New Housing Registrations as a Leading Indicator of the BC Economy Staff Discussion Paper 2016-3 Calista Cheung, Dmitry Granovsky Housing starts and building permits data are commonly used as leading indicators of economic activity. In British Columbia, all new homes must be registered with the Homeowner Protection Office, a branch of BC Housing, before the issuance of building permits and the start of construction. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers Topic(s): Business fluctuations and cycles, Housing, Regional economic developments JEL Code(s): C, C1, C13, C5, C53, E, E3, E32, E37
December 15, 2015 Release of the Financial System Review Opening statement Stephen S. Poloz Ottawa, Ontario Press conference following the release of the Financial System Review. Content Type(s): Press, Speeches and appearances, Opening statements Topic(s): Credit and credit aggregates, Financial stability, Financial system regulation and policies, Housing, Regional economic developments, Sectoral balance sheet
December 15, 2015 Indebted Households and Potential Vulnerabilities for the Canadian Financial System: A Microdata Analysis Financial System Review - December 2015 Gino Cateau, Tom Roberts, Jie Zhou Over the past decade, an increasing proportion of households in Canada have become highly indebted relative to their income. These highly indebted households now hold one-fifth of total Canadian household debt.Simulations suggest that this greater degree of household indebtedness could exacerbate the impact of shocks to income and interest rates relative to the pre-crisis period. However, an assessment of the vulnerability of the Canadian financial system should, among other factors, account for the ability of Canadian financial institutions to withstand losses from the household sector. Content Type(s): Publications, Financial System Review articles Topic(s): Credit and credit aggregates, Financial stability, Housing, Recent economic and financial developments JEL Code(s): D, D1, D14, E, E5, E51
December 15, 2015 Residential Mortgage Securitization in Canada: A Review Financial System Review - December 2015 Adi Mordel Residential mortgage securitization plays an important role in the Canadian system of housing finance, especially given the rising share of government-supported (i.e., public) securitization over the past 15 years. Mordel and Stephens analyze the evolution of two types of mortgage securitization in Canada— private and public — focusing in particular on the underlying public policy and economic benefits of the latter. They review the potential implications of the extent of public securitization and conclude with a discussion of policies that could be considered to reinvigorate private securitization in Canada. Content Type(s): Publications, Financial System Review articles Topic(s): Financial institutions, Financial stability, Financial system regulation and policies, Housing JEL Code(s): G, G2, G28
November 19, 2015 A Survey of Consumer Expectations for Canada Bank of Canada Review - Autumn 2015 Marc-André Gosselin, Mikael Khan The Bank of Canada recently launched a quarterly survey to measure the expectations of Canadian households: the Canadian Survey of Consumer Expectations (CSCE). The data collected provide comprehensive information about consumer expectations for and uncertainty about inflation, the labour market and household finance. This article describes the CSCE and illustrates its potential to offer rich information about Canadian consumers for researchers and policy-makers. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Central bank research, Housing, Inflation and prices, Interest rates, Labour markets, Monetary policy and uncertainty JEL Code(s): D, D1, D12, D8, D84, E, E3, E31, E5, E52, J, J0
Credit Conditions and Consumption, House Prices and Debt: What Makes Canada Different? Staff Working Paper 2015-40 John Muellbauer, Pierre St-Amant, David Williams There is widespread agreement that, in the United States, higher house prices raise consumption via collateral or possibly wealth effects. The presence of similar channels in Canada would have important implications for monetary policy transmission. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Credit and credit aggregates, Domestic demand and components, Economic models, Financial institutions, Financial stability, Financial system regulation and policies, Housing, Monetary policy transmission JEL Code(s): E, E0, E02, E2, E21, E4, E44, G, G2, G21, R, R2, R21, R3, R31
August 25, 2015 The Long-Term Evolution of House Prices: An International Perspective Remarks Lawrence L. Schembri Canadian Association for Business Economics Kingston, Ontario Deputy Governor Lawrence Schembri discusses the international evidence of underlying determinants of long-term movements in house prices. Content Type(s): Press, Speeches and appearances, Remarks Topic(s): Credit and credit aggregates, Financial stability, Financial system regulation and policies, Housing, International topics, Sectoral balance sheet
On the Welfare Cost of Rare Housing Disasters Staff Working Paper 2015-26 Shaofeng Xu This paper examines the welfare cost of rare housing disasters characterized by large drops in house prices. I construct an overlapping generations general equilibrium model with recursive preferences and housing disaster shocks. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Asset pricing, Economic models, Housing JEL Code(s): E, E2, E21, E4, E44, G, G1, G11, R, R2, R21
June 11, 2015 Release of the Financial System Review Opening statement Stephen S. Poloz Ottawa, Ontario Press conference following the release of the Financial System Review. Content Type(s): Press, Speeches and appearances, Opening statements Topic(s): Credit and credit aggregates, Financial stability, Financial system regulation and policies, Housing, Regional economic developments, Sectoral balance sheet
Addressing Household Indebtedness: Monetary, Fiscal or Macroprudential Policy? Staff Working Paper 2014-58 Sami Alpanda, Sarah Zubairy In this paper, we build a dynamic stochastic general-equilibrium model with housing and household debt, and compare the effectiveness of monetary policy, housing-related fiscal policy, and macroprudential regulations in reducing household indebtedness. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Economic models, Financial system regulation and policies, Housing, Monetary policy transmission JEL Code(s): E, E5, E52, E6, E62, R, R3, R38