Canadian house prices jump 25% in 2021

Canadian house prices jumped more than 25% in November from a year earlier, a record gain propelled by a historic supply shortage.

An increase in properties for sale from October to November wasn’t nearly enough to satisfy demand, according to data Wednesday from the Canadian Real Estate Association.

The benchmark sale price climbed to $612,720.

“The supply issues we faced going into 2020, which became much worse heading into 2021, are even tighter as we move into 2022,” Shaun Cathcart, the real estate board’s chief economist, said in a news release accompanying the data.

“As such, the issue of inequality in the housing space will remain top of mind.”

Ultra-low mortgage rates and demand for larger living spaces during the COVID-19 pandemic combined to make Canada one of the hottest housing markets in the world over the last two years.

Now, with the central bank indicating that interest rates could rise next year and with a record flow of immigrants entering the country, buyers seem to have found new incentives to get into the market.

Home sales volume in Canada rose 0.6% in November from the month before, while newly listed properties rose 3.3%, the data show.

Even with the increase in listings, Canada had just 1.8 months of housing inventory nationally in November, tied with March of this year for the lowest on record.

Construction began on more than 300,000 new homes during the month, one of the strongest on record and a sign that developers are starting to respond to the housing shortage.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised more homebuilding on his path to re-election in September. But much of the decision-making that drives development rests with local and provincial governments that have authority over zoning.

In forecasts released with the November sales data, the real estate association predicted that prices would continue to rise in 2022.

Regulatory officials target insider stock sales

Corporate chieftains have long been suspected of skirting rules that are meant to prevent top executives from trading on inside information. Now, the Securities and Exchange Commission is cracking down.

The regulator is addressing a controversial question: When should corporate insiders, who may have access to material non-public information, be allowed to sell stock?

Currently, executives can set up sales just days before dumping shares, which Sen. Elizabeth Warren and other lawmakers say enables them to front-run corporate announcements that can move share prices.

In response, the SEC on Wednesday unanimously proposed new rules that would force company insiders to wait roughly four months from when they schedule a trade before they sell.

The agency will now seek public comment before it votes again to finalize the policies after taking into account that feedback.

The current regulations, created two decades ago, were designed to help senior executives sell stock and avoid being accused of insider trading later.

But recent academic research shows that stock-sale plans are rife with suspiciously-timed transactions.

SEC Chair Gary Gensler said in June that these corporate policies had “led to real cracks in our insider trading regime.”

“The proposal addresses a number of the gaps that we’ve found,” Gensler said in an interview before officials voted to propose the plan. “It will help instill better trust in our capital markets.”

The issue is of keen interest to the SEC’s Democratic commissioners and progressive lawmakers. Warren, a frequent critic of Wall Street, called on the agency earlier this year to look into tightening regulations.

Scheduled stock sales, so-called 10b5-1 plans, are common across corporate America.

Insiders at more than half of S&P 500 companies have enacted them, according to 2018 data from Morgan Stanley.

From wire reportsDespite their popularity, executives don’t have to disclose that they’ve adopted a plan, though some do voluntarily.

The SEC’s new rules would change that. Companies would be required to disclose in regulatory filings whether executives have adopted or made any changes to when they plan to sell stock.

Employees would also be prevented from having multiple plans for trading the same security – a change that could minimize concerns that employees are gaming the system.