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Mortgage affordability calculator

How much house a household income actually supports, under the rules a lender is required to apply: the payment is tested at the qualifying rate rather than the contract rate, the insurance premium is part of the balance where the down payment is under 20 percent, and both debt service ratios have to fit under their caps at once. The tool solves for the largest price at which both fit, and prints both ratios at that price with the binding cap named, because a single maximum price with the arithmetic hidden is how affordability tools mislead.

Prefilled with the lowest five-year fixed confirmed at a lender: 4.29% at Steinbach Credit Union. Rates are current as of November 15, 2026
Half of condo fees count in the ratios, under the insurers' rule.
Car loans, card payments, student loans, lines of credit.

How the answer is built

The qualifying rate is the greater of the contract rate plus 2 percent or 5.25 percent. The 5.25 percent figure is the federal minimum qualifying rate: the Department of Finance sets it for insured mortgages and OSFI guideline B-20 sets it for uninsured mortgages at federally regulated lenders, and it has applied since June 1, 2021. Before that date the test ran off the Bank of Canada's benchmark five-year rate, and that formula no longer applies to a new mortgage. At each candidate price the tool adds the CMHC premium where one applies, works the monthly payment at the qualifying rate on the semi-annual compounding convention, and tests gross debt service (the payment, plus monthly property tax, heating and half of condo fees, over gross monthly income) and total debt service (the same housing costs plus every other debt payment) against the caps chosen above. The largest price passing both tests is the answer, and the ratio sitting closest to its cap at that price is the constraint that set it.

Sources and dates

Qualifying rate: OSFI, Minimum qualifying rate for uninsured mortgages (page effective January 29, 2026), and the Department of Finance Canada for insured mortgages; checked 2026-11-15. Debt service caps: the published maximums of CMHC, Sagen and Canada Guaranty for insured mortgages, with the tighter set many lenders apply to uninsured files; checked 2026-11-15. Premium schedule: CMHC's published premium schedule for homeowner loans, owner-occupied homes of one to four units, as published by CMHC at cmhc-schl.gc.ca and checked 2026-11-15. Sagen and Canada Guaranty publish the same standard schedule.