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Canada’s housing downturn decelerated in October, with home sales rising slightly and prices levelling out. But the volume of activity was depressed and economists warned that home prices would continue to fall as borrowing costs soar. The number of resales rose 1.3 per cent from September to October, according to the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA). That was the first rise in monthly sales since February, when Canada’s central bank was about to embark on its campaign to slash the supply of cheap money. At the same time, the national home price index fell 1.2 per cent to $777,200 from September to October after removing seasonal influences, according to CREA. That was the smallest monthly drop since June, though the eighth consecutive month of price declines. Over all, October’s activity was 15 per cent below the prepandemic monthly average. Bank of Montreal senior economist Robert Kavcic described the Canadian housing market as depressed and forecast further price decreases ...

Canada’s top court on Friday denied plastics company Nova Chemicals’ appeal of a C$645-million ($482-million) payment awarded to the Dow Chemical Co in a patent infringement case. The Supreme Court of Canada upheld a ruling by a lower court that had awarded the amount to the Dow Inc unit, calculated based on profits Nova made due to the patent breach. Nova disputed those calculations in its appeal of that ruling. https://www.tausiinsider.com/supreme-court-upholds-dows-record-645-million-patent-infringement-award/?feed_id=334663&_unique_id=6483a3977843f

Gordon Dean hands groceries to a customer (Will and his dog Sammi) in his store in Chesterville, Ont., on Nov. 10. Christinne Muschi/Tausi Insider At Gordon Dean’s small-town grocery stores in Ontario and Quebec, the rattle of coins in the checkout tills is a more infrequent sound than it used to be. The five stores in the Mike Dean Local Grocer chain are seeing customers pay with credit cards much more often. Before COVID-19, about 40 per cent of purchases were made in cash; these days, it’s closer to 18 per cent. And that has taken a bite out of the bottom line. “It’s chewed it up,” Mr. Dean said. “It basically increased our monthly processing-fee bill by 30 per cent.” Credit cards are the most common form of payment in Canada, and their use has skyrocketed during the pandemic. But how the credit-card system actually works is something most of us rarely think about – to the chagrin of some business owners, who subsidize the cost of that system. “Your travel points or your rebates –...

Homes on Sherman Brock Circle in Newmarket, Ont. on Mar 30, 2021. Fred Lum/the Globe and Mail Canada’s financial system should be able to weather a period of heightened stress, but many recent home buyers could experience a “painful” squeeze as interest rates continue to rise, the Bank of Canada’s second-in-command said Tuesday. In a speech in Ottawa, senior deputy governor Carolyn Rogers said long-standing vulnerabilities in Canada’s housing market worsened through the COVID-19 pandemic as home prices soared and buyers increasingly relied on variable-rate mortgages, which are linked to the central bank’s benchmark lending rate. Now that interest rates are rising and home prices are falling, many of these home buyers are experiencing a nasty adjustment, Ms. Rogers said. The most common variable-rate product has fixed monthly payments. With every interest rate hike, more of the borrower’s monthly payment goes toward interest. However, when the monthly payment no longer covers any prin...

For women and marginalized groups, going for after-work drinks with other employees isn't always comfortable. istock Getting caught up on a week that got away? Here’s your weekly digest of The Globe’s most essential business and investing stories, with insights and analysis from the pros, stock tips, portfolio strategies and more. Not everyone wants to go for after-work drinks Since the days of Mad Men , going for after-work drinks with your co-workers and boss has long been seen as a way for company employees to network and bond. But as Sarah Micho writes, for women and other marginalized groups, this common social practice isn’t always inclusive. Employees may not drink for a variety of reasons, including religious or cultural beliefs, health and substance and abuse issues. Whatever the reason, the consequences of opting out may go beyond missing a social occasion. It can create barriers to professional growth and advancement, which is why it’s time for company leaders to rethi...

A home for sale in the Rosedale neighbourhood in Toronto on June 21, 2012. Fred Lum/Tausi Insider The share of mortgages with ultralong amortization periods has rapidly increased to about 30 per cent of home loans at some of Canada’s biggest banks, another sign borrowers are struggling with higher interest rates. At Bank of Montreal, the proportion of residential mortgages with amortization periods longer than 30 years reached 31.3 per cent last month. At Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce the share was 30 per cent and at Royal Bank of Canada it was 27 per cent, according to the three lenders’ latest quarterly results, released this week. That is up from the end of July, when 30-year-plus mortgages accounted for one quarter of each of the three banks’ residential mortgage portfolios. And the July numbers were a significant increase from the end of April, when those loans made up 10.6 per cent of BMO’s portfolio and 12 per cent of mortgages at RBC and CIBC. In October, 2021, before t...

Recently announced large-scale layoffs at Twitter and Meta should serve as a wake-up call for workers across the country. With a recession looming, job losses across a variety of industries may be on the horizon. Now is the time to get up to speed on severance laws. Employment standards legislation Any form of permanent layoff or restructuring resulting in the loss of your job is technically a termination without cause. This requires employers to comply with employment standards statutes, which provides workers with a minimum period of notice of termination and in some cases additional severance pay. The amounts are calculated based on your tenure and range up to eight weeks’ notice or pay for most workers, although in Ontario this can be as much as 34 weeks’ pay. Podcast: Why more Canadians are choosing to be childfree or delay parenthood Employment contracts Increasingly, workers are signing employment agreements that purportedly operate to limit their entitlement to severance. Cou...

A customer uses a credit card at a terminal as he shops in a Lidl supermarket in Gattieres near Nice, France, on Dec. 2. ERIC GAILLARD/Reuters Most Canadians would respond negatively to a store that charged them an extra fee for paying with a credit card, a new poll suggests. The online survey of 2,774 Canadians, conducted by the Angus Reid Institute from Nov. 28 to 30, found that just one in 10 respondents said they would accept a surcharge for paying by credit card. The rest would either switch to a different form of payment, such as cash, or stop shopping at that business all together. Credit cards have become the most common form of payment in recent years, and their use has skyrocketed during the COVID-19 pandemic. But most merchants privately complain about processing credit-card payments because they come with the highest processing fees. Stores recently won the ability to pass on those processing fees to customers because of a legal settlement, but so far, few businesses have...

A Toronto home for sale is seen in this 2019 file photo. Tijana Martin/Tausi Insider Canada’s bank regulator said it is not changing the mortgage stress test, ignoring calls to relax the rules and offer relief to borrowers after the spike in borrowing costs. The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions, or OSFI, said the mortgage stress test for uninsured bank mortgages would continue to require borrowers to qualify at a rate of 5.25 per cent or two percentage points above their actual contract, whichever is higher. “It is prudent that lenders continue to test borrowers for adverse conditions,” the regulator said in a press release. OSFI’s announcement Thursday was part of its annual review of the stress test, announced each December. Carrick: Renting is a personal finance dumpster fire, yet it’s also the hottest trend in housing With mortgage rates hovering around 5 per cent, borrowers must show they can make their loan payments with an interest rate at 7 per cent. Tha...

The Biden administration on Friday said it was ordering Mastercard Inc MA-N to stop blocking the use of competing networks to process debit payments. Under a proposed order, Mastercard would have to start providing competing payment networks with the customer account information they need to process payments, the Federal Trade Commission, which enforces competition laws, said in a statement. “This is a victory for consumers and the merchants who rely on debit card payments to operate their businesses,” Holly Vedova, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Competition, said in a statement. In a statement, Mastercard said it had reached an agreement with the commission on the routing of certain debit card transations, adding that it believes its current practices are “lawful” and that it provides options to merchants. “We will continue the work to update our processes to comply with the consent order and provide even greater choice,” the company said. https://www.tausiinsider.com/u-s-orde...

A look at this week’s available mortgage rates on fixed and variable terms and HELOCs Rich Pedroncelli/The Associated Press HSBC is once again setting the pace for uninsured five-year fixed rates. Its new 5.09-per-cent offer leads all national lenders. Plus it’s forking out up to $5,000 cash back, depending on mortgage size. If you’re dead-set on a five-year fixed and there’s a meaningful chance you’ll break the mortgage early, find a lender with lower prepayment penalties than a bank. Mortgage brokers know who these lenders are. McLister: Does a short-term mortgage still make sense? Mortgages 101: What to know about fixed vs. variable rates in Canada In the one-year fixed market, note the dramatic savings for insured one-year rates versus uninsured rates. That’s largely thanks to much lower funding costs for government-backed insured mortgages where borrowers pay the default insurance premium. QuestMortgage’s 4.64-per-cent insured one-year fixed remains one of the nation’s best valu...