Calculators

Calculators

Seven working tools, each built on the figures this site holds and each printing the rule it applied beside the answer. The mortgage tools open prefilled with the lowest rates confirmed at a lender, labelled with the lender and the date, and every field can be changed.

The tools

• Mortgage payment calculator: the payment at every frequency, including the accelerated options, with the balance path and the cost of the term.
• Mortgage affordability calculator: the largest purchase a household income supports under the stress test and the debt service caps, with both caps shown and the binding one named.
• Mortgage stress test calculator: a pass or a fail on a specific purchase, and the size of each lever, income, down payment or rate, that would close a failure.
• CMHC insurance calculator: the default insurance premium by loan-to-value band, with the provincial tax on the premium that is payable in cash at closing.
• Mortgage penalty calculator: the cost of breaking a mortgage early, on the basis the chosen lender actually uses, with both candidate figures shown.
• Credit card rewards calculator: what a card in the catalogue earns at your spending, from the catalogue's own earn rates and the sources' own published valuations.
• GIC growth and ladder calculator: a single certificate compounded to maturity, and a five-rung ladder built from the highest rate confirmed at an institution at each term.

The rules these tools share

The qualifying rate. A new mortgage in Canada is qualified at 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. Sources: OSFI, Minimum qualifying rate for uninsured mortgages (page effective January 29, 2026), and the Department of Finance Canada; checked 2026-11-15. For context, the chartered banks' posted five-year rate, the series the old benchmark was drawn from, stood at 6.19 percent in the week of 2026-11-11, in the Bank of Canada series held in our rate history.

Debt service caps. Gross debt service is the mortgage payment at the qualifying rate, plus property tax, heating and half of any condo fees, as a share of gross income. Total debt service adds every other monthly debt payment. The insurers, CMHC, Sagen and Canada Guaranty, publish maximums of 39 percent gross and 44 percent total for insured mortgages, and many lenders apply tighter limits of 35 and 42 percent to uninsured files. Both cap sets are offered in the affordability and stress test tools, labelled, because the answer depends on which set the lender applies.

Minimum down payment. For a home under $1,500,000 the minimum is 5 percent of the first $500,000 of the price plus 10 percent of the rest. At $1,500,000 and above, mortgage insurance is unavailable and at least 20 percent down is required. Since December 15, 2024, first-time buyers and buyers of newly built homes may take an insured amortization of 30 years; the standard insured maximum is 25.

Compounding. Canadian fixed mortgage rates are nominal annual rates compounded semi-annually, and the payment arithmetic in these tools follows that convention exactly. Variable rates are compounded monthly at most lenders, and the payment calculator carries a rate type field so the basis follows the product rather than a global assumption.