It should be noted that this holiday was celebrated even before Canada was formed. At first, it fell on the actual sovereign’s birthday. Today it’s celebrated in numerous ways across the country. It’s considered to be a statutory holiday in six of Canada’s ten provinces and all three of its territories.

The Queen’s birthday was celebrated in Canada long before the Confederation. Actually, the first legislation note concerning this event was registered in 1845, when the parliament of the Province of Canada officially recognized May 24 as the Queen’s birthday. On that day, on the 35th birthday of Queen Victoriain 1854, about 5,000 residents of Canada went to the Government House (near today’s King and Simcoe Streets in Toronto) to congratulate their Queen.

After the death of Queen Victoria in 1901, May 24 was made an official Victoria Day when people give honours to the Queen who was known as the “Mother of Confederation”.

Since then Victoria Day is the unofficial marker of the end of the winter social period in Canada and the beginning of the real social summer.

Have a Great Victoria Day and enjoy beautiful weather and spectacular fireworks!

“It’s been long time since we’ve seen rent levels grow even stronger than resale and new condo prices,” – said Shaun Hildebrand, a senior vice president of Urbanation and a former market analyst with CMHC. “Now we can see investors understanding that the main strength lies on the rental side of the market, and not on the resale side.”

According to the report by Urbanation Inc., there were 2,728 new condos sold in the first quarter of 2013 – it’s 55% lower than during the same period in 2012 and 29% lower than in the fourth quarter of 2012. And as lenders step back from the condo market, the developers may face a potential $2-3 billion financing gap, which can cause significant construction delays.

The implementation of tighter mortgage rules for the first-time buyers was a strong shock for the hot real estate market. Moreover, when the biggest banks started reducing their posted rates in the beginning of 2013 to 2.99% or even lower, Jim Flaherty again interfered in the mortgage market business.

The Urbanization’s report shows that 18,000 new condos will be available in 2013 in GTA. The next year the numbers will be higher – 23,000 new condos.

Meanwhile, the number of unsold units in active projectswas up this quarter to 18,845 units, which is 21% higher than a year ago. Hildebrand says the majority of them are in the pre-construction sales phase, and he believes that the remainder of 2013 will show an upswing. Today many market observers hope he is right and we’ll see more buyers at the market.

“Those who post their advertisements on the street posts are just hoping for clients with a terrible financial situation,” – says BhanPersaud, FSCO.

According to Ontario’s Mortgage Brokerages, Lenders and Administrators Act, all mortgage brokerages, brokers and agents are obliged to provide the licencename and number in all PR materials, including all kinds of ads. These advertisements must also include the name and licensing information about the brokerage they are connected with.

Moreover, all private lenders offering mortgages are prohibited from giving ads about their services. Only the licensed mortgage brokers who arrange mortgages on their behalf can do this.

In order to report an illegal mortgage brokering ad, please, send FSCO a copy or photo of the ad. Provide the information about location, date and time when you saw it. The complaint can be sent to contactcentre@fsco.gov.on.ca.

“Just don’t take the advertisement down, as in this case we won’t have the evidence,” – notesPersaud. “Also hold a newspaper while taking photo of the ad, because we need to prove that the advertisement is fresh and posted after 2008 when the Act took effect.”

It’s important to understand that consumers who get mortgages from unlicensed brokerage, broker or agent, are not protected by the Act.

Simply ask yourself: “Do you want to risk thousands of dollars by giving your personal information and your biggest investment into the hands of possible fraudsters?”

The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) is considering the new rules, according to which the banks won’t be able to sell any type of mortgage with amortizations of more than 25 years.

As you know today financial institutions offer conventional mortgages with up to 35 years of amortization if a borrower has a really strong credit rating and a down-payment of more than 20%. And now OSFI is doing preliminary consultations with the Canadian financial institutions concerning this issue.

In addition to it, the regulator is trying to determine the desirability of certain rule changes with the current real estate market conditions and the latest tendencies in the household debt level.According to OSFI, the final decision will be taken right after they hear back from the industry. All proposed changes to the mortgage guideline will become a subject to a public consultation.

As the housing market activity is falling, banks and OSFI feel more pressure – they need to make sure that underwriting standards are solid and that financial institutions will not face large damages if the market showsa significant downturn.

There were several steps taken by OSFI and the Department of Finance since the financial crisis aimed at tightening mortgage rules. The latest one was taken in July 2012 – it reduced the maximum amortizations on mortgages insured by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation from 30 to 25 years.

We hope that this decision will not happen overnight, however based on last year actions by Department of Finance we are not ruling out this possibility. If you need a mortgage with extended amortization – now is the time to act.

And as many people were going back home, certain problems could appear, including the lack of housings for the soldiers and their future families.

In 1946 the agency (later named Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation – CMHC) was created in order to solve this problem. And the agency’s policysaid that each Canadian family should have a home.

The main CMHC’s role was to help manage and finance the housing projects in different Canadian cities. CMHC took over the assets of the Wartime Housing Ltd., which built thousands of houses during the war period. Later the Corporation was renamed into Central Mortgage and Housing Corporation.

Wartime Housing Limited built and operated town ofAjax, Ontario, from 1941 to 1949. The town provided housing for returning veterans. In 1948 CMHC took responsibility for Ajax.

After that, in 1954, the National Housing Act was changed. According to the new Act, the federal government stopped providing the direct finance of private housing projects. From that moment mortgage financing was left to the banks. They started issuing mortgages with CMHC underwriting. It means that if a borrower couldn’t pay off the loan and went bankrupt, the bank still didn’t lose the money, as it was reimbursed by the government. So those who wanted to get a mortgage with a small downpayment, had to pay for insurance premiums.

World War II has significant impact on development of Canadian banking system and eventually CMHC was created and evolved into the biggest and strongest Crown Corporation.

Today, we celebrate Victory Day and 9 May marks the capitulation of Nazi Germany to the Soviet Union in the Second World War (also known as the Great Patriotic War). We want to congratulate all people from around the globe with that historic victory – all fallen soldiers will live forever in our hearts!

It’s a well-known fact that the most important investment we make is our home. That’s why if you can reduce the cost of your mortgage at least a little bit, it may save you thousands of dollars in interests.

Most of us believe that we can always benefit from our loyalty – the more products or services we buy from a bank, the more chances we have for getting the best deal. Nevertheless, according tothe Bank of Canada document called Discounting in Mortgage Markets, it’s not true. An interesting survey was made in 2011: three economists reviewed Canadian insured mortgages registered between 1999 and 2004 in order to see who got the best interest rates.

The results show that borrowers who switched lenders got the best rates, as banks see new clients as an opportunity to sell more products. Meanwhile, existing customers believe they will automatically get a better deal just because they’re loyal. Unfortunately, they don’t. The deal is that they don’t shop around thinking they will get the best rate anyway. In the end, they may be glad to receive a minimal discount as they are not well-informed. Borrowers who are least likely to shop around are often affluent, and they may be comfortable with getting higher rate in exchange for the full service.

The study found that mortgage brokers find the best rates. They are paid by the lender and not by the borrowers, but they are not tied to one certain financial institution. And as the competition between them is very high, the pressure to find the most profitable rate is strong. According to the survey, brokers represent an important factor affecting discounts, decreasing the cost of a mortgage on average by 17.5 bps (0.175%).

Another interesting issue is that first-time buyers find better rates as they are more likely to shop around – their budget is limited, so they are ready to fight for each cent. They are a higher risk group for lenders because of their debts, but in time banks can sell them more products. As a result, they receive really good deals.

Remember how you mother told you to do your homework? Well, she was right! Shop around, consult a professional and only then make your final decision.

Last week the Finance Minister Jim Flaherty announced that Mark Carney who starts reining the Bank of England will be replaced by Poloz – an economist and head of the Ottawa-based export credit agency Export Development Canada.

“Making this decision has taken us some time,” – Mr Flaherty said. “And during this time we’ve reviewed the best candidates from around the world.”

Paul Therien hopes that Poloz will show the same care that his predecessor has and continues the policy Mark Carney has stated.“I wish him luck and I hope he’s as aimed at protecting the Canadian economy as Mark Carney was,” – added Therien.

It should be noted that Mr. Poloz really has a great reputation. Being 57 years old, he has shown himself as a professional during 14-year stretch at the Bank of Canada and incredible global experience, which included working at the Economic Planning Agency in Tokyo and the International Monetary Fund in Washington.

According to the recent report, there were 9,811 sales made over the MLS system in GTA, while in April 2012 the numbers were only slightly higher – 10,021 sales.

Moreover, it’s also higher than during two previous months. In March we saw 7,765 sales, which is 17% lower than in March 2012. And in February only 5,759 homes were sold – it’s 15% lower than a year earlier.

“In spite of all the difficulties the Canadian real estate market faced this year, April numbers turned out to be really strong in comparison to 2012,” – said Toronto Real Estate Board president Ann Hannah. “Later in the second half of the year the housing market demand should grow.”

It should be noted that after red-hot GTA housing market in the first six months of 2012 there was a serious market downturn in the second half of last year. That’s why many economists believe that sharp year-over-year sales declines will dissipate later in 2013.

According to TREB, the average selling price last month was $526,335 – it’s 2% higher than a year ago. These numbers also include the condo market, which also shows stronger sales in April. “The fact that Toronto condo sales were down by only 1%, suggests that interest in condos may be growing,” – noted Jason Mercer, TREB’s senior manager of market analysis.

Sal Guatieri, Bank of Montreal economist, says that April home sales results are confirming the “soft-landing” scenario.

“We can see even Vancouver’s real estate downturn stabilizing,” – Guatieri said. Here we saw a 6.1% sales decline last month, while in March it was 18.7%. “And although market demand stays quite weak, (sales are still 21% below the 10-year average), supply didn’t shoot up.”

“Meanwhile, after a small pause, Calgary showed 8.3% sales increase in April,” -Guatieri added. Of course, Edmonton sales fell by 6.2%, but it remains above their decade norm.

“In general, I believe that the Great Canadian Housing Market Crash remains one elusive beast,” – Guatierisaid. And we couldn’t agree more with the leading Canadian economist!

CIBC kept the third place of the strongest bank in the world. In addition to it, Bank of Nova Scotia went up from the 18^th position last year to the 7^thplace in 2013. RBC also shows an increase from the 6^th place to the 4^th.

“The fact that we are ranked as the strongest bank in North America for two consecutive years already reflects our main strategy: low risk and sustainable long term earnings,” – said CIBC president Gerry McCaughey.

Meanwhile, Toronto Dominion and National Bank lost their rankings with TD slipping from 4^th to 8^th place and National Bank showing the largest decrease from 5^th position to 17^th.

Such a change in the ranking of main Canadian banks happened amid worries about the revenue growth and economic slowdown. Recently Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s ratings agencies lowered their credit ratings for six Canadian banks.

Of course, it’s very difficult for a first time home buyer to cope with the whole purchase process. Actually, according to RBC’s survey, 60% of buyers said they made at least one wrong decision when purchasing a home.

The report shows that the most common mistakes first-time buyers make are the following:

• Underestimating renovation costs– 15%.
• Too small downpayment – 14%.
• Ignoringthe home inspection – 13%.
• Buying too quickly – 11%.
• Neglecting hidden costs or total homeownership cost – 10%.

As you know, a house purchase is usually the most important financial decision in our lives, so it’s extremely important to plan the process beforehand and get prepared. It’s better to consult a professional systematically and leave some finances for different unexpected costs.

RBC’s poll shows that mortgage downpaymentsturned out to be of a particular difficulty for young generation of homeowners (ages 18-34). To be precise, 21% said they would like to have a larger downpayment – at least, larger than the Canadian average of 14%.

In addition to it, 13% of younger first-time home owners wish they’d have thought about their potential family space needs for the future.

Meanwhile, 46% haven’t bought a house yet as they can’t afford it; 32% are still saving for the larger downpayment.

And 62% of these future buyers expect their downpayment to be about 10% of the total house value. Another 53% believe they will be able to provide a necessary downpayment in three years.