FAQs

To purchase a home in Canada, you need a minimum of 5% downpayment. That’s 5% of the price you pay for the home if your purchase is $500,000 or less. For instance, for a $400,000 home, you need a $20,000 downpayment. For any home over $500,000 but less than $1 million, you need 5% on the first $500,000… which is always going to be $25,000. And then you’re going to need ten per cent for any amount over that. So if your house price is $650,000, you’ll need your $25,000 plus ten percent of the extra $150,000… which is $15,000. That means you’re going to need to save up $40,000 for your downpayment. If your purchase price is $1 million or more, a minimum 20% downpayment is required. These minimum downpayment amounts are Government of Canada rules, and they’re designed to maintain a good, stable housing market.

Lenders must ensure that you pass a stress test, which means that you can handle payments at a certain qualifying rate. The qualifying rate will be higher than the rate of your actual mortgage: a situation that some may find frustrating. The government put in the stress test to ensure that borrowers can handle their mortgage payments should rates rise. But rest assured that your actual payments will be based on the lower mortgage contract rate that we negotiate for you. Not all types of lenders available through Mortgage Brokers are required to use the stress test, and although these mortgages have a higher interest rate, they are an option to consider for those who can’t otherwise qualify.

If your downpayment is between 5% and 20%, it is mandatory in Canada that you have “mortgage default insurance,” which is a government requirement to protect lenders. Mortgage default insurance is also available from Genworth and Canada Guaranty. The premium for your mortgage default insurance is almost always added to your mortgage amount.

Here’s an example, if your purchase price is $400,000 and you have 5% down, your mortgage amount is $380,000. The mortgage insurance premium for 5% down is 4% percent or $15,200, which is then added to your mortgage, bringing your total mortgage amount to $395,200. The insurance premium declines to 3.1% (at 10% down) and 2.8% (at 15% down). If you’ve saved up more than 20% of the purchase price, then there’s no premium, because you’ve got lots of equity in the house as a buffer if anything goes wrong. Having 20% downpayment is a good goal, but today, most first-time homebuyers are purchasing their homes with the minimum required downpayment.

A bridge loan is a short-term financing tool that helps you “bridge” the gap between old and new mortgages when you move from one home to another. You may be taking possession of your new home a week or two in advance of closing on your current home, either because of how your closing dates worked out, or because you want to do some renovating on your new home before you move in. Whatever the reason, bridge financing can be your best friend for a few weeks: making it possible to easily transition from the old to the new.