Starting May 1, homebuyers in Canada with less than 20 percent down will be paying more for their mortgage insurance. The CMHC announced today that it will be boosting its premiums by 0.10 to 0.45 percent. The changes, while notable, will not substantially raise borrowers’ monthly carrying costs.

 Canada’s real estate market is on shaky ground, according to economists surveyed in a Reuters poll this week. The well-known news service canvassed 16 housing experts and the consensus opinion seems to be that Canadian house prices will decline over the medium term.

Smaller than all provinces but PEI, yet retaining one of the most densely populated landmasses in all of Canada, Nova Scotia was home to one of the first permanent settlements from European explorers in the 1600s. 

With everyone from the Bank of Canada to the Minister of Finance to The New York Times fretting about a condo bubble in Canada, CIBC economist Benjamin Tal recently decided to crunch the numbers himself to see what’s really going on. His verdict: condo owners can relax because vacancy rates will increase only slightly in 2014, despite a record number of units coming to market.

What better place for Canadians to find the lowest rates on mortgages than at LowestRates.ca? Kind of makes sense, right?

New Brunswick is unique as Canada’s only constitutionally bilingual province, with English and French both culturally accepted.  The province is also the western border of the Bay of Fundy, which was a finalist to become one of the new natural wonders of the world in 2009 – a title that was ultimately passed onto other bodies of nature.

Physically the largest province in Canada and the second largest physical jurisdiction after Nunavut, Quebec is the predominant home of Canada’s French speaking population.  The demographics of the province will help maintain demand for housing in the first half of 2014.

As movie dialogue goes, “it’s a trap!” has become the very furniture of cliche, rivalling other mind-numbing groaners like “we’ve got company” “don’t look down” and “it’s quiet . . . too quiet.” The worn-out line should be banished from Hollywood scripts and inserted where it really belongs: at the top of way-too-many credit card contracts. 

Canada’s largest province by population, Ontario is the manufacturing heartland and onetime economic powerhouse of the country.  The provincial capital is the largest housing market in Canada, and second most expensive in the country, trailing only Vancouver in BC.