A number of federal measures have been introduced to tame Canada’s housing market in recent years, including expanded stress tests on mortgages, increased minimum down payment requirements and reduced amortization periods. For the economy overall, the OECD estimates Canada’s gross domestic product will grow by 2.8 per cent this year, double last year’s performance of 1.4 per cent. The new estimate would put Canada’s economic growth ahead of the U.S., which the OECD estimates will have GDP growth of 2.1 per cent this year. The OECD expects Canada’s economic growth rate to subside next year to 2.3 per cent, but that estimate would be at risk if there’s a “disorderly” decline in the Toronto and Vancouver housing markets. The OECD estimate for 2017 economic growth is above the Bank of Canada’s estimate in April, which was increased to 2.6 per cent up from its January forecast of 2.1 per cent.

Source: thestar June 07, 2017 11:03 UTC