Banks Warn of Growing Energy-Related Risks in Mortgage Portfolios
Across Europe, banks are trying to figure out how to handle a growing risk lurking in residential mortgage portfolios: energy consumption.
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Across Europe, banks are trying to figure out how to handle a growing risk lurking in residential mortgage portfolios: energy consumption.
British Land Co. has sold its stake in Sheffield’s Meadowhall Shopping Centre, one of the largest shopping malls in the UK, to Norway’s sovereign wealth fund.
China’s latest housing initiative is aimed at vacant properties, a major pain point in a crisis that’s dragged on for almost three years. But analysts say the package of measures is still too small to end the rout.
Foreign buyers swooped in to purchase Chinese stocks on Friday as Xi Jinping’s government announced a slew of measures to bolster the housing market.
China’s property stocks need a sustainable turnaround in order to foster investor confidence that this year’s broader equities recovery can maintain, or even increase its momentum.
May 21, 2021
Bloomberg News
,The hot Montreal housing market was just added to the Bank of Canada’s watch list, but the Quebec government isn’t worried, at least not yet.
Low interest rates and a pandemic-led rush for extra space have dramatically pushed up prices for residential real estate, and the Quebec government is “paying close attention,” Finance Minister Eric Girard said in an interview.
Even as homes in Montreal become more expensive, the fundamentals of the market remain “really strong,” Girard said, noting that prices are still much cheaper than in cities like Toronto and the economy is enjoying a strong recovery. “It’s still an affordable city,” he said.
The median price for a detached house climbed 18 per cent in metropolitan Montreal last year and was up 31 per cent in the four months through April, to $473,000 (US$391,000), according to the Quebec Professional Association of Real Estate Brokers. Condo price increases weren’t far behind, up 23 per cent.
Girard said he welcomes moves by the banking regulator and by Quebec’s financial regulator to tighten lending qualification rules. The province, Canada’s second-largest, is considering its own measures to ensure house hunters don’t waive property inspections to win deals against other bidders, he said.
“We want to be really sure that buyers remain prudent,” Girard said.
Montreal was one of three Canadian urban markets the central bank flagged Thursday as showing excess “exuberance,” a notable distinction in a country where real estate is soaring almost everywhere.
The Canadian Real Estate Association’s Home Benchmark Price in Montreal was $483,200 in April, versus $1 million in Greater Toronto and $636,000 in Ottawa.