Canadian Mortgage Calculator
Calculate Canadian mortgage payments online free — semi-annual compounding, CMHC insurance and amortisation. No upload, works offline, fully private.
Canadian mortgage & CMHC insurance
- Monthly payment$3,681.48
- CMHC premium (financed)$18,135
- Total loan amount$603,135
- Down payment$65,000
- Effective monthly interest rate0.45%
Calculated in your browser — nothing you type is sent anywhere.
Built for Canadian rules, not American ones
Two things make a Canadian mortgage different, and most calculators get at least one of them wrong. First, fixed-rate mortgages here are compounded semi-annually rather than monthly, which is a legal requirement and produces a slightly different monthly figure. Second, the minimum down payment is tiered rather than a single percentage, and falling short of it makes the purchase impossible rather than merely expensive.
On the default example, a 500,000 dollar home with 50,000 dollars down at 4.99 percent over twenty-five years, the legal minimum down payment is 25,000 dollars, so you are comfortably clear. At 90 percent loan-to-value the CMHC premium is 13,950 dollars, which is added to the loan to give a total mortgage of 463,950 dollars and a payment of 2,695.72 dollars a month.
How the down payment tiers work
The minimum is calculated in slices, in the same way tax bands are. That is why the down payment field here is in dollars rather than a percentage: a percentage would hide the rule instead of showing it.
- Up to 500,000: 5 percent of the price.
- 500,000 to 1.5 million: 25,000 dollars plus 10 percent of the amount above 500,000.
- Above 1.5 million: 20 percent, and no mortgage insurance is available at all.
- Below the minimum: the calculator refuses to produce a payment, because no lender could fund it.
The premium is financed, so it costs more than it looks
Because the premium is rolled into the mortgage, you pay interest on it for the full amortisation. Reaching 20 percent down removes it completely, which is usually worth far more than the same money spent on a lower rate. Total interest on the default example is about 344,765 dollars over twenty-five years. Rates and premium tiers are your inputs and current published rules respectively, not a lender quote, and everything is calculated in your browser.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is a Canadian mortgage payment different from an American one?
Canadian fixed-rate mortgages are compounded semi-annually rather than monthly, which is set out in the Interest Act. That produces a slightly lower effective monthly rate, so the payment on the same nominal rate is a little lower than a US calculator would tell you.
What is the minimum down payment in Canada?
It is tiered, not a flat percentage. You need 5 percent on the first 500,000 dollars, 10 percent on the portion between 500,000 and 1.5 million, and 20 percent on any home above 1.5 million. The calculator shows the legal minimum for the price you enter.
What is CMHC insurance and who pays it?
It is mortgage default insurance, required whenever you put down less than 20 percent. The borrower pays the premium, it is normally added to the mortgage rather than paid in cash, and it protects the lender rather than you.
How much is the CMHC premium?
It depends on your loan-to-value: roughly 2.8 percent of the loan at up to 85 percent, 3.1 percent at up to 90 percent, and 4 percent above that. On the default example, 10 percent down on a 500,000 dollar home, the premium is 13,950 dollars.
Can I avoid mortgage insurance entirely?
Yes. Put down 20 percent or more and no premium applies at all, and the insurance row will say so. On a 500,000 dollar home that means 100,000 dollars down instead of the 25,000 dollar legal minimum.
Why is 25 years the default amortisation?
Insured mortgages are capped at 25 years, so if you are putting down less than 20 percent that is your maximum. Uninsured borrowers can often stretch to 30 years, which lowers the payment and raises the total interest.
Is the premium included in the payment shown?
Yes. The premium is added to the loan before the payment is worked out, which is how lenders actually do it, so you pay interest on it over the whole amortisation. The total mortgage row shows the figure the payment is based on.