Net worth on both paths, with real Canadian rules: CMHC insurance, the stress test, minimum down payments. Free, no account.
Your answer
Net worth on both paths over your time horizon, the monthly cost of each, and the full breakdown — mortgage, CMHC premium, stress test, closing costs.
| Rule | 2026 figure |
|---|---|
| Minimum down payment | 5% of the first $500,000 + 10% of the portion to $1.5M; 20% at $1.5M+ (no insurance available) |
| CMHC insurance premium | 4.00% of the loan with 5–9.99% down · 3.10% with 10–14.99% · 2.80% with 15–19.99% · none at 20%+ |
| 30-year amortization surcharge | +0.20% on the premium — insured 30-year terms are first-time buyers & new builds only |
| Stress test (qualifying rate) | Higher of contract rate + 2% or the 5.25% floor (OSFI, reaffirmed Jan 2026) |
| Debt-service ceilings (insured) | 39% GDS (housing ÷ gross income) · 44% TDS (housing + debts) |
| Sales tax on the premium | Ontario, Quebec and Saskatchewan charge PST on it — due in cash at closing |
Verified July 2026 against OSFI, Canada.ca and CMHC — sources linked with each result. Home-price growth, investment returns and rent growth are assumptions you control, not facts — the calculator shows its defaults and lets you change all of them.
It depends on the price-to-rent ratio where you live, how long you stay, and what your down payment would earn invested instead. Owning costs more per month than rent in most big Canadian cities today, but builds equity; renting frees the down payment to compound in investments. The honest answer comes from comparing projected net worth on both paths over your own horizon — which is what this calculator does — and it flips with modest changes in home-price growth vs investment returns.
5% of the first $500,000 of the price plus 10% of the portion between $500,000 and $1.5 million. Homes priced at $1.5 million or more can't be insured, so they need at least 20% down. Below 20% down you pay mortgage default insurance (CMHC or a private insurer).
It's a percentage of the loan based on your loan-to-value: 4.00% with 5–9.99% down, 3.10% with 10–14.99% down, 2.80% with 15–19.99% down. A 30-year insured amortization adds a 0.20% surcharge. The premium is normally added to the mortgage, but in Ontario, Quebec and Saskatchewan the provincial sales tax on it is due in cash at closing.
To qualify, you must prove you could carry the mortgage at the higher of your contract rate plus 2% or the 5.25% floor — OSFI reaffirmed the rule in January 2026. With contract rates above 3.25%, the contract-plus-2% formula is what binds. Lenders also cap housing costs at 39% of gross income (GDS) and total debts at 44% (TDS) on insured mortgages.
With less than 20% down (an insured mortgage), 30-year amortizations are limited to first-time buyers and buyers of newly built homes, and carry a 0.20% insurance-premium surcharge; everyone else insured is capped at 25 years. With 20%+ down (uninsured), most lenders offer 30 years to anyone who qualifies.
Usually several years — buying front-loads costs (land transfer tax, legal fees, CMHC insurance) and selling costs about 5% of the home's value, so short stays strongly favour renting. The breakeven commonly lands between 3 and 10 years depending on the city's price-to-rent ratio and what home prices and investments do. If you might move within a few years, renting is usually the safer bet.