The Bank of Canada (BoC) on Thursday called for policy changes to spur more housing construction and reduce pressure on inflation caused by a lack of shelter, especially at a time of record immigration, Reuters reported. Deputy governor Toni Gravelle spoke a day after the central bank held its key overnight rate at 5% but left the door open to another hike, saying it was still concerned about inflation.

The Bank of Canada (BoC) on Wednesday held its key overnight rate at 5% and left the door open to another hike, saying it was still concerned about inflation while acknowledging an economic slowdown and a general easing of prices, Reuters reported. The central bank raised rates by a quarter point in both June and July to a 22-year high and has left them on hold in the three policy-setting meetings since. Inflation slowed to 3.1% in October, down from a peak of more than 8% last year, but it has remained above the bank's 2% target for 31 months.

Canada’s Groupe Mach Inc. is acquiring residential properties with close to 2,000 units as part of a deal that will see it take over $415 million of mortgages from a crumbling real estate entity, Bloomberg News reported. The buildings were part of Groupe Huot, a Quebec-based diversified company that faced a liquidity crisis because of rising interest rates this year and saw a number of its businesses placed into a bankruptcy process.

Kinepolis Group NV, one of the largest theater operators in Europe, recently considered making a bid for Cineplex Inc., the No. 1 chain in Canada, but chose not to proceed after concluding a deal would struggle to win regulatory approval, Bloomberg News reported. Kinepolis may still pursue a deal if it can partner with another bidder to acquire some of Cineplex’s theaters.

Canada’s economy unexpectedly contracted in the third quarter and consumption flatlined, confirming the central bank’s aggressive interest-rate hikes have slammed the brakes on growth, Bloomberg News reported. Even as preliminary data from Statistics Canada suggest gross domestic product rose 0.2% in October, after a better-than-expected 0.1% expansion the month before, Thursday’s report points to an economy that has substantially weakened. Third-quarter GDP fell at a 1.1% annualized pace, missing the 0.1% rise expected by economists and the Bank of Canada’s forecast of 0.8%.

Canada’s real-estate sector, once among the hottest in the world and a key driver of the country’s economy, is seeing some cracks, the Wall Street Journal reported. Several major real-estate developers are defaulting on loans, buyers are having trouble closing on units, and dozens of condominium projects are being shelved. The effects could linger for years, turning housing, once the engine that drove the Canadian economy, into a brake that stalls growth, say developers, real-estate brokers and economists. “It’s bad,” said Daniel Foch, a Toronto-based real-estate broker and analyst.

A Nova Scotia home heating fuel company that filed for bankruptcy last week has accused an accounting firm of negligence, saying it was hit with a "crippling shortfall" of nearly $10 million after being led to believe it was making money, CBC.ca reported. Maritime Fuels Ltd. declared bankruptcy last week, leaving in the lurch an unknown number of customers who had prepaid for their winter home heating fuel.

Consumer prices in Canada rose at the slowest pace since June, a reassuring sign for central bank policymakers that rates are now high enough to significantly cool inflation pressures, Bloomberg News reported. The consumer price index increased 3.1% in October from a year ago, following a 3.8% increase in September, Statistics Canada reported Tuesday in Ottawa. That matched the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists. The deceleration was largely a result of lower prices for gasoline, while the largest contributors to the increase remain mortgage interest cost, groceries and rent.

After several years of persistently low commodity prices driving a wave of corporate insolvencies, bankruptcy professionals in Alberta say that it's become increasingly rare to see these companies fail, CBC.ca reported. The financial rebound is providing relief for the province's orphaned-well problem. Fewer companies becoming insolvent means fewer companies abandoning their assets, which can become environmental and safety hazards. When a single company fails, it can result in thousands of oil and gas wells, in addition to hundreds of facilities and pipelines, that no longer have an owner.

Canada's financial watchdog said on Monday it was seeking feedback on the public disclosure of cryptocurrency assets by federally regulated financial institutions, joining global regulators in ramping up scrutiny on the volatile sector, Reuters reported. The consultation by Canada's Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) comes after the agency in July proposed new guidelines for crypto assets citing a risky environment.