Market & Mortgage News - Week of Nov. 14, 2011, Edmonton and Calgary

First Foundation Best Rates Top Open the Week:

Term Rates
1 Year 2.89%
2 Year 2.49%
3 Year 3.09%
4 Year 3.09%
5 Year 3.29%
7 Year 4.59%
10 Year 4.99%

ARM / Variable 2.90%
Line of Credit 3.50%

Prime Rate 3.00%
Qualifying Rate 5.29%


Market News

The Toronto stock market closed lower Monday as concern about the European debt crisis discouraged buyers. The S&P/TSX composite index dropped 52.66 points to 12,224.19 while the TSX Venture Exchange slipped 2.79 points to 1,638.52.

The current high price of Italian bonds indicates that the country has reached the point of financial crisis at which Ireland, Greece and Portugal bagan to seek a bailout to avoid sovereign default. Bailout isn’t an option for Italy’s 1.9 trilion-euro debt, however, and a default would shake the global economy.

To add to market concerns, there were also worries that France could lose its AAA credit rating, which theoretically allows the country to borrow money from the markets cheaply.

Since the credit ratings of France and Germany underpin the eurozone stability fund set up to tackle Europe’s debt crisis, a change in the French rating could be seismic, affecting the entire bailout plan.

Mortgage News

Canada’s real estate market continues to outperform expectations and is now expected by many experts to remain strong well into the next year regardless of a global economic slowdown.

The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) revised its forecast upward Tuesday after reporting strong October sales. It now projects sales this year will be up 1.4 per cent from 2010, half a percentage point better than its previous forecast.

Read more from CREA’s latest State of the Residential Mortgage Market in Canada report here

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