More talk of a housing bubble, a “half-hearted effort” for Greece and doing Valentine’s Day on the cheap.

• CBC. January housing starts increase 5.8%. “The seasonally adjusted annual rate of housing starts reached 186,300 units in January, up 5.8 per cent from 176,100 in December.”
• CBC. December new house prices increased 0.4%. “Statistics Canada’s new housing price index rose 0.4 per cent in December, the same increase as reported in November.”
• The Globe and Mail. Home prices on course to hit record highs in 2010. “A rush to buy, sparked by expectations of higher mortgage rates and the pending harmonized sales tax in Ontario and British Columbia, is fuelling an ever sharper rebound in the real estate market.”
• The Globe and Mail. Ottawa weighs stricter mortgage rules. “Ottawa is considering new rules that would force banks to use tougher criteria to evaluate mortgage borrowers, a move to ensure that consumers aren’t taking on more debt than they can handle when they buy a home.”
• The Gazette. CREA forecasts record home market this year. “Canadian real estate sales and prices are poised to set records this year, according to a new forecast that is bound to reignite calls in some quarters for tighter lending rules.”
• The Wall Street Journal. Housing rebound in Canada spurs talk of a new bubble. “Dominic Carrasco first tried to sell his studio apartment here in January 2009. The only offers the 42-year-old massage therapist got were well below the 166,900 Canadian dollars he’d paid for it five years earlier. Last month, Mr. Carrasco tried again. The condominium was snapped up by the woman in charge of posting the information to the real-estate listing site, for C$209,900, or US$196,003, 40% more than the highest bid last year.”
• National Post. Stimulating our way into debt crises. “In the context of the general idea that government spending and lots of it, including really big deficits, stimulate growth and prosperity, the current fiscal crisis in Europe is a fascinating case study.”
• The Economist. New dangers for the world economy. “Last year it was banks; this year it is countries. The economic crisis, which seemed to have eased off in the latter part of 2009, is once again in full swing as the threat of sovereign default looms.”
• The Economist. A half-hearted effort. “‘Pretty catastrophic’. That was the verdict of a depressed-looking diplomat, at the end of a Brussels summit on Thursday February 11th that saw European Union leaders issue a ringing, but alarmingly vague, pledge of ‘determined and co-ordinated action’ to preserve the euro zone from the risk of a Greek sovereign default.”
• Guardian. Greece’s financial crisis puts the future of the euro in question. “Leave Greece to us. It’s a family affair. That was the message from Brussels as shares plunged in Athens, customs officials walked off the job in protest at swingeing budget cuts, the financial contagion spread westwards across the Mediterranean and the International Monetary Fund started to cast a long shadow across the soft underbelly of the eurozone.”
• Newsweek. A deadly dollar habit. “Ever know someone with a self-destructive habit, like cigarettes or drugs? Often they understand they’re destroying themselves but no amount of persuasion – no recitation of grim statistics – will get them to stop. That’s pretty much the rut that the global currency system is in today.”
• Million Dollar Journey. A frugal Valentine’s Day. “I’ll be the first to admit, I’m not a huge fan of days that are purely commercial. Valentine’s Day is one of those. I’m sure it’s a huge money maker for card makers, chocolatiers and restaurants.”
• Canadian Finance Blog. 10 ways to save money on Valentine’s Day. “With Valentine’s Day coming up this weekend, you might be wondering what you are going to get your significant other and what you should do for a date. While this can be an expensive day for many, fortunately there are a few ways that you can save money.”

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