Strong demand for homes near public transit continues

Transit-oriented developments will continue to be popular among Vancouver real estate buyers, including baby boomers who are downsizing, funding their first-time buyer children, or both, according to Colliers’ fourth-quarter Marketshare report on multi-family residential real estate.

Low mortgage rates muster slight boost in housing market affordability

Owning a house became slightly more affordable in Canada during the second half of 2012, but that’s mostly due to rock-bottom mortgage rates, RBC Economics says in a report to be released Monday.

Canada vs the world…debt level comparison study

Hey, here’s an interesting stat that should make us Canadians feel good…. Our Federal govt keeps telling us to slow our personal debt levels… maybe they should start balancing their own books…  I remember when, in 1997, the Feds actually balanced the budget and even made a surplus.   Remember that?    In fact, from 1997 to 2008, the Feds reduced our national debt from $563billion to $458billion.  We seemed to be heading in the right direction.

Portuguese property market still seeing price falls

Residential property prices and rents in Portugal are continuing to fall due to very weak demand, according to the latest housing market survey from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and Confidencial Immobiliario.

Russia plans $25-$30 billion oil-for-loans deal with China

LONDON/MOSCOW (Reuters) - Rosneft is seeking to borrow up to $30 billion from China in exchange for possibly doubling oil supplies, making Beijing the largest consumer of Russian oil and further diverting supplies away from Europe.