AGENT LICENSE ID
10280
BROKERAGE LICENSE ID
#10280
Karen Matthey
Co-Owner / Mortgage Agent Level 2
Office:
Phone:
Email:
Address:
775 Blackburn Mews, Kingston, Ontario, K7N 2P5
BROWSE
PARTNERS
Welcome to a new way of getting a mortgage! My job is to work with your realtor and lawyer to make the mortgage process as straightfoward and stress-free as possible.
I bring over 10 years of experience in finance to the job, having started my career in Europe and Asia as an Investment Banker before returning to Canada in 2011 to become a Mortgage Agent.
I was raised in Kingston and attended Queen's University, graduating with a Bachelor of Commerce Honours degree in 2003. Both my father and brother work as Mortgage Agents and together we form the Matthey Mortgage Team, with a combined 60+ years of mortgage and finance experience.
Phone: 613 384 4000 ext 248
Email: karen@mtgprof.com
BLOG / NEWS Updates
CMHC: Core housing need and gender
Canadian Housing Survey shows women are more likely than men to be in core housing need.
Overall, women were more likely to be in core housing need than men.
Women experienced higher rates of core housing need in almost all age groups. However, the disparity was greatest between senior women and senior men over the age of 75.
Racialized women had higher rates of core housing need than non-racialized women.
Women-led, one-parent households had higher rates of core housing need than men-led, one-parent households.
Women living alone not in a census family were more likely to be in core housing need than couples with and without children.
Core housing need highlights the challenges many Canadians face in finding safe, suitable and affordable housing. Core housing need occurs when a household falls short of one or more housing standards adequacy, suitability or affordability and would need to spend 30% or more of its before-tax income to access housing that meets all 3 standards. Core housing need rates are often provided at the household level as the impact is felt by all individuals living in the household.
According to the Canadian Housing Survey, approximately 1.7 million households (11.2%) were assessed to be in core housing need in 2022. This translates to approximately 3.3 million individuals (9.1%).
https://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/blog/2025/core-housing-need-gender
TD Provincial Economic Forecast: Tariffs Taxing the Provincial Outlook
By TD Economics
Weve slashed our real GDP growth forecasts for this year from coast-to-coast, reflecting the impact of the Canada-U.S. trade war. Solid Q1 activity across regions will buffer annual averages, but we foresee a mild recession unfolding for Canada in the middle-part of this year.
Our forecast assumes that Canadas exports to the U.S. will face a 12.5% effective tariff rate for six months, lowered to 5% in Q4-2025 and held there through the projection horizon. We expect Canada to retaliate with their $155 billion package over the next two quarters before paring back to $30 billion.
Across provinces, Quebec and Ontario are especially exposed to tariff risks given their outsized manufacturing sectors. However, Quebecs public sector is also quite large, and is less directly exposed. New Brunswick, meanwhile, is heavily reliant on the U.S. as an export destination. On the flipside, U.S.-bound shipments make up only a small share of GDP in Nova Scotia and B.C., while a lower 10% tariff on energy exports will likely soften the blow in Albertas case.
The commodities backdrop, especially crude oil, is softening due to the prospect of slowing global demand growth. WTI prices have been revised lower, impacting profitability and investment in key resource-producing provinces.
Our forecast builds in assumed support from government stimulus. So far, weve received budgets from Nova Scotia, B.C., and Alberta. For the most part, growth-supporting efforts have focused on infrastructure spending and allocating funds for trade-war related contingencies. Alberta, however, will roll out a sizeable tax cut for households this year. Provinces are also retaliating to through various measures, including the elimination of U.S. alcohol purchases.
Weve downgraded our annual average housing forecasts for nearly every province this year (Newfoundland and Labrador gets a reprieve given solid momentum heading into 2025). Q1-25 performances were weak across most provinces. Part of this can be traced to severe winter storms in February, although tariff-related economic uncertainty is probably weighing. A subdued performance is likely in the cards for the bulk of 2025, before an improving jobs market, pent-up demand and waning uncertainty drives a better outcome in 2026.
https://economics.td.com/provincial-economic-forecast
NBC Housing Market Monitor: Home sales decline for the third consecutive month in February
Home sales dropped by 9.8% between January and February, the third monthly contraction in a row and the strongest decline since May 2022 when the Bank of Canada was tightening its monetary policy aggressively.
On the supply side, new listings down 12.7% from January to February following a 14.8% jump the previous month.
Active listings increased by 3.4% from January to February, the third monthly advance in a row. Combined with the decrease in sales, the number of months of inventory (active listings-to-sales) increased for the third consecutive month, jumping from 4.1 in January to 4.7 in February, its highest level since June 2019 (excluding Covid).
Market conditions loosened sharply during the month and moved from tighter than their historical average to balanced. This was mainly due to a sharp softening in market conditions in Ontario and B.C., which are now in favourable to buyers territory. On the other hand, all other provinces are still showing tighter than average market conditions.
Housing starts decreased by 4% (-10.3K) in February to 229.0K (seasonally adjusted and annualized), a print below the median economist forecast calling for 246K units. The monthly loss was driven by a decrease in urban starts (-10.3K to 209.8K) while rural starts were flat (at 19.2K). In urban centres, the regression was observed in the multi-unit segment (-9.8K to 166.5K), while starts edged down in the single-detached segment (-0.5K to 43.3K).
The TeranetNational Bank Composite National House Price Index decreased by 0.1% from January to February after seasonal adjustment. Three of the 11 markets in the composite index were down during the month: Victoria (-1.4%), Vancouver (-0.9%) and Toronto (-0.5%). Conversely, prices rose in Halifax (+2.8%), Winnipeg (+0.9%), Montreal (+0.9%), Edmonton (+0.9%), Calgary (+0.8%), Quebec City (+0.6%), Ottawa-Gatineau (+0.3%) and Hamilton (+0.2%).
https://www.nbc.ca/content/dam/bnc/taux-analyses/analyse-eco/logement/economic-news-resale-market.pdf
