LONG WEEKEND BLISS
Is anyone out there still at work at 4 pm on Friday? Haha! Based on yesterday’s westbound traffic, probably not! Whether it’s an alpine meadow, a lake or your favourite delicious hideaway, we hope everyone has a chance to enjoy their weekend! But if you’re really bored … here’s our monthly update.
- Canada’s GDP grew by 0.2% for May 2024, https://thoughtleadership.rbc.com/canadian-gdp/. This is more than expected, but also suggests that per-capita GDP declined again, but all of the second quarter numbers are not yet finalized. More proof that Canada isn’t in a recession, even though many people and businesses feel it, https://thoughtleadership.rbc.com/canadas-economy-might-not-be-in-recession-but-it-feels-like-one/.
- The experts seem to disagree about Canada’s predicted population growth for 2024, “The Bank of Canada now estimates the 15+ population will grow 1.7% in 2025 and 2026, down from 3.3% in 2024. That’s well above their April On the other hand, Statistics Canada put out population projectionsin June that suggested the 15+ population growth would clock in at only 0.8% in 2025 and 2026 (medium, M2 projection).” https://www.atb.com/company/insights/the-twenty-four/atb-economics-the-seven-august-2-2024/. ATB also suggests that, For Alberta, we’re now tracking about 4% population growth in 2024 and 2.2% in 2025.
- Canadian job data will be released next week.
- Rental demand continues to be very strong in Alberta, with overall rental rates rising 16%, https://rentals.ca/national-rent-report. But wait, there is quite a variety in rental price changes depending on which city we look at. Calgary appears to be hitting its current ceiling, with rental increases only 4%. “Edmonton was the leader for apartment rent growth among Canada’s six largest cities for the sixth month in a row in June, posting an annual increase of 14.3%.”
- Housing sales are clearly down in Calgary (by number of homes), but last year saw record sales –so the comparison is relative. However, demand seems to be stabilizing in both the rental and housing markets. Benchmark home prices have dipped slightly from last month, even though they still show a 7.7% increase from last year. And months of supply are finally coming up a little bit, which is good news and more choices for anyone in acquisition mode. https://www.creb.com/News/CREBNow/2024/August/Supply_levels_improve_taking_some_pressure_off_prices/.
Each of us will have different opinions about all these stats, especially when put together with possible further interest rate cuts. Personally, we’re thrilled to see a little plateau happening.
Financial Freedom comes in all shapes and sizes. Whatever your budget, whatever your pleasure, we wish you all well this weekend!
