Canadian real GDP increased by 0.4 per cent in January, following a 0.3 per cent increase in December. Service-producing industries grew by 0.1 per cent, while goods-producing industries rose by 1.1 per cent. Thirteen out of twenty major industries expanded from the previous month, led by mining, quarrying, and oil/gas extraction (1.7 per cent), construction (0.7 per cent), and manufacturing (0.8 per cent). Finally, GDP for real-estate offices and agents was down 3.7 per cent month-over-month. Preliminary estimates suggest that real GDP was unchanged in February.

As its first rate cut of 2025 transmits through the economy, the Bank of Canada will be pleased to see Canadian economic growth surpassing its projection. Unfortunately, these numbers are likely non-influential in the Bank's next meeting, as they reflect an environment before tariffs were enacted. Given the immense uncertainty surrounding Trump's reciprocal tariffs next week, the Bank is most likely to hold during its next meeting before reassessing how the economy responds to these shocks.

https://mailchi.mp/bcrea/canadian-economic-growth-january-2025

For more information, please contact: Gino Pezzani.

About BCREA’s Housing Monitor Dashboard

The BCREA Economics team has created the Housing Monitor Dashboard to help REALTORS^® monitor BC’s housing market. This dashboard, which is updated monthly, provides up-to-date data on key variables for public education and use. Focuses include: 

• Resale Home Market

• Construction

• Rental Market

• Borrowing Costs

• Other BCREA Data

In the dashboard, the image and data are available for download under each chart, where possible.

For more information, please contact: Gino Pezzani.

To view the full interactive BCREA Mortgage Rate Forecast, click here. To download the PDF, click here.

Highlights:

• Ongoing trade tensions are creating significant uncertainty in financial markets.

• Surprisingly strong economic growth to close 2024 could be upended by tariffs.

The Bank of Canada's response to tariffs is complicated by potentially higher inflation.

For more information, please contact: Gino Pezzani

Additional economics information is available here on BCREA's website.

After a 46 per cent year-over-year increase of new listings in January, the number of newly listed properties on the MLS® in Metro Vancouver rose more moderately in February helping keep market conditions in balanced territory.

Read February MLS® Market Report to learn more: https://www.gvrealtors.ca/market-watc...

For more information, please contact: Gino Pezzani.

Canadian prices, as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), rose 2.6 per cent on a year-over-year basis in February, up from a 1.9 per cent increase in January. Month-over-month, on a seasonally adjusted basis, CPI increased by 0.7 points in February. Products affected by the end of the GST/HST tax break saw slower year-over-year price declines compared to previous months, placing upward pressure on headline inflation. Overall, shelter price growth continues to cool, as mortgage interest costs were up 9.0 per cent, marking the eighteenth consecutive month of deceleration. Similarly, rent was up 5.8 per cent in February year-over-year, down from 6.3 per cent in January. In BC, consumer prices rose 3.0 per cent year-over-year, up from 2.2 per cent in January. The Bank of Canada's preferred measures of median and trimmed inflation, which strip out volatile components, both rose to 2.9 per cent year-over-year.

February's CPI report saw inflation rise by 0.7 points from the previous month, the largest monthly jump in nearly three years. Most of this movement can be attributed to the end of the tax break mid-month, which halted previous downward pressure from several sub-components. Importantly, February saw further increases in the Bank's core measures for a second consecutive month, which now lie near the upper threshold of their target range. Coupled with looming tariffs in April, this report favours the probability of the Bank holding the overnight rate at its current level during their next meeting. 

https://mailchi.mp/bcrea/canadian-inflation-february-2025

For more information, please contact: Gino Pezzani.

Canadian housing starts fell by 4 per cent to 229,030 units in February at a seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR). Starts were down 12 per cent from the same month last year. Single-detached housing starts fell by 1 per cent from last month to 56,273 units, while multi-family and other starts dropped by 5 per cent to 172,759 units (SAAR).

In British Columbia, starts fell by 22 per cent from last month to 31,913 units (SAAR) in all areas of the province. In areas of the province with 10,000 or more residents, single-detached starts fell by 17 per cent to 3,994 units, while multi-family starts fell by 24 per cent to 25,735 units month-over-month. Starts in the province were 32 per cent below the levels from February 2024. Year-to-date starts are up by 188 per cent in Abbotsford and 4 per cent in Kelowna, while being down by 60 per cent in Nanaimo, 46 per cent in Victoria, and 18 per cent in Vancouver.

https://mailchi.mp/bcrea/canadian-housing-starts-february-2025

For more information, please contact: Gino Pezzani.

In a small mountain village in Japan, an elderly gardener spent 50 years tending to a single cherry tree. Visitors often questioned his dedication to this one tree, especially because the surrounding hillsides burst with thousands of blossoms each spring.

Every year, he studied his tree and pruned it with careful precision. While other trees bloomed in spectacular shows of pink, his tree remained modest but grew slowly and steadily. Some villagers whispered that he had wasted his life on an unremarkable tree.

Then one spring, when the other cherry trees began to fade and a late frost killed the flowers, his tree burst into bloom, making it the only cherry tree still blooming during the village's annual festival.

The gardener's patient cultivation had created a unique variety of tree that bloomed later than others, which ensured the festival would always have cherry blossoms. His decades of careful attention resulted in something extraordinary because he understood that some things require their own perfect timing.

Sometimes the most valuable growth happens in its own time, invisible to others until the moment is right. 

Gino Pezzani

RE/MAX Heights Realty

www.vanhomesales.com

604-418-9366

The Bank of Canada lowered its overnight policy rate by 25 basis points this morning from 3 per cent to 2.75 per cent.  In the statement accompanying the decision, the Bank noted that trade tensions will slow momentum from robust GDP growth observed in the second half of 2024, though how much the economy might slow is complicated by the uncertainty from a rapidly evolving policy landscape. On inflation, the Bank expects prices to rise slightly above their 2 per cent target as the GST tax break ends and forecasts that core inflation will remain above 2 per cent due to persistently elevated shelter costs.

Thanks to tariffs, the Bank of Canada is faced with heightened uncertainty and an economy that may be set to slow down rather than speed up as was expected just a few months ago.  With inflation running at near its 2 per cent target and a labour market that appears to have stalled last month, along with falling population growth, there is a strong argument for policy rates to be even lower, though such a path is complicated by the inflationary impact of retaliatory Canadian tariffs. Indeed, the Bank used its statement to caution that monetary policy cannot offset the impacts of a trade war and that it can and must ensure that higher prices do not lead to ongoing inflation.  Given that caution, future cuts to the Banks policy rate will be highly dependent on the evolution of inflation and inflation expectations. 

For more information, please contact: Gino Pezzani.

For the complete news release, including detailed statistics, click here.

Vancouver, BC – March 2025. The British Columbia Real Estate Association (BCREA) reports that 4,947 residential unit sales were recorded in Multiple Listing Service^® (MLS^®) Systems in February 2025, down 9.7 per cent from February 2024. The average MLS^® residential price in BC in February 2025 was down 2.4 per cent at $964,349 compared to $987,811 in February 2024.

The total sales dollar volume was $4.8 billion, an 11.8 per cent decrease from the same time the previous year. BC MLS^® unit sales were 28 per cent lower than the ten-year February average.
 
“After several months of growing momentum, market activity was hampered in February by the uncertainty surrounding tariffs,” said BCREA Chief Economist Brendon Ogmundson. “Apprehension from prospective buyers will continue amidst this unfortunate trade war but may be somewhat tempered by lower interest rates on the horizon.
 
Year-to-date, BC residential sales dollar volume is down 4.5 per cent to $8.8 billion, compared with the same period in 2024. Residential unit sales are down 2.8 per cent year-over-year at 9,175 units, while the average MLS^® residential price is also down 1.8 per cent to $958,366. 

Additional economics information is available here on BCREA's website. 

For more information, please contact: Gino Pezzani.

Researchers exploring the Pacific Ocean near the Solomon Islands have made an astonishing discovery: a colossal coral structure made up of approximately 1 billion polyps, which are the tiny creatures that form corals.

This massive organism measures 100 feet in both width and length, making it one of the largest single corals ever found.

Unlike a reef, which consists of networks of many coral colonies, this structure is a single, uninterrupted coral that has been growing for at least 300 years. Its longevity and scale make it a rare find and
highlights the resilience of marine life in the face of environmental changes.

According to National Geographic, the coral is so vast that it can be seen from space. However, from the ocean’s surface, it blends into the surroundings and appears as an unremarkable rock.

Initially, researchers believed it might be a shipwreck. Even local communities, that have lived near these waters for generations, were unaware of its existence.

This discovery serves as a powerful reminder of the mysteries that still lie beneath the ocean's surface and the importance of protecting these vital ecosystems.