there will be improvement as the year progresses. “With sales below the historical norm, there is potential pent-up consumer demand developing in the market. We expect quarterly activity to increase over the next two quarters,” she said.

Read entire article here

Date Released: March 2013

February 2013 housing starts in the Victoria Census Metropolitan area CMA) were on par with the pace set last year. In line with CMHC’s 2013 forecasts, multiple-family units accounted for the majority of February starts. Single-detached starts added 39 units in February 2013, compared to 33 in February 2012. Multiple-family starts totalled 76 units in February, compared to 83 units reported in February 2012. The District of Saanich recorded 62 of the 115 Victoria CMA starts for the month of February.

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One of the most evil heroes in science fiction history is Anakin Skywalker, aka Darth Vader. He went from being a great man and good friend to betraying everyone he loved and becoming a sinister Sith Lord. Ultimately, the story of Anakin Skywalker is one of redemption. We can learn a few lessons about debt from his tumultuous tale. Anakin's life was full of ups and downs just like your journey to pay off debt. Although things seemed bleak and beyond repair, good forces kept up the fight and triumphed in the end. Here are five lessons about debt we can take away from the Jedi who finally brought balance to the Force.

1. Debt Often Entices You Bit by Bit

Anakin didn't turn to the dark side all at once. No, he was enticed a little bit at a time. Debt is the same way. You consider buying something small with your credit card, telling yourself that you can pay it off soon. Then you buy something else. Soon you are making increasingly large purchases. You tell yourself that you will pay it off in two or three months, but you don't. One day, you wake up and realize that you are so deep in debt that you're not sure you can get out. This is just like when you realize that you're so deep into the dark side that your only option is to kill off nearly all of the remaining Jedi.

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