Featured
A Gloomy Start for Canada’s Labour Market
Canada’s labour market deteriorated sharply in February. Employment fell by 83,900 (-0.4 per cent), bringing the two-month cumulative decline to 109,000 jobs. Year-over-year employment growth slowed to just 0.2 per cent, while the unemployment rate rose 20 basis points to 6.7 per cent, even as the labour force participation rate edged down to 64.9 per…
Read more
Development Charges and the Housing Affordability Crisis
When Canadians discuss housing affordability, the conversation typically centres on interest rates, land prices, and construction costs. Yet one of the most significant — and least visible — contributors is development charges (DCs): upfront municipal fees levied on every new residential unit before a single shovel breaks ground. As we have examined in previous analyses,…
Read more
Labour Market Weakness Presents Challenges for the Fed
The February 2026 Non-Farm Payroll report revealed a significant and unexpected contraction in the U.S. labour market, with 92,000 jobs lost—well below economists’ expectations of a 50,000 to 59,000 gain. This marks the third decline in payrolls in the past five months. Key Data Points from February Job Loss: Total non-farm payrolls fell by 92,000, a sharp reversal…
Read more
Lessons from France’s Social Housing Model: Implications for Canada
France’s social housing framework is often highlighted by academics as a potential model for addressing Canada’s housing challenges. However, this complex system is the product of more than a century of institutional development and policy evolution. While it works for France, the system is too different from Canada’s current approach to allow for a simple…
Read more
What the Bank of Canada’s Oslo Speeches Reveal About its Policy Framework
Bank of Canada speeches are usually informative, but some provide rare, critical insights into how policy is formulated. On March 2, Deputy Governor Sharon Kozicki delivered two interconnected addresses in Oslo ahead of the Bank’s upcoming five-year monetary policy framework renewal. Her speeches offer valuable guidance for investors, highlighting how the Bank intends to navigate…
Read more
The Regulatory Challenges to Modular Construction
Build Canada Homes is working to accelerate the adoption of modular construction as a key solution to Canada’s housing challenges. It aims to increase housing supply quickly, improve construction quality through controlled factory production, and reduce costs and delays common with traditional on-site building. By promoting standardized designs, streamlined approvals, and collaboration across provinces and…
Read more
How Mortgage Rates and Rents Influence Canada’s Consumer Price Index
In the Canadian Consumer Price Index (CPI), housing costs are captured under the shelter component, the single largest category in the basket, representing more than 29 per cent of the total weight as of the 2025 update. The shelter index is divided into two major subcomponents: rented accommodation and owned accommodation, each capturing distinct household…
Read more
Contact Us
Contact us today to set up an appointment.