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Income Needed to Buy a House in Canada (2026): Calculator and Table by Price

Updated

The income you need to buy a home is set by two lender rules: the mortgage stress test and a cap on how much of your income can go to housing. This calculator applies both to your price, down payment and costs, and the table below shows the result for common prices.

Home price
Down payment (%)
Mortgage rate (%)
Amortization (years)
Property tax ($ a month)
Heating ($ a month)
Condo fees ($ a month)
Other debt payments ($ a month)
Household income needed
Down payment
CMHC insurance premium
Mortgage (with premium)
Qualifying (stress test) rate
Payment at the qualifying rate
Actual payment at your rate

Income needed by home price

Home priceMinimum down paymentIncome needed, minimum downIncome needed, 20% down
$300,000$15,000$70,900$61,700
$400,000$20,000$93,000$80,800
$450,000$22,500$104,100$90,300
$500,000$25,000$115,100$99,800
$600,000$35,000$136,200$118,800
$700,000$45,000$157,300$137,900
$750,000$50,000$167,800$147,400
$800,000$55,000$178,400$156,900
$900,000$65,000$199,400$175,900
$1,000,000$75,000$220,500$195,000
$1,500,000$300,000Same as 20% down$290,200
$2,000,000$400,000Same as 20% down$385,400

These figures use a 25-year amortization, property tax of 1% of the price a year, $150 a month for heat and no other debts. The contract rate is the Bank of Canada’s average for new 5-year fixed mortgages (4.05% insured, 4.49% uninsured, July 2026). Change any of them in the calculator.

Income needed by mortgage amount

If you know the mortgage you want rather than the price, this table starts from the loan. It assumes a 20% down payment, so there’s no insurance premium, and the same tax, heat and rate assumptions.

Mortgage amountHome price with 20% downPayment at the qualifying rateIncome needed
$300,000$375,000$2,008$76,000
$400,000$500,000$2,677$99,800
$500,000$625,000$3,346$123,600
$600,000$750,000$4,015$147,400
$700,000$875,000$4,685$171,200
$800,000$1,000,000$5,354$195,000
$1,000,000$1,250,000$6,692$242,600

How lenders work out the income you need

The stress test. Lenders check that you could afford the payments at the greater of your contract rate plus 2% or 5.25%, a floor set by OSFI for uninsured mortgages and by the federal government's mortgage insurance rules (the Minister of Finance's Eligible Mortgage Loan Regulations) for insured ones. The details are on the pages of OSFI and CMHC. At the insured rate above, that means qualifying at 6.05%.

Debt service limits. CMHC limits your gross debt service (GDS) ratio, the mortgage payment at the qualifying rate plus property tax, heat and half of any condo fees, to 39% of gross income, and your total debt service (TDS) ratio, which adds your other debt payments, to 44%. The income you need is whichever limit is harder to meet. The GDS and TDS guide explains both.

The minimum down payment. Under the federal rules, it is 5% of the first $500,000 of the price and 10% of the rest, up to $1,500,000. At that price or more, mortgage insurance isn’t available and you need 20% down. The insured-price cap rose to $1,500,000 on December 15, 2024.

Mortgage insurance. With less than 20% down, a CMHC premium is added to the loan: 2.80% to 4.00% of the loan (CMHC) on a 25-year amortization, depending on your down payment. The larger loan raises the payment and the income you need.

Amortization. Insured mortgages are normally limited to 25 years. Since December 15, 2024, first-time buyers and buyers of new builds can choose 30 years, which lowers the payment but adds 0.20 percentage points to the premium (CMHC Home Start).

A quick way to estimate

With 20% down and this site’s assumptions, the income needed works out to about 19.8% of the home price at $600,000, so a home costs about 5.0 times the income that qualifies for it. With the minimum down payment, the premium and the larger loan push the income needed higher: 22.7% of the price at the same $600,000. Treat these as rough guides; the table and calculator are more exact.

Guides by down-payment tier

The minimum down payment, and whether mortgage insurance is possible, change with the price, so there is one guide per tier. Each has a row for every price in the table above that falls in it.

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Sources

The figures and rules on this page come from these sources, last checked against them between September 25, 2026 and October 2, 2026. How we check facts.