Canadian mortgage calculators

Canadian mortgage math is governed by federal rules with no exact equivalent south of the border. The Interest Act of Canada (RSC 1985, c. I-15) limits how often interest can compound on a closed Canadian mortgage to twice a year — semi-annual compounding — which is why a 5% Canadian mortgage and a 5% US mortgage are not the same loan even at identical posted rates. Every payment calculator on this site applies the semi-annual convention by default.

Underwriting is set federally for the major lenders. The OSFI Guideline B-20 requires that any borrower at a federally regulated lender qualify at the higher of the contract rate plus 2% or 5.25% — the qualifying rate, often called the stress test. A December 2024 amendment added a renewal-switch exemption: a borrower switching lenders at renewal on an uninsured mortgage no longer has to re-qualify under B-20, removing a friction point that had reduced renewal-time competition between lenders.

Down payments under 20% require CMHC mortgage loan insurance (or coverage from Sagen or Canada Guaranty, both of which mirror CMHC's premium schedule). Effective December 15, 2024, the maximum insurable home price rose from $1.0M to $1.5M and the maximum amortization for first-time buyers and buyers of newly built homes extended from 25 to 30 years. The CMHC premium itself is a percentage of the loan that scales with loan-to-value (4% at 95% LTV, lower at 90% and 85%), with surcharges for self-employed and second-home applicants and a non-traditional down-payment surcharge for borrowed downpayments.

Provincial layers stack on top: land transfer tax (or BC's Property Transfer Tax), provincial PST on the CMHC premium in QC, ON, and SK, and the federal foreign-buyer ban for non-resident purchases. Calculators in this section model the federal layer accurately; the real estate calculators handle the provincial closing-cost side.