A $1,000,000 home can now be bought with less than 20% down. That changed when the insured-mortgage cap rose to $1,500,000 on December 15, 2024 (Finance Canada); before that, insurance stopped below $1 million.
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
| Down payment | CMHC premium | Payment at the qualifying rate | Income needed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minimum: $75,000 | $37,000 | $6,161 | $219,800 |
| 10%: $100,000 | $27,900 | $5,942 | $213,100 |
| 20%: $200,000 | None | $5,286 | $192,900 |
The minimum is $75,000, 7.5% of the price, and qualifying with it takes about $219,800 of income. With 20% down it’s $192,900.
Insurance at this price
The premium on the minimum down payment is 4.00%, which comes to $37,000 added to the loan.
Related pages
Sources
The figures and rules on this page come from these sources, last checked against them between September 24, 2026 and September 25, 2026. How we check facts.
- Bank of Canada: Data table
- CMHC: Calculating GDS / TDS
- CMHC: CMHC Purchase
- CMHC: Home Start
- CMHC: CMHC Improvement
- Department of Finance Canada: Technical backgrounder mortgage insurance rules income proposals revised october 14 2016
- Department of Finance Canada: Government announces boldest mortgage reforms in decades to unlock homeownership for more canadians
- Department of Finance Canada: Straight switches and portfolio insurance
- Department of Finance Canada: Boldest mortgage reforms in decades come into force today
- Financial Consumer Agency of Canada: Down payment
- Financial Consumer Agency of Canada: Buying home
- OSFI: Minimum qualifying rate for uninsured mortgages
4 more sources
- OSFI: Final Revised Guideline B-20: Residential Mortgage Underwriting Practices and Procedures
- OSFI: Amendments to the minimum qualifying rate for uninsured mortgages
- OSFI: OSFI exempts uninsured mortgage straight switches from the prescribed MQR andβ¦
- OSFI: Loan-to-income limits for uninsured mortgage portfolios