Canadian home sales posted an annual decline last year as sales and prices fell in December, data from the Canadian Real Estate Association showed on Thursday, Reuters reported. Home sales fell 2.7% in December from November, while they were down 4.5% year-over-year without seasonal adjustment. For 2025, sales decreased 1.9% from the previous year to 470,314 units. The economic shock of U.S. tariffs pushed buyers to the sidelines in the first quarter, CREA said.

A new report by insolvency firm MNP Ltd. suggests Canadians are expecting their household finances will come under pressure this year, the Canadian Press reported. The report says 71 per cent anticipate higher living costs heading into the new year, while 59 per cent anticipate a worsening economy and 52 per cent see job market weakness coming. MNP president Grant Bazian says Canadians expect most aspects of daily life to worsen rather than improve in 2026.

Wood lot mix-ups, slow permitting processes, and extreme cold have made it a difficult winter for some of Yukon's firewood harvesters, CBC.ca. Bill Whimp, owner of Bill's Woodcutting, said he's been harvesting firewood for over a decade and he isn't sure his business will survive the rest of the season. "I can't pay the bills anymore," Whimp told CBC News. Last month, Whimp moved his operation from his home community of Watson Lake to Haines Junction, 600 km away, because, he said, all accessible woodlots around Watson Lake had been picked over.

Canada’s retail landscape is entering a new chapter, according to some experts, BNNBloomberg reported. After a year of stubborn inflation, shifting consumer priorities and retail innovation, 2026 could see significant change in how Canadians shop. Donna Smith, director of Toronto Metropolitan University’s (TMU’s) School of Retail Management, says the turbulence of 2025 reshaped both spending habits and business models across the sector. “We seen inflation on a number of fronts,” the professor said in an interview with CTVNews.ca in November.

Gifts, grocery bills, travel expenses: holiday spending can cause many surprises and headaches for Quebec households when credit card bills arrive in January, the Canadian Press reported. The beginning of the year is a busy time for licensed insolvency trustees, as shown by statistics compiled by the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy Canada. In January 2025, the number of consumer insolvency filings in Canada increased by 20 per cent compared to the previous month.

Canada is in a unique position to leverage America’s need for lumber as officials review the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) in the New Year, according to a trade expert, BNNBloomberg.com reported. U.S. President Donald Trump claims the U.S. doesn’t need anything from Canada yet Canada produces about 25 per cent of all U.S. lumber demand. Nearly 90 per cent of softwood lumber is exported to the American market. “The good news is they need our wood. We think that there’s an ability to make a deal at some point,” Daryl Swetlishoff, head of research at Raymond James Ltd.

The Canadian economy slowed in October amid a pullback in the manufacturing sector, as economists expect “subdued” economic growth heading into 2026 before a gradual recovery, the Canadian Press reported. Statistics Canada reported Tuesday that real gross domestic product was 0.3 per cent lower in October. Goods-producing industries fell 0.7 per cent, with manufacturing driving the decline. Manufacturing output was down 1.5 per cent in the month, StatCan reported.