RBC’s housing affordability measures for Manitoba rose between 0.7 and 1.2 percentage points in the quarter but remained either below or just slightly above their long-term averages. These levels keep Manitoba in the middle of the pack relative to the rest of Canada.

“Modest deterioration in Manitoba’s measures could have contributed to some cooling in home resale activity during the spring. However, major flooding in the province likely caused more significant disruption in certain areas,” said Robert Hogue, senior economist, RBC.

Prior to spring, Manitoba’s housing market registered its best first quarter ever for existing home sales (on a seasonally adjusted basis), led by strong gains in Winnipeg.

RBC’s housing affordability measures for Manitoba, which capture the province’s proportion of pre-tax household income needed to service the costs of owning a home at the going market value, increased modestly across all housing types in the second quarter of 2011 (a rise represents a loss in affordability). The measure for the benchmark detached bungalow in the province rose significantly to 36.6 per cent (an increase of 1.2 percentage points from the previous quarter), the standard condominium to 21.8 per cent (up 0.7 percentage points) and the standard two-storey home to 39.2 per cent (a gain of 1.0 percentage point).

http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/August2011/22/c5125.html

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“Mounting homebuyer demand continued to be met with an equal-sized increase in homes being put out for sale,” said Robert Hogue, senior economist, RBC. “This sense of balance across Manitoba kept property value appreciation under control.”

The RBC report indicates that home prices changed little in the first quarter. Prices rose modestly for detached bungalows and two-storey homes, while edging lower for condominium apartments (following a sizeable gain in the previous quarter).

The RBC housing affordability measures for Manitoba, which capture the province’s proportion of pre-tax household income needed to service the cost of owning a home, were mixed in the first quarter of 2011 (an increase in measure means that owning a home is less affordable). The measure for the benchmark detached bungalow rose by 0.1 of a percentage point to 34.1 per cent and declined by 0.2 of a percentage point for condominium apartments to 20.3 per cent. The measure remained even for two-storey homes at 36.8 per cent.

“Manitoba is still one of only two provincial markets in Canada, along with Alberta, where measures have remained below long-term averages for all housing categories that we track,” added Hogue.

The majority of Canadian markets experienced weakened affordability in the first quarter of 2011. Most notable was the sizeable deterioration in British Columbia. More specifically, Vancouver saw significant gains in property values, which drove the already elevated cost of homeownership even higher. Quebec’s homebuyers also faced noticeable rises in ownership costs, while those in Atlantic Canada saw their affordability advantage somewhat diminish. The picture remained mixed in other areas of the country, with Ontario, Alberta and Saskatchewan experiencing ups and downs in ownership costs, depending on the housing type.

“Despite the latest erosion in affordability, provincial levels generally continue to stand near their long-term averages, suggesting that owning a home remains affordable or, at worst, slightly unaffordable across Canada – with Vancouver being a notable exception,” said Hogue.

RBC’s housing affordability measure for a detached bungalow in
Canada’s largest cities is as follows: Vancouver 72.1 per cent (up 3.4 percentage points from the last quarter), Toronto 47.5 per cent (up 0.8 of a percentage point), Montreal 43.1 per cent (up 2.0 percentage points), Ottawa 39.0 per cent (up 0.4 of a percentage point), Calgary 35.9 per cent (up 0.9 of a percentage point) andEdmonton 31.5 per cent (up 0.5 of a percentage point).

http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/May2011/20/c6373.html

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According to the RBC report, that’s thanks to lower mortgage rates and a further softening in housing prices.

“The combination of prices that have gone a bit lower, meant that mortgage payments have gone down,” says Senior Economist Robert Hogue. “And this is what affordability really measures is those mortgage payments plus utilities and property taxes as a percentage point.”

Those numbers for Alberta are all down including detached bungalows, standard condominiums and two-storey homes that all dipped from one to 2.4 per cent.

The figures in Calgary paint a similar picture with affordability the best it’s been in six years.

It was just a few years ago when the average home price was over $500,000; that now sits at just over $400,000.

According to RBC Cowtown fell the most among Canada’s largest urban markets, declining by 0.9 to 3.1 per cent.

However Hogue says don’t expect Calgary’s reign at the top to last for long.

“What we’ve seen more recently is that market conditions are more balanced now, and the price declines that we’ve seen over the last few years have probably run their course,” he says.

Moving forward for 2011, he says Calgarians should start to see more of a middle ground, instead of a buyer’s market.

http://www.660news.com/radio/660news/article/188455–calgary-one-of-the-most-affordable-cities-in-canada

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Starting January 1, 2010, 93 per cent of Ontario income tax payers will get a permanent tax cut, as part of a comprehensive tax plan that will help create 591,000 jobs and make the province more attractive for new business investment.

The province is cutting the first income bracket tax rate by one percentage point, from 6.05 per cent to 5.05 per cent. As a result, Ontario will have the lowest tax rate of all provinces on the first income bracket, and an additional 90,000 lower income Ontario taxpayers will no longer pay any provincial personal income tax.

The comprehensive package also includes $10.6 billion in direct payments and permanent tax relief, including the following:

• Starting in August, nearly 3 million low- to middle-income Ontario families and individuals will receive a new, permanent Ontario Sales Tax Credit of up to $260 for each adult and child per year – one of the most generous in Canada.
• An additional $270 million in annual property tax relief, through enhancements to the Ontario Property Tax Credit, will benefit 2.3 million low- to middle-income homeowners and tenants.
• Starting in June 2010, Sales Tax Transition Benefits will benefit 6.5 million Ontario families and individuals – totalling up to $1,000 for families (including single parents) and up to $300 for single people – in 2010 and 2011.

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“We need to be cautious as we go into this budget season of doing things with the assumption this is a rosy picture,” Department of Revenue Secretary Tom Wolf said Thursday as he discussed the state’s revenue and the outlook for 2008.

That doesn’t mean Wolf is seeing red, either.

State revenues in December came above last year’s estimates, but Wolf said those numbers don’t necessarily mean the state has experienced or will continue to see significant gains over last year.

Wolf stressed that revenue projections, used by the Legislature and the Rendell administration to come up with the budget, are produced using objective numbers, but it’s still a process that relies on looking backward and is anything but exact.

With talk of a possible recession in 2008, Wolf said trying to pin down where the state will be financially 18 months from now is dicey.

“When you try to predict a change — and inflection point — you run into a real problem,” Wolf said.

Even with the standard definition of a recession — two or more consecutive quarters with negative growth in the gross domestic product — not yet met, Wolf said the state’s data indicate a 1.1 percentage point growth in the GDP for the fourth quarter of 2007 and forecast the first quarter of this year to be 0.6 percent.

The state’s personal income tax revenues to date are described by Wolf as flat, and its take from sales and use taxes —numbers that won’t be in until later this month — are expected to be sluggish. Wolf also said the realty transfer tax take is down as well.

Wolf’s assessment of the state’s revenue comes a day after House Republicans unveiled two bills to lower the personal income tax.

House Bill 1641 would drop the rate from 3.07 percent to 2.99 percent, and House Bill 1092 would drop it to 2.93 percent in the first year and to 2.8 percent in the second year.

Cutting taxes is one way to spur a slow economy because it puts money back in people’s pockets, said Nate Benefield, director of policy research for the Commonwealth Foundation, a nonpartisan Pennsylvania think tank.

Benefield said revenue projections are always a little bit off, although during the past several years, Pennsylvania’s projections have involved growth with revenues coming in above expectations.

Benefield said although Pennsylvania’s economy is growing slowly, it still lags behind the rest of the country.

“The economy is growing, although it could be doing a lot better than the national average,” Benefield said.

Whether or not a recession will hit is like trying to predict a long winter, he said.

Daniel DiLeo, Penn State-Altoona professor of political science, said if the revenue outlook does become bleak, it could effect the state’s largest expenditures, such as education and Medicaid.

http://www.altoonamirror.com/page/content.detail/id/503526.html?nav=742

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The government estimates that cutting the tax one percentage point will save Canadians $6 billion, which will flow back to them a few cents at a time, depending on the size of their purchases, adding up to about $150 to $200 per household each year, according to the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.

For big retailers like Future Shop, the change was a simple computer-system change, which gives their customers a break on the prices they’re paying.
Prime Minster Stephen Harper promoted the five-per-cent GST as part of his last election campaign.
Prime Minster Stephen Harper promoted the five-per-cent GST as part of his last election campaign.
J. P. Moczulski, Reuters
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“I would say consumers will be happy [about the cut],” Ram Manaktahla, general manager of the Future Shop outlet at Robson and Granville streets in downtown Vancouver said.

“Think of all the products customers [are buying]. From iPods to digital cameras, flat-screen televisions, laptops, notebooks — they’re saving one [percentage point] on all of them.”

Vancouver-based retail consultant David Gray added that the first stage of the Conservative government’s GST cut, from seven per cent to six per cent which took place July 1, 2006, went relatively smoothly for retailers, “so I think they know the drill.”

“The complaint of retailers is they’re essentially taking on the job of tax collector without a lot of support and basically no thanks,” Gray said. Whether the tax fluctuates, he added, is less of an issue.

However, government critics counter that cutting the consumption-based GST may mean little for average Canadians.

“Those with the highest salaries — the millionaires, the big banks, the [profitable] corporations … The ones that don’t need the help are going to get the most help,” from the GST cut, said federal NDP leader Jack Layton.

He added that average families may also see higher property taxes, post-secondary education fees and other bills.

Patricia Croft, chief economist with the investment firm Phillips, Hager & North, said anyone making big-ticket purchases will benefit from the consumption tax reduction.

However, she added that “in general, most economists would prefer a cut in income taxes. It’s a more efficient way to reduce the tax burden.

“By cutting the GST, hopefully it causes Canadians to spend more.”

The GST savings amounts to about $2 on the purchase of a $199.99 iPod MP3 player, $100 on a $10,000 home-theatre system or $300 on a $30,000 automobile.

Manaktahla said Future Shop gave its Christmas-season customers a jump on the GST break by knocking the percentage point off its prices starting Dec. 28. Customers who made purchases up to 30 days before that date could claim the reduction under the store’s “price-protection” guarantee.

Consumers need to be wary, however, to make sure they are getting full benefit of the cut, especially since the transition is occurring over the Christmas shopping period, according to tax expert Beverley Gilbert.

Gilbert, a chartered accountant and national tax-practice leader for the law firm Borden Ladner and Gervais, said people going to stores in January to return gifts purchased in December need to keep a close eye on their receipts to make sure they are credited for the full amount of GST that was paid on the gift in the first place.

Gilbert added that homeowners who take possession of new houses after Jan. 1 will get a GST break, too, but they will have to apply to the federal government for a rebate instead of seeing it knocked off the purchase price in their builder’s contract.

Consumers who have leased cars or other property should also see the GST cut in their payments, Gilbert added, even if they signed leases prior to Jan. 1.

John Williamson, national director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, however, defended this second trim in the GST.

Despite the criticisms, Williamson said the GST reductions from seven per cent to five per cent are broad-based measures that put, by his estimate, $10 billion a year back into people’s pockets.

“This is good news, particularly since $10 billion in the pockets of Canadian consumers is preferable to Ottawa hoarding the cash,” Williamson said.
Despite the criticisms, Williamson said the GST reductions from seven per cent to five per cent are broad-based measures that put, by his estimate, $10 billion a year back into people’s pockets.

“This is good news, particularly since $10 billion in the pockets of Canadian consumers is preferable to Ottawa hoarding the cash,” Williamson said.

http://www2.canada.com/vancouversun/news/business/story.html?id=34b943f3-2a71-422f-b676-10f1b85b4c7a&k=87417

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