Canada Mortgage Calculator – Payments, CMHC Insurance and the B-20 Stress Test
Canadian mortgages play by Canadian rules: interest compounds semi-annually (not monthly), a small down payment adds a CMHC premium to your loan, and the B-20 stress test qualifies you at a higher rate than the one you will actually pay. Enter your numbers to see your real payment in all six frequencies, your premium, and whether you pass the test.
Your mortgage
Advanced options — first-time buyer, payment frequency and stress-test inputs
The advanced options are already included in the result with their default values — open Advanced options to change them.
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Your payment
| Your breakdown | Amount |
|---|---|
| Home price | C$700,000.00 |
| Down payment (20.00%) | C$140,000.00 |
| Base mortgage | C$560,000.00 |
| CMHC premium (LTV 80.00% — none) | C$0.00 |
| Total mortgage | C$560,000.00 |
| Payment (monthly) | C$3,034.41 |
| Interest over the first 5-year term | C$111,999.43 |
| Total cost of the loan | C$910,322.57 |
Uninsured mortgage: at 20% down there is no CMHC premium, and amortization can run to 30 years. The minimum down payment on a C$700,000 home is C$45,000 — you are putting down C$140,000.
- Canadian interest compounds semi-annually, not monthly, so the payment is smaller than the American formula suggests — but the B-20 stress test qualifies you at a higher rate than you will pay.
- With less than 20% down, the CMHC premium is added to the loan itself, so you pay interest on it for the life of the loan.
- Accelerated payments quietly add one full monthly payment every year, and a Canadian mortgage is a 25-year amortization repaid in 5-year terms — renewal starts from the five-year balance.
- Six ways to pay the same mortgage
- CMHC insurance and the down payment rules
- Run the neighbouring numbers
- How it works
- The math behind the default example
- Two Canadian rules that surprise newcomers
- Six ways to pay the same mortgage, compared
- The CMHC premium, worked on a 10 percent down payment
- The stress test, in plain numbers
- Renewal: the balance after five years, and what it means
Six ways to pay the same mortgage
Same loan, same rate — only the rhythm changes. More frequent payments shave a little interest; accelerated payments shave a lot, because they quietly add one full monthly payment every year. Your selected frequency is highlighted.
| Frequency | Payment | Total interest | Paid off in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly | C$3,034.41 | C$350,322.57 | 25.0 years |
| Semi-monthly | C$1,515.86 | C$349,517.57 | 25.0 years |
| Bi-weekly | C$1,399.16 | C$349,455.69 | 25.0 years |
| Weekly | C$699.30 | C$349,084.51 | 25.0 years |
| Accelerated bi-weekly | C$1,517.20 | C$298,703.76 | 21.8 years |
| Accelerated weekly | C$758.60 | C$298,127.66 | 21.8 years |
Accelerated bi-weekly on this mortgage finishes 3.2 years early and saves C$51,618.81 of interest versus monthly payments — without the payment ever feeling bigger than half a month at a time.
The B-20 stress test, run on your numbers
The test adds up the tested payment (C$3,680.01), property tax (C$350.00 a month) and heating (C$150.00) — C$4,180.01 against a monthly income of C$12,500.00. At this income, the largest mortgage that still passes is about C$589,672. Renewing with a different lender normally means re-testing — but a straight switch at renewal (same amount, same amortization, since November 2024) is exempt.
CMHC insurance and the down payment rules
Put down less than 20% and the mortgage must be insured. The premium is a percentage of the loan, set by your loan-to-value (LTV), and it is added to the mortgage itself — you pay interest on it for the life of the loan.
| Loan-to-value | Down payment | Premium (% of mortgage) |
|---|---|---|
| 80.00% or less | 20% or more | 0.00% — uninsured |
| 80.01% – 85.00% | 15% – 19.99% | 2.80% |
| 85.01% – 90.00% | 10% – 14.99% | 3.10% |
| 90.01% – 95.00% | 5% – 9.99% | 4.00% |
Stretching an insured mortgage to a 30-year amortization (first-time buyers and new builds) adds 0.20% to the premium rate. The minimum down payment itself follows a sliding rule: 5% on the first C$500,000 of the price and 10% on the part above it, up to C$1.5 million — above that, insured mortgages are not available and 20% is the floor. On a C$850,000 home the minimum is C$60,000; on C$1,200,000 it is C$95,000.
Run the neighbouring numbers
The Canadian loan does not live alone — check the payment from the rate side, or what the same income buys you.
How it works
Three Canadian twists stand between the price of the house and the payment leaving your account.
Convert the rate, Canadian style
A quoted 4.29% is a nominal rate compounding semi-annually, so each month charges (1 + 4.29% ÷ 2)2/12 − 1 = 0.3543% — slightly less than the US habit of dividing by 12. Every payment on this page is built from that converted rate.
Add the CMHC premium, if there is one
Down payment under 20% means an insured mortgage. The premium — 2.80% to 4.00% of the loan by LTV — is added to the principal before the payment is calculated, so a C$450,000 loan at 90% LTV becomes C$463,950.
Stress-test the result
Under OSFI’s B-20 rules you must qualify at the higher of your contract rate + 2% or 5.25%. The calculator re-runs the payment at that rate and checks your housing costs against 35% of gross income (the GDS limit).
The math behind the default example
Step 1 — the loan. A C$700,000 home with 20% down (C$140,000) leaves a C$560,000 mortgage. At exactly 80% LTV there is no CMHC premium, so the principal stays C$560,000.
Step 2 — the Canadian rate conversion. 4.29% nominal with semi-annual compounding becomes a monthly rate of (1.02145)1/6 − 1 = 0.3543%. (Dividing 4.29% by 12 — the US way — would give 0.3575% and a payment of C$3,046.29, C$11.88 a month too high.)
Step 3 — the payment. Over 25 years (300 monthly payments): 560,000 × 0.003543 ÷ (1 − 1.003543−300) = C$3,034.41 a month. Total interest over the full amortization is C$350,322.57, and after a 5-year term the balance stands at C$489,934.91.
Step 4 — the stress test. The qualifying rate is max(4.29% + 2%, 5.25%) = 6.29%, which lifts the tested payment to C$3,680.01. Add tax (C$350 a month) and heating (C$150): C$4,180.01 of housing cost against C$12,500 of monthly income is a GDS of 33.44% — inside the 35% limit, so this mortgage passes.
Two Canadian rules that surprise newcomers
One makes your payment smaller than the American formula suggests; the other makes qualifying harder than the payment suggests.
Canadian law and convention quote fixed mortgage rates as nominal annual rates compounded twice a year. To get the monthly rate you cannot just divide by 12 — you take the sixth root of the half-year growth: r = (1 + R/2)2/12 − 1. At 4.29% that is 0.3543% a month, versus 0.3575% from the naive division.
The gap looks trivial and is not: on a C$560,000, 25-year mortgage the US-style shortcut produces C$3,046.29 a month against the correct C$3,034.41 — nearly C$12 a month, every month, and thousands over a term once renewals stack up. Any calculator that imports the American formula onto a Canadian loan quietly overstates every number it shows. This page converts the rate properly for all six frequencies, which is also why the weekly payment (C$699.30) is not simply the monthly payment divided by four.
Since 2018, OSFI’s B-20 guideline has required borrowers at federally regulated lenders to qualify at the higher of their contract rate plus 2 percentage points or the Bank of Canada’s 5.25% benchmark floor. The test applies to insured and uninsured mortgages alike. It is why a household can comfortably afford C$3,034.41 a month and still be declined: the lender must be satisfied they could carry C$3,680.01 if rates rose.
One carve-out matters at renewal time: since November 2024, a straight switch — moving an uninsured mortgage to a new lender at renewal for the same amount and the same remaining amortization — no longer has to re-pass the stress test. That exemption makes shopping your renewal genuinely possible again. What it does not cover is refinancing: borrow more, extend the amortization, or change the structure, and the test comes back.
Six ways to pay the same mortgage, compared
The loan on this page is C$560,000 at 4.29 percent over 25 years. Only the payment rhythm changes, and the table below is the calculator’s own frequency table for that loan.
The first four rhythms barely change the total interest, because they divide the same yearly amount into smaller pieces without paying any extra. Monthly costs C$3,034.41 and C$350,322.57 of interest over the full amortization. Semi-monthly costs C$1,515.86 and C$349,517.57 of interest. Bi-weekly costs C$1,399.16 and C$349,455.69. Weekly costs C$699.30 and C$349,084.51. The weekly rhythm saves about C$1,238 against monthly, which is real money, but it is a rounding and timing effect, not a strategy: the loan still runs the full 25 years in all four cases, because the same total is paid each year.
The accelerated rhythms are a different animal, because they pay more each year. Accelerated bi-weekly takes the monthly payment, halves it to C$1,517.20, and pays that 26 times a year instead of 24 half-payments, which squeezes in one extra monthly payment a year. Total interest falls to C$298,703.76 and the loan clears in 21.8 years, more than three years early. Accelerated weekly does the same with quarters: C$758.60 paid 52 times, total interest C$298,127.66, also 21.8 years. The saving against monthly is over C$51,000 of interest, and it comes entirely from paying about C$3,034 extra each year, which is exactly one monthly payment. Anyone who can afford the accelerated rhythm is, in effect, making thirteen monthly payments a year instead of twelve, and the loan rewards that with three fewer years of interest.
| Frequency | Payment | Total interest | Paid off in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly | C$3,034.41 | C$350,322.57 | 25.0 years |
| Semi-monthly | C$1,515.86 | C$349,517.57 | 25.0 years |
| Bi-weekly | C$1,399.16 | C$349,455.69 | 25.0 years |
| Weekly | C$699.30 | C$349,084.51 | 25.0 years |
| Accelerated bi-weekly | C$1,517.20 | C$298,703.76 | 21.8 years |
| Accelerated weekly | C$758.60 | C$298,127.66 | 21.8 years |
The trap in the frequency menu is confusing bi-weekly with accelerated bi-weekly. They sound almost identical and their payments differ by only C$118.04, but one finishes in 25 years and the other in 21.8, because only the accelerated version pays extra. Before choosing, check which version the lender actually offers, and check that the payment shown on the lender’s paperwork matches the accelerated figure, not the plain bi-weekly one. A borrower who asked for accelerated and received plain bi-weekly would pay C$51,000 of interest they never agreed to, one C$118 shortfall at a time.
The CMHC premium, worked on a 10 percent down payment
Below 20 percent down, the premium is added to the loan before the payment is calculated, so it costs interest as well as principal. The example below is this calculator’s own output for a C$700,000 home with C$70,000 down.
With 10 percent down, the base loan is C$630,000 and the loan-to-value is 90 percent, which falls in the 85.01 to 90 percent band at a 3.10 percent premium. The premium is 3.10 percent of C$630,000, which is C$19,530, and it is added to the loan, making a total mortgage of C$649,530. The monthly payment on that mortgage at 4.29 percent over 25 years is C$3,519.53, total interest over the full amortization is C$406,330.39, and the balance after the 5-year term is C$568,263.26. Compare the 20 percent down case on the same home: a C$560,000 mortgage, C$3,034.41 a month, C$350,322.57 of interest, and a balance of C$489,934.91 after five years. The 10 percent down buyer pays C$485.12 more each month, of which only part is the larger loan: the premium itself, C$19,530, also draws interest for 25 years.
The premium bands reward crossing a threshold, not inching towards one. The bands on this page are 2.80 percent for loan-to-value above 80 percent up to 85 percent, 3.10 percent above 85 percent up to 90 percent, and 4.00 percent above 90 percent up to 95 percent, with an extra 0.20 percent if an eligible first-time buyer or new-build purchase uses a 30-year amortization. A buyer at 89 percent loan-to-value pays the same 3.10 percent rate as a buyer at 86 percent, so saving a little more deposit only changes the premium bill when it crosses a band boundary. The boundaries that matter are 85 percent and 90 percent: crossing from just above 90 percent to just below it drops the rate from 4.00 percent to 3.10 percent, which on a C$630,000 loan is worth about C$5,670 of premium before interest. That is the deposit target worth stretching for, if stretching is possible at all.
One more consequence deserves attention. Because the premium is added to the principal, the loan-to-value used for the payment is higher than the loan-to-value used to set the premium: the 10 percent down buyer borrows C$630,000 against a C$700,000 home, but repays C$649,530. The premium is not a fee paid once and forgotten. It is borrowed money, and it is repaid with interest over the same 25 years as the rest of the loan. That is also why a larger down payment helps twice: it shrinks the base loan, and it can shrink or remove the premium rate applied to what remains.
The stress test, in plain numbers
Qualifying is a separate calculation from affording, and the gap between the two is the stress test. The default example on this page shows the gap exactly.
The contract payment is C$3,034.41 a month. The qualifying rate is the higher of the contract rate plus 2 percent or 5.25 percent: at a 4.29 percent contract rate that is 6.29 percent, which lifts the tested payment to C$3,680.01. Add property tax of C$350 a month and heating of C$150, and the tested housing cost is C$4,180.01 a month. Against household income of C$150,000 a year, or C$12,500 a month, that is a gross debt service ratio of 33.44 percent, inside the 35 percent limit, so this mortgage passes. The margin is less than two percentage points of income, which is about C$195 a month of housing cost. A household with the same mortgage but C$140,000 of income would face the same C$4,180.01 of tested housing cost against C$11,666.67 a month, a ratio of 35.83 percent, and would fail the test even though the actual payment of C$3,034.41 is unchanged. That is the stress test doing its job: it tests the household, not the mortgage.
The renewal switch exemption, in force since November 2024, changes the second half of the story but not the first. A straight switch at renewal, moving an uninsured mortgage to a new lender for the same amount and the same remaining amortization, no longer has to re-pass the stress test. That makes shopping a renewal genuinely possible again, because the borrower is not re-qualified at a rate they may no longer meet. But the exemption is narrow by design: borrow more, extend the amortization, or change the structure, and the test comes back in full. A borrower who plans to refinance at renewal, rather than switch straight, should budget for the test as if it were a first application, and should check the remaining amortization carefully, because extending it to lower the payment is exactly the change that re-triggers the test.
Finally, note what the payment on this page does not include. The headline payment is principal and interest only. Property tax and heating appear only inside the stress-test calculation, and they are entered separately for that purpose. A borrower comparing this page’s payment with a lender’s statement should expect the lender’s figure to differ if the lender collects tax or insurance with the payment, and should compare the principal and interest lines, not the totals, before concluding that either figure is wrong.
Renewal: the balance after five years, and what it means
A Canadian mortgage is not a 25-year loan. It is a 25-year amortization repaid in 5-year terms, and the balance at the end of the first term is the number the renewal negotiation starts from.
On the default loan, the balance after five years is C$489,934.91. That is C$70,065.09 of principal repaid in five years, against C$111,999.43 of interest paid in the same period, from sixty monthly payments of C$3,034.41. The interest-heavy early years are not a defect in the loan. They are the arithmetic of amortizing a large balance at 4.29 percent: the first payments are mostly interest because the balance is at its largest, and the principal share grows as the balance shrinks. A borrower who looks at the five-year statement and feels that very little principal has moved is reading the statement correctly. The principal share of each payment roughly doubles over the course of a 25-year amortization, so the second five years repay considerably more principal than the first.
The renewal decision is, in practice, a decision about the remaining C$489,934.91. Keeping the same remaining amortization means the payment at the new rate is calculated on that balance over 20 years. Extending the amortization back to 25 years would lower the payment but restart the interest-heavy early years on a balance that is still nearly C$490,000, and, as the previous section notes, it would also re-trigger the stress test on a switch. Shortening the amortization would raise the payment but cut total interest sharply. The calculator on this page can show the payment for any remaining balance and amortization, because those are just its ordinary inputs with a different price and down payment: enter the renewal balance as the mortgage, through a price and down payment that produce it, and the payment that results is the renewal payment at the new rate. Run that calculation before the renewal letter arrives, not after, so the negotiation starts from a figure you have already verified.
Two things to check on the renewal statement itself. First, that the balance matches the amortization, not just the payments made: missed or partial payments, payment holidays, and prepayment privileges used or not used all change the balance, and the statement balance governs. Second, that the new rate quoted is the rate used in the payment calculation, with the same semi-annual compounding conversion this page applies. A renewal quote that looks cheaper because it was converted the American way, dividing by 12, is not cheaper at all. It is the same C$11.88-a-month error from the default example, returning in a new document.
30 years, 35 years: who actually qualifies for what
The 30-year amortization is an insured-mortgage exception with two qualifying paths. The 35-year amortization is not an insured entitlement at all.
For an insured mortgage, one with less than 20 percent down, the standard maximum amortization in Canada is 25 years. Since December 15, 2024, two groups can extend an insured amortization to 30 years: first-time home buyers, buying any eligible property, and any buyer purchasing a newly built home. The insured purchase price cap was raised to C$1.5 million at the same time. A longer insured amortization carries a premium surcharge, and it lowers the monthly payment while increasing the total interest paid over the life of the loan, which is the trade being made.
The 35-year figure in search results is mostly history and partly a different market. Insured amortizations were cut from 35 years in 2011 and to 25 years in 2012, so a 35-year insured mortgage is not available under the current rules. A 35-year amortization does exist in the uninsured market, where the buyer puts down 20 percent or more, but only where the lender offers it: it is a lender product, not a federal entitlement, and the terms, including whether the rate is fixed or variable and how the term renews, are set by the lender. Anyone comparing a 30-year insured amortization with a 35-year uninsured one is therefore comparing two different loans, two different down payments and two different sets of rules, and the monthly payment alone cannot settle which costs less.
| Down payment | Buyer or property | Maximum amortization |
|---|---|---|
| Less than 20% (insured) | Repeat buyer, resale home | 25 years |
| Less than 20% (insured) | First-time buyer, or newly built home | 30 years, since December 15, 2024 |
| 20% or more (uninsured) | Any buyer | 30 years widely available; 35 years only where the lender offers it |
Affordability the lender’s way: GDS and TDS
Lenders do not ask how much house you want. They ask what share of your gross income the housing costs, and the debts, consume.
The gross debt service ratio, GDS, divides housing costs by gross monthly income. Housing costs are the mortgage payment, property taxes, heating costs, and half of any condo fees. The total debt service ratio, TDS, adds every other debt payment on top: car loans, credit cards, student loans and the rest, divided by the same gross income. The standard thresholds used for insured mortgages are GDS of 35 percent and TDS of 42 percent, with maximums of 39 percent GDS and 44 percent TDS for strong applications. Both ratios are tested at the qualifying rate used in the stress test, not at the contract rate on the offer, so the payment that counts for affordability is higher than the payment that will actually leave the account in the first term.
Worked on a round figure: gross income of C$100,000 a year is C$8,333 a month. A GDS ceiling of 35 percent allows C$2,917 a month of housing costs. A TDS ceiling of 42 percent allows C$3,500 a month of housing plus all other debts, so with C$600 a month of other debt payments the housing room under TDS is C$2,900, slightly tighter than the GDS ceiling, and it is the tighter of the two ratios that governs. That is the calculation to run before choosing a price: take the payment this calculator produces for a price, add the taxes, heating and half the condo fees, and test the total against both ceilings. A price that passes the payment test and fails the ratio test is not affordable on the lender’s definition, whatever the monthly budget says.
Canada mortgage questions, answered
Compounding, premiums, down payments and the test every borrower has to pass.
Why is a Canadian mortgage payment different from a US one?
Because the interest compounds on a different rhythm. Canadian fixed rates are nominal annual rates with semi-annual compounding, so the monthly rate is (1 + R/2)2/12 − 1 — at 4.29%, 0.3543% a month. US mortgages compound monthly (R/12 = 0.3575%), which is slightly more expensive: on a C$560,000, 25-year loan the US formula gives C$3,046.29 a month versus the correct Canadian C$3,034.41. Same sticker rate, different math.
What is the mortgage stress test?
Under OSFI’s B-20 rules, your lender must check that you could still afford the mortgage at a qualifying rate equal to the higher of your contract rate + 2% or 5.25%. A 4.29% contract therefore gets tested at 6.29%, lifting the test payment on a C$560,000 mortgage from C$3,034.41 to C$3,680.01 a month. Your housing costs at that tested rate — payment, property tax and heating — must fit within about 35% of your gross income (the GDS ratio). One exception: a straight switch to a new lender at renewal, for the same amount and amortization, has been exempt since November 2024.
When do I pay a CMHC premium, and how much is it?
Whenever your down payment is under 20%, the mortgage must be insured and a premium applies. It is charged as a percentage of the loan, set by loan-to-value: 2.80% for an LTV above 80% up to 85%, 3.10% above 85% up to 90%, and 4.00% above 90% up to 95% — plus 0.20% if an eligible first-time buyer or new-build purchase uses a 30-year amortization. The premium is added to your mortgage rather than paid in cash: a C$450,000 loan at 90% LTV carries a C$13,950 premium, making the real mortgage C$463,950, and you pay interest on the premium too.
How much down payment do I actually need?
The minimum is 5% of the first C$500,000 of the price plus 10% of anything above that: C$35,000 on a C$600,000 home, C$60,000 on C$850,000, C$95,000 on C$1,200,000. Insured mortgages stop at a C$1.5 million purchase price, and above that the minimum is a flat 20%. Remember the minimum only makes you eligible — any down payment under 20% also means a CMHC premium, so the true cost of the smallest down payment is higher than it looks.
How much does accelerated bi-weekly really save?
An accelerated bi-weekly payment is half the monthly payment, taken 26 times a year — so you pay the equivalent of 13 monthly payments annually instead of 12. That one extra payment a year goes entirely against principal. On the default C$560,000 mortgage at 4.29%, it cuts the amortization from 25 years to about 21.8 and saves C$51,618.81 of interest. Ordinary (non-accelerated) bi-weekly payments are sized to the same yearly total as monthly ones, so they save only a few hundred dollars by comparison.
Who can get a 30-year amortization?
Anyone putting down 20% or more can choose up to 30 years, since the mortgage is uninsured. With less than 20% down, insured amortizations were capped at 25 years — until December 2024, when the limit rose to 30 years for two groups: first-time home buyers and buyers of newly built homes. The longer amortization lowers the payment (a C$464,850 insured loan at 4.29% costs C$2,287.37 a month over 30 years versus C$2,518.83 over 25) but adds a 0.20% CMHC premium surcharge and years of extra interest.
Who can get a 30-year amortization in Canada?
Not everyone. The standard maximum amortization for an insured mortgage is 25 years, and the 30-year option is restricted to eligible first-time buyers and buyers of new builds, with an extra 0.20 percent on the CMHC premium where the premium applies. A buyer who is neither a first-time buyer nor buying a new build is capped at 25 years when the mortgage is insured, which is why this calculator’s amortization note flags the restriction. The longer amortization lowers the monthly payment, but it raises total interest substantially, because the balance stays larger for longer. Treat 30 years as an eligibility-gated option to confirm with the lender, not as a setting to choose freely, and compare its total interest against 25 years before taking it.
Bi-weekly or accelerated bi-weekly — which did my lender actually set up?
Check the payment amount, not the label. On the default loan, plain bi-weekly is C$1,399.16 and accelerated bi-weekly is C$1,517.20, and only the accelerated version finishes early, in 21.8 years instead of 25, saving over C$51,000 of interest. The two labels sound almost identical, and a paperwork error that sets up plain bi-weekly when accelerated was agreed costs exactly that saving, one payment at a time. If the payment on the lender’s document matches the plain figure, ask for the accelerated schedule in writing before the first payment is taken. The same check applies to weekly versus accelerated weekly, where the figures are C$699.30 and C$758.60 on this loan.
Why does my lender’s payment differ from this calculator?
Usually because the two figures include different things. This calculator’s headline payment is principal and interest only, calculated from the semi-annual compounding conversion. A lender’s statement often adds property tax collected with the payment, and sometimes insurance, so its total is higher by exactly those collections. Compare the principal and interest lines before concluding either figure is wrong. The other common cause is the conversion itself: a quote that divided the rate by 12, the American way, overstates the payment by about C$11.88 a month on the default loan, C$3,046.29 instead of C$3,034.41. If the lender’s principal and interest figure matches the American conversion, ask for the Canadian conversion to be applied.
Does the stress test use my actual payment?
No. The stress test replaces your actual payment with a tested payment at the qualifying rate, which is the higher of your contract rate plus 2 percent or 5.25 percent, and then adds property tax and heating. On the default loan the actual payment is C$3,034.41, the tested payment is C$3,680.01, and the tested housing cost is C$4,180.01 a month. That tested cost, not the actual payment, is what must fit within about 35 percent of gross income. A household can therefore afford its mortgage comfortably and still fail the test, and a household that passes the test has room against a rate rise built into the approval. The test is a qualification hurdle, not a payment forecast, and it should not be used to budget the monthly outlay.
Can I get a 35-year mortgage in Canada?
Not as an insured mortgage. Insured amortizations, with less than 20 percent down, are capped at 25 years, or 30 years for first-time buyers and buyers of newly built homes since December 15, 2024. A 35-year amortization exists only in the uninsured market, with 20 percent or more down, and only where the lender offers it. It is a lender product, not a federal entitlement.
What is the difference between GDS and TDS?
GDS, the gross debt service ratio, divides housing costs alone by gross monthly income: mortgage payment, property taxes, heating and half of condo fees. TDS, the total debt service ratio, adds all other debt payments to the housing costs and divides by the same income. The standard thresholds are 35 percent for GDS and 42 percent for TDS, and the tighter of the two governs how much a lender will approve.
Does a 30-year amortization cost more overall?
Yes, in total interest. Stretching the same loan over 30 years instead of 25 lowers the monthly payment, because the principal is repaid more slowly, but the balance stays higher for longer and interest accrues on it for five more years. The monthly saving is real and the lifetime cost is real too, and the choice between them is a choice about cash flow now against total cost over the life of the loan.
Property duties and loans on the other side of the border
Buying costs and second mortgages, in the other systems this batch covers.
Mortgage Calculator
The general version — US monthly compounding.
🎯Mortgage Rate Calculator
Back out the rate hiding inside a payment.
🔁Remortgage Calculator
UK switching: fees, savings and break-even.
🇬🇧SDLT Calculator
Stamp duty for England, Scotland and Wales.
🇦🇺NSW Stamp Duty
Transfer duty on an Australian purchase.