Mortgage calculator for Canada

This mortgage calculator works the way Canadian mortgages actually work: fixed rates compound semi-annually, the CMHC premium is added to the loan when the down payment is under 20%, and the tables show what happens when one thing changes, from the payment frequency to the rate at renewal. Every result is computed in the browser from the numbers entered; nothing is sent anywhere.

How do you use this mortgage calculator?

Start with the four core inputs and open the advanced sections only if they apply.

1. Enter the home price and the down payment. The calculator works out the loan, checks the down payment against the federal minimum and, under 20% down, adds the CMHC premium.
2. Enter the interest rate quoted by the lender and the amortization, the number of years until the mortgage is fully paid off.
3. Pick a payment frequency. Monthly is the default; the comparison table shows all six options side by side, so there is no need to try each one.
4. Open “Term and compounding” to set the term (the length of the contract before renewal) and switch to monthly compounding if the mortgage is a variable-rate product that compounds monthly. The mortgage documents state which one applies.
5. Open “Mortgage insurance” when the down payment is under 20%. Choose the buyer situation (it decides whether a 30-year insured amortization is allowed), the province (for the sales tax on the premium) and whether the premium is added to the loan.
6. Read the summary first, then the tables. The Decision Brief under the result explains why the payment is what it is, what would move it and which assumptions matter most. The year-by-year schedule can be downloaded as a CSV file.

What does a Canadian mortgage payment look like? A worked example

Take a first-time buyer in Ontario purchasing a $600,000 home with $60,000 down, a 4.5% five-year fixed rate, a 25-year amortization and monthly payments. These are example figures; rates and prices change, so use the numbers from an actual quote in the calculator above.

• Loan before insurance: $540,000, which is a 90% loan-to-value ratio.
• CMHC premium: the 90% band on CMHC’s standard schedule is 3.1% of the loan, so the premium is $16,740, added to the mortgage for a total of $556,740.
• Ontario sales tax on the premium: 8% of the premium, or $1,339, paid in cash at closing because it cannot be added to the loan.
• Rate per payment: 4.5% compounded semi-annually works out to 0.3715% per month.
• Monthly payment: $3,081.41.
• Total interest over 25 years: about $367,682, if the rate never changed.
• Balance after the five-year term: about $488,798, with $116,942 of interest paid during the term.

In the first year the borrower pays about $24,570 in interest and only $12,407 of principal, so roughly two-thirds of every early payment is interest. The split improves every year as the balance falls.

The same home with $120,000 down (20%) needs no insurance: the mortgage is $480,000 and the monthly payment drops to $2,656.67. The difference is not just the smaller loan; it is also the premium and the interest charged on it.

How does the mortgage maths work?

The payment uses the standard amortization formula: the payment is the loan multiplied by the rate per period, divided by one minus (one plus the rate per period) to the power of minus the number of payments. What makes a Canadian calculator different is the rate per period.

Under the Interest Act, a blended-payment mortgage has to disclose its rate calculated yearly or half-yearly, not in advance, and Canadian lenders quote fixed rates compounded half-yearly. So a quoted rate is really two half-year rates. To get the rate for each monthly payment, the calculator takes half the annual rate, adds one, raises it to the power of one-sixth (there are six months in each half-year) and subtracts one. For a bi-weekly payment the power is two twenty-sixths; for weekly it is two fifty-seconds.

A US-style calculator skips that step and simply divides the annual rate by 12, compounding monthly. The effect is small per payment but real over 25 years, and it grows with the rate. The table below runs both methods on the same $500,000 loan over 25 years.

How to read this table: each row is the same loan at the same quoted rate. The only difference is how often interest compounds. Some variable-rate mortgages do compound monthly, which is why the calculator offers both options; the mortgage contract says which applies.

Once the payment is known, the calculator runs every payment in order. Each payment first covers the interest on the current balance (balance times the rate per period); whatever is left reduces the balance. That loop produces the year-by-year schedule, the balance at the end of the term and the total interest. Accelerated payments are the one exception to the formula: the calculator takes the monthly payment and divides it by two (accelerated bi-weekly) or four (accelerated weekly), then runs the loop until the balance reaches zero.

How much is the payment at different prices and down payments?

These examples use the calculator’s engine with a 4.5% fixed rate, a 25-year amortization, monthly payments and an Ontario first-time buyer. They show two things competitors’ calculators usually hide: the minimum down payment rises with the price, and the CMHC premium plus its sales tax can add tens of thousands of dollars to the cost of buying with less than 20% down.

How to read this table: within each price, compare the rows to see what a bigger down payment is worth. On the $500,000 home, going from 5% to 20% down lowers the monthly payment by $520.27 and saves $62,079 of interest, plus the $20,520 of premium and tax. Outside Ontario, Quebec and Saskatchewan, the tax column would be empty.

Land transfer tax and closing costs come on top of the down payment. The land transfer tax calculator covers each province, including the extra municipal tax in Toronto.

What does CMHC insurance add to a mortgage?

Mortgage default insurance is required when the down payment is under 20% of the price (a loan-to-value ratio above 80%). It protects the lender, not the borrower, but the borrower pays for it. CMHC charges a one-time premium equal to a percentage of the loan, and the percentage depends on the loan-to-value band. The calculator uses CMHC’s published table:

How to read this table: find the row whose loan-to-value covers the loan divided by the price. The last row applies only when the down payment is borrowed (for example from a line of credit).

Loan-to-value up to	Premium (share of the loan)
65%	0.6%
75%	1.7%
80%	2.4%
85%	2.8%
90%	3.1%
95%	4%
95%	4.5%

Source: Mortgage loan insurance premiums (homeowner and small rental loans) — CMHC; Mortgage loan insurance premiums — CMHC (portability surcharge and provincial sales tax); Mortgage loan insurance premiums — CMHC (Refinance schedule note); CMHC Mortgage Loan Insurance cost (consumer page) — CMHC; CMHC Purchase — product page (25-year maximum amortization, premium schedule); CMHC Home Start — product page (30-year amortization premium schedule); CMHC Home Start — eligibility (first-time buyer or newly built; high-ratio only); CMHC Revises Homeowner Mortgage Loan Insurance Premiums (notice, June 5, 2024); Boldest mortgage reforms in decades come into force today (December 15, 2024). In effect from December 15, 2024; checked September 29, 2026.

Insured mortgages amortized over 25 years (up to 30, for first-time buyers and new builds only) use CMHC’s Home Start schedule, which is 0.2 percentage points higher in every band:

How to read this table: only high-ratio loans (over 80% loan-to-value) qualify, which is why the table starts at the 85% band. As in the standard table, the last row applies only to a borrowed down payment.

Loan-to-value up to	Premium (share of the loan)
85%	3%
90%	3.3%
95%	4.2%
95%	4.7%

Source: Mortgage loan insurance premiums (homeowner and small rental loans) — CMHC; Mortgage loan insurance premiums — CMHC (portability surcharge and provincial sales tax); Mortgage loan insurance premiums — CMHC (Refinance schedule note); CMHC Mortgage Loan Insurance cost (consumer page) — CMHC; CMHC Purchase — product page (25-year maximum amortization, premium schedule); CMHC Home Start — product page (30-year amortization premium schedule); CMHC Home Start — eligibility (first-time buyer or newly built; high-ratio only); CMHC Revises Homeowner Mortgage Loan Insurance Premiums (notice, June 5, 2024); Boldest mortgage reforms in decades come into force today (December 15, 2024). In effect from December 15, 2024; checked September 29, 2026.

Two practical points are easy to miss. First, the premium is normally added to the mortgage, so it is paid off over the full amortization with interest. Second, Ontario (8%), Quebec (9%) and Saskatchewan (6%) charge provincial sales tax on the premium, and that tax cannot be added to the loan: it is due in cash when the mortgage is set up. Quebec’s rate rises to 9.975% for premiums paid after December 31, 2026. Sagen and Canada Guaranty, the two private insurers, publish their own premiums, so a lender using one of them may quote a slightly different figure. The CMHC insurance calculator breaks the premium down on its own.

What is the minimum down payment in Canada?

The minimum down payment is tiered by price, and the calculator applies the tiers before pricing insurance:

How to read this table: add the amounts for each portion of the price. At $1,500,000 or more, insurance isn't available and the minimum is 20% of the whole price.

Portion of the price from	Up to	Minimum down on that portion
$0	$500,000	5%
$500,000	$1,500,000	10%

Source: How much you need for a down payment — Financial Consumer Agency of Canada; Backgrounder: Delivering the Boldest Mortgage Reforms in Decades (September 24, 2024) — price cap; Backgrounder: Delivering the Boldest Mortgage Reforms in Decades — down payment tiers; Backgrounder: Delivering the Boldest Mortgage Reforms in Decades — 30-year amortization eligibility; Boldest mortgage reforms in decades come into force today (December 15, 2024); Boldest mortgage reforms in decades come into force today — insured switches at renewal; CMHC Purchase — product page (maximum price, amortization, debt service ratios); Minimum qualifying rate for uninsured mortgages — OSFI; OSFI exempts uninsured mortgage straight switches from the prescribed MQR (November 21, 2024); “Straight Switches” and portfolio insurance (backgrounder, December 2024); Calculating GDS / TDS — CMHC; Calculating GDS / TDS — CMHC (qualifying rate for insured loans); Preparing to get a mortgage — Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (stress test); Insurable Housing Loan Regulations (SOR/2012-282), s. 5 high ratio loans — Justice Laws (current to 2026-09-21, CMHC-insured loans); Insurable Housing Loan Regulations (SOR/2012-282), s. 5(1.1) — 30-year amortization; Eligible Mortgage Loan Regulations (SOR/2012-281), s. 5 high ratio loans — Justice Laws (current to 2026-09-21, private insurers with the government guarantee); Canada Gazette Part II, SOR/2025-55 (Regulatory Impact Analysis Statement) — effective dates; Canada Gazette Part II, SOR/2025-55 — 30-year amortization limited to high-ratio loans. In effect from December 16, 2024; checked September 29, 2026.

Mortgage insurance is only available when the price is below $1,500,000, so at or above that price the minimum jumps to 20% of the whole price. A down payment can come from savings, a gift or registered accounts. A First Home Savings Account allows $8,000 of contributions a year up to a lifetime $40,000, with tax-free withdrawals for a first home; the FHSA contribution limit guide explains the carry-forward rules. The RRSP Home Buyers’ Plan can be used on top of an FHSA for the same purchase.

Which mortgage payment frequency saves the most interest?

The accelerated options save the most, because they are the only ones that actually pay more each year. The table uses the worked example above ($556,740 at 4.5% over 25 years).

How to read this table: the regular frequencies (semi-monthly, bi-weekly, weekly) pay about the same amount per year as monthly, spread thinner, so they save only a little interest from paying slightly earlier. The accelerated frequencies pay the equivalent of 13 monthly payments a year, and that thirteenth payment goes entirely to principal, which is why the mortgage ends more than three years early. The same effect is available by raising the monthly payment, if the lender’s prepayment privileges allow it; the mortgage prepayment calculator models extra payments and lump sums.

Is a 30-year mortgage amortization worth it?

A 30-year amortization lowers the payment but costs a lot more interest, and for insured mortgages it also raises the premium. Staying with the worked example (first-time buyer, 10% down on $600,000, 4.5%):

How to read this table: moving from 25 to 30 years lowers the monthly payment by $268.79 but adds about $87,039 of interest if the rate never changed. A 30-year insured amortization is only open to first-time buyers and buyers of newly built homes; everyone else with less than 20% down is limited to 25 years. The longer amortization can still make sense as a safety margin when it is paired with prepayments, because a lower required payment leaves room to pay extra when cash flow allows.

What happens to the mortgage payment at renewal?

At the end of the term, the remaining balance is renewed at whatever rate is available then. In the worked example, after five years about $488,798 would still be owing with 20 years left. The renewal table in the results re-amortizes that balance at four rates:

How to read this table: renewing at the same rate gives exactly the same payment, which is a useful check that the schedule is right. Each point of rate change moves the payment by roughly $260 a month on this balance. The mortgage renewal calculator goes further, with a new term length and a different remaining amortization.

The stress test works the same way in reverse. To approve the mortgage, the lender checks affordability at the higher of the contract rate plus 2 percentage points or 5.25%. In the worked example that is 6.5%, where the payment would be about $3,729.18 a month. CMHC caps the gross debt service ratio at 39% and the total debt service ratio at 44% for insured loans, both measured at that qualifying rate. The mortgage affordability calculator runs those ratios from income, and the mortgage stress test guide explains who has to pass it and when.

Common mortgage calculator mistakes

• Using a US calculator. Monthly compounding overstates the payment and total interest on a Canadian fixed-rate mortgage, as the compounding table shows.
• Leaving out the CMHC premium. With less than 20% down, the premium is part of the loan. A calculator that ignores it understates the payment and the interest.
• Forgetting the tax on the premium. In Ontario, Quebec and Saskatchewan it is a cash cost at closing, on top of the down payment, land transfer tax and legal fees.
• Treating the 25-year total interest as a real number. It assumes one rate for 25 years. Rates reset at every renewal, so the renewal table is a better guide to the next few years than the lifetime total.
• Confusing bi-weekly with accelerated bi-weekly. Only the accelerated version pays more each year and shortens the amortization.
• Assuming 30 years is always available. With less than 20% down, only first-time buyers and buyers of new builds can amortize over 30 years, and the premium is higher.
• Stopping at the payment. Property tax, home insurance, utilities, maintenance and condo fees are real monthly costs, and lenders count most of them when they approve the mortgage. The rent vs buy calculator puts the full cost of owning next to renting.

When is it worth talking to a mortgage professional?

This calculator estimates payments from the numbers entered; it cannot see a credit file, income documents or a lender’s full terms. Checking with a licensed mortgage broker or a lender’s mortgage specialist is worth it before signing when the down payment is borrowed or gifted, when self-employment or foreign income is involved (common for newcomers), when comparing a fixed and a variable rate, when breaking a mortgage early (prepayment penalties can be large and differ by lender), or when combining a purchase with a refinance or a home equity line of credit. A real estate lawyer or notary confirms closing costs, and a tax professional can help with how an FHSA and the Home Buyers’ Plan fit together. This page is education, not financial advice.

Where do the rules in this calculator come from?

The insurance premiums, minimum down payment tiers, insured price limit, amortization limits, stress-test rule and sales tax on premiums come from CMHC, the Department of Finance Canada, the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions, the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada and provincial tax authorities. Each rule is stored in a versioned data file with its source, the date it took effect and the date it was last checked, shown in the sources box on this page. The payment maths is standard amortization with the semi-annual compounding convention; the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada publishes its own mortgage calculator that can be used to cross-check a payment. When a rule changes, the data file is updated and the calculator, the tables and this page change with it.