Calculators

Mortgage stress test calculator

One question, answered with the arithmetic showing: does this purchase, at this income, pass the federal mortgage stress test? The test qualifies a borrower 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, and the payment at that rate has to fit inside the debt service caps alongside tax, heating and the household's other debts. Where the answer is a fail, the tool prices each of the three levers that close a failure separately, because the useful question after a fail is which lever is cheapest to move.

Where the test applies

The test applies to new mortgages and to refinances at federally regulated lenders, insured and uninsured alike. Since November 21, 2024, a straight switch of an uninsured mortgage to a new lender at renewal, with no increase in the amount or the amortization, is exempt, which is one reason shopping a renewal costs nothing in qualification. Credit unions are provincially regulated and several apply their own version of the test, so a file that fails here can still be worth taking to one, with the difference understood rather than assumed.

Sources and dates

Qualifying rate and floor: 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. Caps: the published maximums of CMHC, Sagen and Canada Guaranty, with the tighter set many lenders apply to uninsured files. 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.