$450,000 is still below the $500,000 line where the higher down-payment rate starts, so 5% down is enough.
Income needed
| Down payment | CMHC premium | Payment at the qualifying rate | Income needed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minimum: $22,500 | $17,100 | $2,847 | $103,800 |
| 10%: $45,000 | $12,555 | $2,674 | $98,400 |
| 20%: $90,000 | None | $2,379 | $89,300 |
On the minimum $22,500 down payment, lenders’ limits call for roughly $103,800 of household income. The $500,000 page has the figure at the next price step.
What the monthly costs look like
The housing costs lenders count come to $3,372 a month at the qualifying rate: the mortgage payment of $2,847, property tax of $375 and $150 for heat under this site’s assumptions. That total has to fit within 39% of gross monthly income.
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