Canadian Mortgage Calculator
Canadian mortgage payments on the semi-annual compounding convention, with minimum down payment by price band, CMHC premiums and the stress test.
Canadian Mortgage Calculator: with the default inputs, payment per period is $3,700.43.
In Canadian dollars. Mortgage default insurance is unavailable at $1,500,000 and above.
Minimum is 5% of the first $500,000, 10% of the part between $500,000 and $1,500,000, and 20% at $1,500,000 or more.
The rate as quoted by the lender. Canadian fixed rates are quoted with interest compounded semi-annually.
The whole life of the loan, not the term. 25 years is the insured maximum, 30 for a first-time buyer or a new build.
Accelerated schedules pay half (or a quarter) of the monthly payment every two weeks (or week), squeezing an extra month's worth of payments into every year.
Allows a 30-year amortization on an insured mortgage, at a higher insurance premium.
At the frequency you chose, under the Canadian semi-annual convention.
- Cost per month
- $3,700.43What the schedule actually costs you in an average month.
- Same rate, US monthly convention
- $3,718.04What the monthly payment would be if the rate compounded monthly, as in the United States.
- Monthly difference from the convention
- $17.62How much the semi-annual convention saves against monthly compounding at the same quoted rate.
- Effective annual rate
- 4.847%(1 + quoted rate ÷ 2)² − 1. Always slightly above the quoted rate.
- Total mortgage (with insurance)
- $649,530
- Minimum down payment required
- $45,000
- Loan to value
- 90%
- CMHC insurance premium
- $19,530Added to the mortgage and paid off over its life.
- Provincial tax on the premium
- $0Cash at closing — it cannot be added to the loan.
- Total interest over the amortization
- $460,598
- Years to pay it off
- 25Shorter than the amortization on an accelerated schedule or with extra payments.
- Stress-test qualifying rate
- 6.79%The greater of your rate plus 2% or 5.25%.
- Payment at the stress-test rate
- $4,465.51Monthly. Your income has to support this, not the payment you will actually make.
Assumptions
- All figures in Canadian dollars. Interest compounds semi-annually, not in advance — the Interest Act s. 6 requires a mortgage to state the rate calculated yearly or half-yearly, and half-yearly is the market convention for fixed rates. Variable-rate mortgages are usually compounded monthly and would differ.
- Minimum down payment 5% of the first $500,000, 10% to $1,500,000 and 20% above, with mortgage default insurance unavailable at $1,500,000 or more (FCAC and the Eligible Mortgage Loan Regulations, verified 9 September 2026).
- CMHC premium table for CMHC Purchase (25-year) and CMHC Home Start (30-year), verified from CMHC on 9 September 2026. The 4.50% non-traditional down payment premium is not applied. The premium is financed into the mortgage.
- Provincial sales tax on the premium is left as an input: CMHC states the tax applies in Ontario, Quebec and Saskatchewan and cannot be added to the loan, but does not publish the rate, so no default is assumed.
- The stress test uses the greater of the contract rate plus 2% or 5.25% (OSFI minimum qualifying rate). Gross and total debt service ratios are not calculated — income is not an input.
- The rate applies for the whole amortization. Real Canadian mortgages have a term of five years or less and renew at prevailing rates, so total interest is an illustration rather than a forecast. Land transfer tax, legal fees and title insurance are not included.
- Down payment$70,0006%
- Principal borrowed$630,00053%
- CMHC premium$19,5302%
- Interest$460,59839%
| Convention | Monthly rate | Monthly payment | Interest over the amortization |
|---|---|---|---|
| Canada — compounded semi-annually | 0.39524% | $3,700.43 | $460,598 |
| United States — compounded monthly | 0.39917% | $3,718.04 | $465,883 |
Same quoted rate, same loan, same amortization. The only difference is how the annual rate is converted to a monthly one.
| Loan-to-value | Premium (25-year) | Premium (30-year) | On your loan |
|---|---|---|---|
| Up to 65% | 0.6% | 0.6% | $3,780 |
| 65.01% to 75% | 1.7% | 1.7% | $10,710 |
| 75.01% to 80% | 2.4% | 2.4% | $15,120 |
| 80.01% to 85% | 2.8% | 3% | $17,640 |
| 85.01% to 90% | 3.1% | 3.3% | $19,530 |
| 90.01% to 95% | 4% | 4.2% | $25,200 |
Premiums apply only below 20% down and only where the purchase price is under $1,500,000. The 30-year column is CMHC Home Start, for first-time buyers and newly built homes.
| Purchase price | Minimum down payment | As a percentage |
|---|---|---|
| $400,000 | $20,000 | 5% |
| $500,000 | $25,000 | 5% |
| $700,000 | $45,000 | 6.43% |
| $1,000,000 | $75,000 | 7.5% |
| $1,400,000 | $115,000 | 8.21% |
| $1,500,000 | $300,000 | 20% |
| $2,000,000 | $400,000 | 20% |
The jump at $1,500,000 is where mortgage default insurance stops being available.
How this is worked out
The formula
Canadian convention — interest compounded semi-annually, not in advance: periodic rate = (1 + quoted annual rate ÷ 2)^(2 ÷ payments per year) − 1 monthly rate = (1 + i/2)^(1/6) − 1 (compare the US convention: i ÷ 12) effective annual rate = (1 + i/2)² − 1 Payment = L × r(1 + r)ⁿ ÷ ((1 + r)ⁿ − 1) Minimum down payment: price ≤ $500,000 5% of the price $500,000 to $1,500,000 $25,000 + 10% of the portion over $500,000 price ≥ $1,500,000 20% (insurance unavailable) CMHC premium (% of the loan, added to the mortgage): ≤65% 0.60 · 65.01–75% 1.70 · 75.01–80% 2.40 · 80.01–85% 2.80 · 85.01–90% 3.10 · 90.01–95% 4.00 30-year amortization (Home Start): 3.00 / 3.30 / 4.20 in the top three bands Stress test qualifying rate = greater of (contract rate + 2%) and 5.25%
Open How it’s calculated above to see this worked through with your own numbers.
What you enter
- Purchase price
- In Canadian dollars. Mortgage default insurance is unavailable at $1,500,000 and above.in dollars · 0 or more · defaults to 700000
- Down payment
- Minimum is 5% of the first $500,000, 10% of the part between $500,000 and $1,500,000, and 20% at $1,500,000 or more.in dollars · 0 or more · defaults to 70000
- Interest rate
- The rate as quoted by the lender. Canadian fixed rates are quoted with interest compounded semi-annually.a percentage · from 0 to 25 · defaults to 4.79
- Amortization
- The whole life of the loan, not the term. 25 years is the insured maximum, 30 for a first-time buyer or a new build.from 5 to 35 · whole numbers only · defaults to 25
- Payment frequency
- Accelerated schedules pay half (or a quarter) of the monthly payment every two weeks (or week), squeezing an extra month's worth of payments into every year.Monthly · Semi-monthly (24 a year) · Bi-weekly (26 a year) · Accelerated bi-weekly · Weekly (52 a year) · Accelerated weekly
- First-time buyer or newly built home
- Allows a 30-year amortization on an insured mortgage, at a higher insurance premium.defaults to off
- Provincial sales tax on the CMHC premium(under More options)
- Ontario, Quebec and Saskatchewan tax the insurance premium and the tax cannot be added to the loan. Enter your province's rate — CMHC does not publish it, so this is left for you to fill in.a percentage · from 0 to 15 · defaults to 0
- Extra payment each period(under More options)
- Most Canadian mortgages allow a prepayment of 10–20% of the original principal each year without penalty.in dollars · 0 or more · defaults to 0
What you get back
- Payment per periodmain answer
- At the frequency you chose, under the Canadian semi-annual convention.
- Cost per month
- What the schedule actually costs you in an average month.
- Same rate, US monthly convention
- What the monthly payment would be if the rate compounded monthly, as in the United States.
- Monthly difference from the convention
- How much the semi-annual convention saves against monthly compounding at the same quoted rate.
- Effective annual rate
- (1 + quoted rate ÷ 2)² − 1. Always slightly above the quoted rate.
- Total mortgage (with insurance)
- Minimum down payment required
- Loan to value
- CMHC insurance premium
- Added to the mortgage and paid off over its life.
- Provincial tax on the premium
- Cash at closing — it cannot be added to the loan.
- Total interest over the amortization
- Years to pay it off
- Shorter than the amortization on an accelerated schedule or with extra payments.
- Stress-test qualifying rate
- The greater of your rate plus 2% or 5.25%.
- Payment at the stress-test rate
- Monthly. Your income has to support this, not the payment you will actually make.
What this assumes
- All figures in Canadian dollars. Interest compounds semi-annually, not in advance — the Interest Act s. 6 requires a mortgage to state the rate calculated yearly or half-yearly, and half-yearly is the market convention for fixed rates. Variable-rate mortgages are usually compounded monthly and would differ.
- Minimum down payment 5% of the first $500,000, 10% to $1,500,000 and 20% above, with mortgage default insurance unavailable at $1,500,000 or more (FCAC and the Eligible Mortgage Loan Regulations, verified 9 September 2026).
- CMHC premium table for CMHC Purchase (25-year) and CMHC Home Start (30-year), verified from CMHC on 9 September 2026. The 4.50% non-traditional down payment premium is not applied. The premium is financed into the mortgage.
- Provincial sales tax on the premium is left as an input: CMHC states the tax applies in Ontario, Quebec and Saskatchewan and cannot be added to the loan, but does not publish the rate, so no default is assumed.
- The stress test uses the greater of the contract rate plus 2% or 5.25% (OSFI minimum qualifying rate). Gross and total debt service ratios are not calculated — income is not an input.
- The rate applies for the whole amortization. Real Canadian mortgages have a term of five years or less and renew at prevailing rates, so total interest is an illustration rather than a forecast. Land transfer tax, legal fees and title insurance are not included.
About this calculator
A Canadian mortgage quoted at 4.79% is not the same loan as an American mortgage quoted at 4.79%, and the difference is not small enough to ignore. Canadian fixed-rate mortgages compound semi-annually, not monthly. The Interest Act requires a mortgage to state its rate "calculated yearly or half-yearly, not in advance", and half-yearly is what the market uses — so the monthly rate is (1 + i/2)^(1/6) − 1 rather than i ÷ 12. That is a genuinely lower monthly rate, and on a $630,000 mortgage at 4.79% over 25 years it is worth roughly $19 a month, about $5,600 over the amortization. Any US calculator you use for a Canadian mortgage will overstate the payment. The comparison table in the results shows both side by side.
Down payment: the price bands
Canada's minimum down payment is a staircase, not a percentage. 5% of the first $500,000, 10% of everything between $500,000 and $1,500,000, and 20% at $1,500,000 or more. That last step is not a rule of thumb, it is a wall: mortgage default insurance is simply unavailable at $1.5 million and above, so no federally regulated lender will go past 80% loan-to-value there. On a $1,499,000 home you can put down $124,900; add a thousand dollars to the price and you need $300,000.
CMHC insurance is not optional
Below 20% down, mortgage default insurance is mandatory, it protects the lender rather than you, and you pay for it. The premium runs from 0.60% to 4.00% of the loan depending on loan-to-value — 4.00% at the 95% end, which on a $475,000 loan is $19,000. It is added to the mortgage, so you also pay interest on it for the whole amortization. In Ontario, Quebec and Saskatchewan the premium attracts provincial sales tax, and CMHC is explicit that the tax cannot be added to the loan, so it is cash at closing. Enter your province's rate under More options; it is an input rather than a default because CMHC does not publish the figure.
Amortization, term and the stress test
Do not confuse the two words. The amortization is the full life of the loan — 25 years is the insured maximum, or 30 for a first-time buyer or a newly built home. The term is the contract, usually five years or less, at the end of which you renew at whatever rate exists then. That is the central risk of Canadian home ownership and nothing on this page forecasts it: the total-interest figure assumes today's rate lasts the whole amortization, which it almost certainly will not.
Separately, lenders must qualify you at the stress-test rate — the greater of your contract rate plus two points or 5.25%. Your debt service ratios are tested against that payment, not the one you will make. It is shown in the results, because it is the number that actually decides how much you can borrow.
Accelerated payments
Pick an accelerated bi-weekly schedule and the payment is half the monthly payment, but there are 26 fortnights in a year rather than 24 — so you quietly make one extra monthly payment a year and knock several years off the amortization. It is the least painful prepayment strategy available, and the calculator shows the resulting payoff time.
Frequently asked questions
▸Why is a Canadian mortgage payment different from a US one at the same rate?
Because Canadian fixed-rate mortgages compound interest semi-annually rather than monthly. The effective monthly rate is (1 + i/2)^(1/6) − 1, which is slightly below i ÷ 12, so the payment is slightly lower. On a $630,000 mortgage at 4.79% over 25 years the difference is roughly $19 a month.
▸What is the minimum down payment in Canada?
5% of the first $500,000, plus 10% of any portion between $500,000 and $1,500,000. At $1,500,000 and above the minimum is 20%, because mortgage default insurance is not available at that price.
▸How much is CMHC insurance?
Between 0.60% and 4.00% of the loan depending on loan-to-value — 3.10% at 90% LTV and 4.00% between 90% and 95%. It is added to the mortgage, but in Ontario, Quebec and Saskatchewan the provincial sales tax on the premium must be paid in cash at closing.
▸What is the mortgage stress test?
Lenders must qualify borrowers at the greater of the contract rate plus 2% or 5.25%. Your debt service ratios are measured against that higher payment, which is what limits how much you can borrow.
▸What is the difference between term and amortization?
The amortization is how long the mortgage takes to pay off — up to 25 years insured, or 30 for a first-time buyer or new build. The term is the length of the contract, usually five years or less, after which you renew at whatever rates prevail.
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