From WinnipegREALTORS® Real Estate News Publication, October 26, 2012.

Despite some earlier signals by Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney that it may be time to increase the central bank’s interest rate to curb household debt, the overnight bank rate remains unchanged at one per cent. 

The same rate has been in effect for 25 consecutive months, mirroring the rate of the 1950s, when “Uncle Louis” St. Laurent was prime minister, Vincent Massey was appointed the nation’s first Canadian-born governor-general, and the CBC opened Canada’s first TV station in Montréal.

Carney had been warning Canadians to bring down household debt to a more manageable level or he will be forced to step in and force the issue. 

According to Statistics Canada, Canadian household debt was 167 per cent of income in the second quarter, which the Bank of Canada considers to be a threat to the nation’s financial stability.

“Households need to slow...

From Winnipeg Free Press Publication, October 6, 2012.  By Todd Lewys.

Decent article commenting on the recent WinnipegREALTORS® Press Release, October 5, 2012.  Some notable exerpts below:

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.'s senior market analyst for Manitoba said it's premature to conclude a correction is underway when the market fundamentals remain so strong.

Dianne Himbeault said when the federal government tightened mortgage lending guidelines in 2009 and in 2010, MLS sales declined for several months and then rebounded because demand for homes remained strong.

"So we could be seeing that again," she said,.

Przybyl said it's also noteworthy that 34 per cent of the detached homes that changed hands last month sold for more than the listed price. That's down only three per cent from September last year, and 2011 was the second best year on record for MLS sales in Winnipeg.

"That tells me we still have demand from buyers."

True, September unit sales were down,...

WinnipegREALTORS® Press Release; October 5, 2012

WINNIPEG – After a roller coaster summer where inventory of available listings was up all three months over last year; new listings entered was up 2 out of 3 months, sales were down all three months; and dollar volume was up all three months – September started to show what other markets across the country have been reporting most of the year.

The number of listings available for sale in September – our inventory - was up 3.5% over the same month last year (3,396 vs. 3,280).

The number of new listings added to the inventory in September was down 3% (1,686 vs. 1742 last year); the number of sales recorded was down 14% (1,040 vs. 1,214); and that drop in sales created a decrease in dollar volume through theMLS® by 10% ($251 million vs. $278 million in September of 2011).

Days-on-market was even off a day for residential detached. This year it took 27 days on average to sell vs. 26 days last September. Condominiums averaged...