Monday Market and Mortgage News - December 20th, 2010 - Edmonton & Calgary

First Foundation’s Best Rates to Open the Week:

Term Rates

1 Year 2.80%
2 Year 3.10%
3 Year 3.19%
4 Year 3.79%
5 Year 3.84%
7 Year 4.85%
10 Year 5.15%

ARM / Variable 2.20%
Line of Credit 3.50%

Market News

The Toronto Stock Exchange moved higher as a result of strength in the energy and commodity sectors Monday, even as the Canadian dollar lost roughly half a cent.
The benchmark S&P/TSX composite index sat at 13,241 in the afternoon, up 39.9 points on the session in light trading.

The Canadian dollar lost 0.48 of a US cent to 98.26 cents US as the greenback picked up strength against most other major currencies. The loonie declined against most major peers after Statistics Canada revealed data showing Canadian wholesale prices unexpectedly stalled in October.

Experts say there are no big economic indicator announcements for the rest of the year, but the TSX should perform well this week as stocks get a last-minute boost before trading settles for the year.

Mortgage News – Steady improvement sees Canadian real estate market return to normal levels, new report suggests

National resale real estate activity in Canada is continuing its return to normal levels, having risen in November 2010 for the fourth consecutive month, according to the latest figures from the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA).

Seasonally adjusted national home sales activity via the Multiple Listing Service Systems of Canadian real estate Boards climbed 4.8% in November 2010 although this is still well short of record level activity for the month of November posted a year ago.

Seasonally adjusted sales now stand 19.5% above levels recorded in July 2010, when it reached this year’s low point, the report also shows.

Month on month increases were reported in Calgary, up 2.6%, Edmonton up 6.9%, Fraser Valley up 10.5%, London & St. Thomas up 6.5%, Montreal up 8.2%, Ottawa up 4.2%, Toronto up 6% and Greater Vancouver up 11.3%.

While these markets accounted for more than half of national activity in November, actual (not seasonally adjusted) national sales activity in November 2010 was 9.3% below levels in November 2009.

However, the persistence of large year over year declines from last year’s record levels has been masking the steady improvement in national sales activity since July 2010, the report said. A comparison of November sales activity to sales for the same month in previous years suggests that activity is currently running at more normal levels.

For more information about current rates and market information, please contact one of our experience mortgage brokers.