Home buying · Canada
Canadian home buying calculators.
Buying a first home in Canada involves more moving parts than the headline price. The down payment percentage triggers CMHC insurance, which provinces tax differently. Mortgage payments compound semi-annually under the Interest Act. Land transfer tax varies by province and city, with Toronto charging a separate municipal LTT on top of Ontario's. Three to four percent of the purchase price disappears in closing costs the lawyer hands you on closing day. CalcNorth's home-buying tools handle each of these so the numbers you're looking at match what your bank, lawyer, and the CRA will use.
The suite covers the full first-home journey: working out what you can afford, modeling the monthly mortgage payment, costing out CMHC insurance and PST on the premium, computing the staircase down-payment minimum, comparing the rent-vs-buy decision honestly, and totaling the cash you'll actually need at closing. Use them in any order. Most people start with affordability, move to the rent-vs-buy decision, then drill into the payment and closing-costs detail once they're confident in the price range.
Calculators in this category
Mortgage payment calculator
Estimate your Canadian mortgage payment with semi-annual compounding, CMHC tiers, true cash-to-close (PST on premium plus land transfer tax), the OSFI stress test, and a renewal-at-higher-rate scenario.
CMHC insurance calculator
Calculate your CMHC mortgage default insurance premium with published tier rates, the 0.20% extended-amortization surcharge, and provincial sales tax payable as cash at closing.
Mortgage affordability calculator
What home can you afford? Run GDS / TDS at your contract rate and at the OSFI stress-test rate, side by side, with the insured-vs-uninsured ceiling and the resulting monthly payment.
Down payment savings calculator
How long until you have a 5%, 10%, or 20% down payment? Runs the savings timeline against your target home price, current savings, and monthly contribution, with all three thresholds shown side by side.
Closing costs calculator
What you actually owe at the lawyer's office, beyond the down payment. Provincial land transfer tax, Toronto MLTT, PST on the CMHC premium, plus typical Canadian ranges for legal fees, inspection, title insurance, and the property tax adjustment.
Rent vs buy calculator
Should you keep renting or buy? Compares the buy path's net equity at sale against the renter investing the down payment plus the monthly cost gap, with the interpolated break-even year over your time horizon.
Frequently asked questions
- What's the minimum down payment for a home in Canada?
- 5% on the first $500,000 of the home price, plus 10% on the portion above $500,000. A $400K home needs $20,000 (5%); a $700K home needs $45,000 (5% on $500K + 10% on $200K, an effective 6.4%); a $1.5M home needs $150,000 (10% effective). Above $1.5M, CMHC won't insure at all, so you need 20% down for a conventional uninsured mortgage. The minimum is the floor; many Canadian buyers aim higher to lower the CMHC premium and the monthly payment.
- How does CMHC insurance work?
- CMHC mortgage default insurance is required when the down payment is less than 20% of the home price. The premium is calculated as a tiered percentage of the loan amount (2.8% to 4.0% depending on loan-to-value ratio), with an extra 0.20% surcharge for amortizations beyond 25 years. The premium is added to the mortgage and amortized with it, but the provincial sales tax on the premium (Ontario, Quebec, and Saskatchewan) is payable as cash at closing.
- Can I use my FHSA and the RRSP Home Buyers' Plan together?
- Yes. The First Home Savings Account caps at $40,000 lifetime ($8,000 per year). The Home Buyers' Plan lets you withdraw up to $60,000 from an RRSP, repaid over 15 years. Stacked, the two programs can fund up to $100,000 of a down payment from tax-advantaged accounts. The FHSA is generally the better tool for new savings (deductible going in, tax-free coming out); the HBP is the better tool for accessing existing RRSP balances.
- What closing costs should I budget for in Canada?
- Plan for 3 to 4% of the home price on top of the down payment. The biggest items are land transfer tax (especially in Ontario and BC, doubled in Toronto by the Municipal Land Transfer Tax), legal fees ($1,500 to $2,500), title insurance, the home inspection ($400 to $700), the property tax adjustment, and provincial sales tax on the CMHC premium (Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan). On a $700K home in Toronto, total closing costs typically run $20,000 to $28,000.
- Should I buy or keep renting in 2026?
- Depends on your time horizon, local rent-to-price ratio, and what you'd do with the down payment as a renter. Buying tends to win on horizons of 5+ years, in cities where the price-to-annual-rent ratio is under 20, and when you'd otherwise hold the cash conservatively. Renting tends to win on short horizons, high-price-low-rent-yield cities (Vancouver and parts of Toronto sit in this zone), and when the renter is disciplined about investing the would-be down payment in a TFSA or FHSA.