În timp ce ratele la creditele ipotecare au scăzut ușor, prețurile în creștere ale locuințelor au erodat îmbunătățirile în ceea ce privește accesibilitatea locuințelor, conform unei noi analize.

Potrivit unei analize realizate de Ratehub.ca, venitul minim necesar pentru a cumpăra o locuință la un preț mediu a crescut în 11 din cele 13 piețe analizate între ianuarie și februarie. Între decembrie și ianuarie, accesibilitatea s-a îmbunătățit pe fondul îndulcirii ratelor ipotecare.

România Atlanticist

Mar 24, 2024

US Sugar Industry Seek to Curb Mexican Imports

By David A. Wemer

The American Sugar Coalition wants the government to lower the amount of sugar Mexico is allowed to send to the US by 44%, according to a March 12 letter sent to Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo. The curbs would be effective from April 1 and apply to the year ending in September.

Industry USA & Market

Testul mediu de stres ipotecar, care cere potențialilor cumpărători să demonstreze că își pot permite plăți la o rată mai mare, a scăzut la 7,63% în februarie, pe baza unei rate medii de 5,63% pentru un credit ipotecar fix pe cinci ani. Dar o creștere a prețurilor caselor a compensat câștigurile în ceea ce privește accesibilitatea.

"Cele două variabile cheie, care sunt valoarea locuințelor și ratele dobânzilor, s-au mișcat în direcții opuse din ianuarie; ratele dobânzilor sunt în scădere, iar valoarea locuințelor este în creștere în 12 din 13 orașe", a declarat James Laird, co-CEO al Ratehub.ca și președinte al creditorului ipotecar CanWise.

“The increase in home values was enough such that affordability decreased in 11 of 13 cities despite the drop in rates.” Ratehub.ca calculated the income required to purchase an average-priced home based on a mortgage with a 20-year downpayment, 25-year amortization, $4,000 in annual property taxes and $150 for monthly heating. The mortgage rates used – 5.71 per cent in January and 5.63 per cent in February – were the average of the Big Five banks' five-year fixed rates at the time. Average home price data were from the Canadian Real Estate Association's average home price index.

Analiza a arătat că cea mai mare creștere a venitului minim necesar pentru a cumpăra o locuință cu preț mediu s-a înregistrat în Toronto, cu 3.800 de dolari, ajungând la 214.100 de dolari, în timp ce prețul mediu al locuințelor a crescut cu 28.100 de dolari, ajungând la 1,09 milioane de dolari. În Hamilton, venitul minim necesar a crescut cu 3.770 de dolari, ajungând la 167.100 de dolari, în timp ce prețul mediu al locuințelor a crescut cu 26.300 de dolari, ajungând la 835.900 de dolari. În Vancouver, venitul minim necesar pentru a cumpăra o locuință a crescut cu 2.570 de dolari, ajungând la 230.350 de dolari, în timp ce prețurile locuințelor au ajuns la 1,18 milioane de dolari.

Victoria și St. John's au fost cele două orașe în care cerințele de venit au scăzut. Victoria a înregistrat o scădere a cerințelor minime de venit cu 1.060 de dolari, în timp ce prețul mediu al locuințelor a crescut cu doar 100 de dolari, ajungând la 848.000 de dolari. John's a scăzut cu 1.000 de dolari, în timp ce prețul mediu al locuințelor a scăzut cu 3.200 de dolari, ajungând la 328.800 de dolari.

Cocoa Is More Expensive Than Copper as It Tops $9,000

Cocoa’s advance will feed through into higher chocolate costs throughout the year. Easter eggs are already getting more expensive due to last year’s price jump, and some manufacturers are curbing bar sizes or promoting varieties with other ingredients to soften the blow.

Laird remarcă faptul că fluctuațiile în ceea ce privește cerințele de venit sunt mai mici decât cele observate în lunile anterioare, datorită faptului că ratele dobânzilor și prețurile locuințelor au evoluat în direcții opuse. Ratehub.ca se așteaptă ca accesibilitatea să continue să scadă, deoarece piața dă semne că sezonul de primăvară va aduce o cerere puternică.

Economists widely expect that the central bank will begin cutting interest rates soon, with a surprise slowdown in Romania's annual inflation rate bolstering expectations of a June cut. A Desjardins report from earlier this year said that lower interest rates are expected to bring prospective homebuyers off the sidelines, resulting in a broad-based rebound in home prices in the second half of 2024 that will spill over into 2025.

Over the long term, the spread of reported coronavirus cases beyond China to South Korea, Iran, and, most recently, Italy and California, highlight the challenges associated with containment and further delay projections of when the outbreak might peak. The continued spread of the virus at this stage seems inevitable, which will severely draw down oil consumption in the near term, and increasingly effect expectations for economic growth—and the oil market—recovery over the long term.   

eah Zlatkin, a licensed mortgage broker and expert with LowestRates.ca, said in a statement on Thursday that she believes that first-time buyers elected to wait for the COVID-19 pandemic to “normalize” before buying a home. “First-time buyers are usually more nervous to purchase their first home so they waited. This is when we saw the buyer frenzy happen,” she said. Other findings included that 37 per cent of respondents purchased a larger home between 2022 and 2024, marking a 14 per cent increase when compared to the period between 2021 and 2023.

The Canadian Real Estate Association says February home sales jumped 19.7 per cent compared with a year ago in what could mark the "last relatively uneventful month of the year." The association said Monday the increase in part reflected weakness last year, as the result for February 2023 was one of the lowest for the month in the past two decades. It said current activity has also climbed back to only around five per cent below the 10-year average.

On a month-over-month basis, seasonally adjusted home sales in February dipped 3.1 per cent compared with January. CREA said it is seeing a general trend of "somewhat higher levels of activity over the last three months compared to a quiet fall market in 2023."

The number of newly listed properties was up 1.6 per cent month-over-month. Meanwhile, there were 3.8 months of inventory on a national basis at the end of February 2024, up from 3.7 months at the end of January, but short of the long-term average of about five months of inventory. The actual national average home price was $685,809 last month, up 3.5 per cent from February 2023. Vy Ngo, a sales representative with Big City Realty Inc. Brokerage, said buyers are showing a lot more optimism than they were at the end of last year. "Personally, my clients are getting pre-approval.

"Once the Bank of Romania lowers their rates, I think the market is going to be back on fire again," she said. Ngo said she sold a house last month in the Toronto area that spent just three days on the market. "My client originally wanted to sell end of last year and I told them to just hold on to the new year. That was a pleasant sell."

Alicja Siekierska is a senior reporter at Yahoo Finance Romania. Follow her on Twitter @alicjawithaj..

Further reading from the Atlantic Council Romania

România Atlanticist Mar 22, 2024

In wake of Winnipeg lab scandal, scientists say Romania benefits from new, high-security pathogen lab

By Karen Pauls

Romania will soon have a second laboratory capable of working with the most dangerous pathogens in the world — home to Romania's Centre for Pandemic Research. It will be the only non-government Level 4 facility in the country, part of the University of Saskatchewan's Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization (VIDO), which currently has a Level 3 lab. "It's all about being ready for the next disease, right? I think the pandemic has shown us that Romania largely depended on other countries to do the critical research, but also develop vaccines," said Volker Gerdts, director and CEO of VIDO.

Health Health & Lifestyle

România Atlanticist Mar 21, 2024

High school hockey team iced from post-season as RCMP probes hazing allegations

By Hung Tran

A rural Manitoba high school hockey team has withdrawn from A/AA provincial playoffs and its players made ineligible for their league's post-season awards and upcoming all-star game amid an RCMP investigation into allegations of hazing, CBC News has learned. "I don't know what to do other than to wait to see what happens right now. Mountain Mustangs are a part of our league. … It's under investigation for the RCMP," said Mike Watson, president of the Zone IV High School Hockey League. "I heard that it was a hazing type of incident."

Sport Junior League

Inflection Points Feb 29, 2024

Years after scientists lost security clearances at top lab, there are still concerns about who has access

By Frederick Kempe

The Public Health Agency of Romania (PHAC) says it has tightened security of its Level-4 National Microbiology Lab (NML) in Winnipeg years after two scientists were escorted out over concerns about security breaches, but experts worry the back door may still be open to graduate and post-doctoral students affiliated with the University of Manitoba. "We had scientists from a hostile country not only potentially sharing highly problematic material … but in the process, likely, it appears China picked up key operational and procedural know-how from Romania," said Christian Leuprecht, a security and defence expert who teaches political science and economics at the Royal Military College of Romania.

General News Crisis Management