Since 2008, Hafez Panju has contributed a percentage of his sales commission to the BC Branch bringing his total contribution to over $12,000. Together, with dedicated supporters like Hafez, The Kidney Foundation is able to support all British Columbians living with kidney disease whether on dialysis, posttransplant or pre‐dialysis.

Moving into 2015, The Kidney Foundation will focus energies on kidney transplantation and organ donation. Why? Because we know that until there is a cure, a kidney transplant remains the best available therapy for someone on dialysis.

That’s...

The Bank of Canada today announced that it is lowering its target for the overnight rate by one-quarter of one percentage point to 3/4 per cent. The Bank Rate is correspondingly 1 per cent and the deposit rate is 1/2 per cent. This decision is in response to the recent sharp drop in oil prices, which will be negative for growth and underlying inflation in Canada.

Inflation has remained close to the 2 per cent target in recent quarters. Core inflation has been temporarily boosted by sector-specific factors and the pass-through effects of the lower Canadian dollar, which are offsetting disinflationary...

In a surprise move, the Bank of Canada announced on January 21st, 2015 that it was lowering its trend-setting overnight lending rate from 1 per cent to 0.75 per cent. This marks the first change to the Bank’s key interest rate in more than four years.

The decision to cut rates was the result of the recent sharp drop in the price for oil, which the Bank said “will be negative for [economic] growth and underlying inflation in Canada.”The Bank’s new Canadian economic forecast assumes that oil prices will average around US$60 per barrel, which means the...

According to statistics released today by The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA), national home sales activity was down on a month-over-month basis in December 2014.

Highlights:
National home sales fell 5.8% from November to December.
Actual (not seasonally adjusted) activity stood 7.9% above December 2013 levels.
The number of newly listed homes rose 1.1% from November to December.
The Canadian housing market remains balanced.
The MLS® Home Price Index (HPI) rose 5.4% year-over-year in December.
The national average sale price rose 3.8% on a year-over-year basis in December.

The number...

The British Columbia Real Estate Association (BCREA) reports that a total of 84,049 residential unit sales were recorded by the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) in 2014, up 15.2 per cent from 2013. After lagging for several years, BC home sales eclipsed the ten-year average of 82,000 units and the 15-year average of 83,600 units. Total sales dollar volume was $47.8 billion, an increase of 21.9 per cent from 2013. The average MLS® residential price in the province rose to $568,405, up 5.8 per cent from the previous year.

“BC experienced a significant increase in housing demand...

The trend measure of housing starts in Canada was 192,047 units in December compared to 194,807 in November, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). The trend is a six-month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates (SAAR)1 of housing starts.

“The modest decline in the trend in December reflected lower levels of both multiple and single-detached starts,” said Bob Dugan, CMHC’s Chief Economist. “Overall, activity in 2014 continued to be supported by employment growth and migration with starts...

It was a typical year for the Metro Vancouver housing market in certain respects. The region’s home sale and listing totals for 2014 both rank fifth when compared against the past 10 years of activity, while home prices increased.

The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) reports that total sales of detached, attached and apartment properties in 2014 reached 33,116, a 16.1 per cent increase from the 28,524 sales recorded in 2013, and a 32.3 per cent increase over the 25,032 residential sales in 2012.

The number of residential properties listed for sale on...