CanadaKPI.com
Action through Data
Methodology
CanadaKPI.com shows 25 indicators in five groups. Every figure is computed directly from official data published by Statistics Canada (Web Data Service), the Bank of Canada (Valet API), the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA), Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC, via Statistics Canada) and the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA); nothing is estimated or entered by hand. Dates are the reference period of the latest observation.
Key Economic Indicators
Real GDP per capita (quarterly) — year-over-year growth of real GDP per person. Real GDP (chained 2017 dollars, seasonally adjusted at annual rates, Statistics Canada table 36-10-0104-01, vector v62305752) is divided by quarterly population (table 17-10-0009-01, vector v1). The card compares growth with the previous quarter’s y/y growth.
Inflation (CPI) (monthly) — 12-month change in the all-items Consumer Price Index (Bank of Canada Valet series V41690973), compared with the Bank of Canada’s 2% inflation target. Core measures CPI-trim and CPI-median come from Valet series CPI_TRIM and CPI_MEDIAN.
Unemployment rate (monthly) — seasonally adjusted, Labour Force Survey, table 14-10-0287-01, vector v2062815. Compared with the previous month.
Labour productivity (quarterly) — business-sector labour productivity index, table 36-10-0206-01, vector v1409153. The headline is quarter-over-quarter change; the comparison line is the year-over-year change.
Household debt-to-income (quarterly) — household credit market debt ÷ household disposable income, as published in table 38-10-0235-01, vector v62698064. Compared with the previous quarter.
Current account balance (quarterly) — the seasonally adjusted quarterly balance (table 36-10-0018-01, vector v61915304) × 4, ÷ nominal GDP at annual rates (table 36-10-0104-01, vector v62305783), expressed as a percent of GDP.
Population growth (quarterly) — year-over-year growth of Canada’s quarterly population estimate (table 17-10-0009-01, vector v1). The comparison line shows the latest population level and the change in growth vs the previous quarter.
Average hourly wages (monthly) — average hourly wage rate of employees (both full- and part-time, all industries, 15 years and over), Labour Force Survey, table 14-10-0063-01. These data are not seasonally adjusted, so the card shows growth versus the same month a year earlier. Released with the Labour Force Survey.
Retail sales (monthly) — total retail trade sales, seasonally adjusted, current dollars, table 20-10-0056-01, shown in C$ billions per month with the month-over-month and year-over-year change.
Housing
MLS® Home Price Index (monthly) — the national (aggregate) composite benchmark price from the Canadian Real Estate Association’s MLS® Home Price Index, not seasonally adjusted, taken from the MLS® HPI data file CREA publishes on its MLS® HPI page. It is a benchmark price — the estimated price of a typical home with constant attributes — not an average or median sale price, so it is not distorted by changes in the mix of homes sold. CREA publishes it monthly, around mid-month, for the previous month. The card shows the year-over-year change (with month-over-month alongside) in neutral grey.
Housing starts (monthly) — Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s count of new housing units started, all areas, seasonally adjusted at annual rates (SAAR), in thousands, from Statistics Canada table 34-10-0158-01. Compared with the previous month; shown in neutral grey.
Trade & Commodities
Merchandise trade balance (monthly) — exports minus imports of goods with all countries, balance-of-payments basis, seasonally adjusted, table 12-10-0011-01, in C$ billions (+ surplus, − deficit). Compared with the previous month; shown in neutral grey.
WTI crude oil (daily) — West Texas Intermediate spot price at Cushing, Oklahoma, US$ per barrel, from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (series RWTC). Compared with the previous trading day; the trend uses month-end prices. EIA publishes with a lag of a few days. Shown in neutral grey, since higher oil prices help some parts of Canada’s economy and hurt others.
Interest Rates
BoC policy rate — target for the overnight rate (Bank of Canada Valet series V39079). The comparison shows the most recent change, or how long the rate has been unchanged. On announcement days, the new rate appears once the Bank of Canada adds it to its published series.
Prime rate — chartered bank prime business rate (Bank of Canada Valet series V80691311), published weekly. 3-month T-bill — average yield at Government of Canada treasury bill auctions (Bank of Canada Valet series V80691303), published after each auction. Because these series are weekly or per-auction, their dates usually lag the daily bond and FX dates by several days.
2-, 5- and 10-year Government of Canada bonds — benchmark bond yields (Bank of Canada Valet series BD.CDN.2YR.DQ.YLD, BD.CDN.5YR.DQ.YLD, BD.CDN.10YR.DQ.YLD), daily. Compared with the previous business day in basis points (1 bp = 0.01 percentage point). Rate arrows show direction only.
FX Markets
The Bank of Canada publishes daily exchange rates as Canadian dollars per unit of foreign currency (Valet series FXUSDCAD, FXEURCAD, FXGBPCAD, FXJPYCAD, FXCNYCAD, FXMXNCAD). CanadaKPI.com shows the inverse — foreign currency per C$1 — so a higher number means a stronger Canadian dollar (shown in green; a weaker dollar is shown in red). Compared with the previous business day.
Colours, arrows and trends
▲ up, ▼ down, ▬ unchanged. Green means a favourable move and red an unfavourable one: higher GDP per capita, population growth, wages, retail sales, productivity and current account balance are green; higher inflation, unemployment and household debt are red. Interest rates, bond yields, home prices, housing starts, the trade balance and oil prices are shown in neutral grey. A card marked “Data temporarily unavailable” means the source could not be reached and no previous figure exists.
Each card’s trend line is a text sparkline (▁▂▃▄▅▆▇█) of the last 12 observations, scaled from the lowest to the highest value in that window: 12 months for monthly data, 12 quarters for quarterly data, and 12 month-end values for daily and weekly series.
Update schedule
The page is regenerated each business day in the evening (Eastern Time) from the latest published data. Release dates for Statistics Canada indicators come from the official release calendar; Bank of Canada announcement dates come from its published schedule; CREA dates come from its annual statistics publication schedule; CMHC dates come from the CMHC Reports Calendar. Official figures may be revised after publication.
