Bankruptcies in Sweden extended their streak of annual increases to 21 months in April, according to data from Creditsafe, which expects no immediate relief even as inflation slows and rate cuts are approaching.
Hong Kong’s world-beating stock rally is showing no signs of letting up, with the city’s currency peg to the greenback burnishing its haven appeal amid the threat of higher-for-longer US interest rates.
Chicago-based law firm Mayer Brown LLP is preparing to split off its Hong Kong operation amid US and China geopolitical tensions, according to people familiar with the matter.
The Czech Republic is poised to cut interest rates by another half of a percentage point, but a nascent economic recovery and sticky inflation may slow monetary easing in the following months.
National Australia Bank Ltd. shares inched higher after plans to buy back A$1.5 billion ($1 billion) more of its own stock, as profit at the lender met expectations and Chief Executive Officer Andrew Irvine said the economic outlook remains resilient.
Toronto home sales plunge 40.4% in July as slowdown intensifies
Noah Zivitz, Managing Editor, BNN
A "For Sale" sign is shown in front of west-end Toronto homes
, The Canadian Press/Graeme Roy
The slowdown in Canada's largest housing market intensified last month amid ongoing fallout from Ontario’s plan to cool home prices.
Sales across the Greater Toronto Area plunged 40.4 per cent year-over-year in July as 5,921 properties traded hands. The sharp decline in activity was even more severe for the most coveted homes, as detached property sales sank 47.4 per cent.
"Clearly, the year-over-year decline we experienced in July had more to do with psychology, with would-be home buyers on the sidelines waiting to see how market conditions evolve," said Toronto Real Estate Board President Tim Syrianos in a statement Thursday.
Home sales have been falling at an accelerating rate ever since Kathleen Wynne's government revealed its so-called Fair Housing Plan on April 20, which was intended to improve affordability amid mounting fears that Toronto's housing market was in a full-blown bubble. The plan includes 16 measures; most notably, a 15-per-cent levy on foreign speculators.
“We’re here because nothing was done a year ago,” said Realosophy Realty President John Pasalis in an interview with BNN Thursday.
“Had the government stepped in to try to cool the market in 2016 rather than 2017 maybe we would have avoided this slowdown. But this is just the market correcting itself.”
Uncertainty about the long-term impact of the government’s intervention has contributed to an increase in the number of properties available for sale; indeed, active listings surged 65.3 per cent in July.
The combination of slumping sales and rising inventory has weighed on prices, which soared at double-digit rates up until the provincial government stepped in.
In July, the average selling price across the GTA was $746,218 – almost 19 per cent below the April peak of $920,791. While the average price last month was still five per cent above year-ago levels, Realosophy’s Pasalis isn’t ruling out annualized price drops across the GTA in the months ahead.
“September is going to be the big month because September usually is when a lot of buyers jump back into the market, but we’re also expecting a lot of new listings,” he said.
“If more buyers jump in than sellers, then the market is going to improve a little bit. But if more listings pop up into the market, we’re going to see a really soft fall.”
WEIGH IN
Who has the upper hand in Toronto’s housing market right now?