Mortgage affordability calculator — with the stress test in it
Income, debts, down payment and the qualifying rate, the way an underwriter runs them. See the maximum purchase price, which ratio stops you, and what the minimum down payment at that price is.
Mortgage affordability calculator: your numbers
Results
Maximum purchase pricewith the stress test applied
GDS counts the mortgage payment, property tax, heat and half of any condo fees against gross income. TDS adds your other monthly debt payments. Both are tested at the qualifying rate, not the rate you will pay.
Results are estimates for illustration only, calculated with Canadian semi-annual compounding. They are not an offer of credit, do not include property tax, condo fees, insurance or closing costs unless stated, and your actual rate and approval depend on your credit, income, property and lender. August 2026 rates.
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How much mortgage can you afford in Canada?
In Canada you can usually afford a mortgage of about four to four-and-a-half times your gross household income, and the number that decides it is not your rate — it is the stress test. Every federally regulated lender has to prove you could carry the payment at the minimum qualifying rate: the greater of your contract rate plus 2% or 5.25%. At today's rates that means qualifying at roughly 6.09% while paying 4.09%.
Two ratios sit behind the test. Gross debt service (GDS) is the mortgage payment, property tax, heating and half of any condo fees, divided by gross monthly income — the insurers cap it at 39%. Total debt service (TDS) adds every other monthly debt payment — cards, car, student loan, support — and is capped at 44%. Whichever ratio you hit first sets your maximum, and the calculator tells you which one it was.
The purchase price is then the mortgage plus your down payment, adjusted for two rules: the mortgage default insurance premium is added to the loan when you put down less than 20%, and the down payment has to meet the minimum for the price you land on.
What is the mortgage stress test in Canada?
The mortgage stress test is a rule that you must qualify for your mortgage at a rate higher than the one you will actually pay. For uninsured mortgages it comes from OSFI Guideline B-20; for insured mortgages the Department of Finance sets the same test. The minimum qualifying rate is the greater of your contract rate plus 2 percentage points, or 5.25%.
The point is not to make you pay that rate. It is to make sure that if rates are two points higher at your renewal — which is exactly what happened to people who bought in 2020 and renewed in 2025 — you can still make the payment. On a $600,000 mortgage at 4.09% over 25 years the real payment is about $3,200 a month; the payment you must prove you can carry at 6.09% is about $3,900. That gap is why the calculator shows two payments.
| Ratio | What is counted | Insured / bank limit | Alternative lender |
|---|---|---|---|
| GDS | Mortgage payment at the qualifying rate + property tax + heat + 50% of condo fees | 39% | up to 50% |
| TDS | Everything in GDS + all other monthly debt payments | 44% | up to 50% |
Who is exempt from the stress test?
Three groups. Uninsured straight switches at renewal — moving to another federally regulated lender without increasing the amount or the amortization — have been exempt since 21 November 2024. Renewals with your existing lender never re-qualify. And provincially regulated lenders — most credit unions — set their own qualifying rule, which is often the contract rate plus a smaller buffer or none; the same is true of private lenders, who look at equity rather than income.
Everything else — a purchase, a refinance, a switch that adds money — is tested. If the test is what stops you, that is usually the moment to talk to a broker rather than to give up: a credit union, a longer amortization, a co-borrower or a different lender's treatment of your income can each move the answer.
What is the minimum down payment in Canada?
The minimum down payment in Canada is 5% of the first $500,000, 10% of the portion between $500,000 and $1,499,999, and 20% of the whole price at $1.5 million or more, where mortgage default insurance is no longer available. On a $700,000 home that is $25,000 plus $20,000 — $45,000, or 6.4%. On a $1.5 million home it is $300,000.
Below 20% down the mortgage must be insured, and the premium — 2.80% at 85% loan-to-value, 3.10% at 90%, 4.00% at 95%, plus 0.20% for a 30-year insured amortization — is added to the mortgage rather than paid in cash. It is why the calculator's maximum mortgage can be slightly higher than the maximum price minus your down payment.
| Purchase price | Minimum down payment | Insured? |
|---|---|---|
| $400,000 | $20,000 (5%) | Yes, below 20% |
| $700,000 | $45,000 (6.4%) | Yes, below 20% |
| $1,000,000 | $75,000 (7.5%) | Yes, below 20% |
| $1,499,999 | $125,000 (8.3%) | Yes, below 20% |
| $1,500,000 and up | 20% of the price | No — insurance not available |
How much mortgage can I qualify for with my income?
As a rule of thumb at today's qualifying rate, each $10,000 of gross annual income supports roughly $50,000 of mortgage before other debts. A $100,000 household with no debts and property tax of $4,800 a year qualifies for about $420,000 of mortgage; a $150,000 household for about $670,000; a $200,000 household for about $920,000. Add a $600 car payment and the $100,000 household drops to about $390,000, because TDS — which counts the car — becomes the limit.
The variables that move the answer most, in order: your other monthly debts (once TDS is the limit, every $100 a month costs about $15,000 of mortgage), the amortization (30 years instead of 25 adds about 7%), the property tax on the home you pick, and whether you are buying a condo. Your credit score does not change the maximum — it changes which lender will offer it and at what rate.
Insured, uninsured and alternative: which rule applies to you?
Insured (under 20% down, price under $1.5 million): CMHC, Sagen and Canada Guaranty insure the lender, and they set the ratios — 39% GDS, 44% TDS, a 600 minimum credit score, 25-year amortization or 30 for a first-time buyer. The insured rate is usually the lowest on the board.
Uninsured / conventional (20% or more down, or a refinance): the lender's own policy applies, which at the banks and monolines is the same 39/44 in practice and the B-20 stress test in law. Amortizations to 30 years are routine.
Alternative (B) lenders: ratios to 50/50, one to three points above bank rates, a 1% lender fee, and a willingness to use stated income, bank statements and add-backs. The stress test still applies where the lender is federally regulated. This is the setting to try if the first one says no — and it is a setting, not a verdict.
What the calculator does not know
It does not know your credit score, whether your income is salaried or self-employed, how a particular lender treats bonus or rental income, or what the property tax on the house you actually want will be. All four change the answer, sometimes by a lot. Treat the result as the ceiling a bank would calculate from the numbers you typed, and then send us the file: a pre-approval from a real lender replaces every assumption on this page with a decision.
A pre-approval is the real answer. It costs nothing, holds a rate for up to 120 days, and tells a seller you are serious. How a mortgage pre-approval works, and the documents to have ready.
Sources and further reading
The figures on this page are checked against the following, and the rate board is as published on August 2026.
- OSFI Guideline B-20 — residential mortgage underwriting practices and procedures — The rule behind the stress test for uninsured mortgages.
- FCAC — preparing to get a mortgage — The qualifying rate, in the government's own words.
- FCAC — how much you need for a down payment — The 5% / 10% / 20% tiers and the insured price cap.
Estimates are free. So is the real answer.
Send us the file and we will run it against our full lender panel, confirm the rate you actually qualify for, and tell you whether the move is worth making.
Turn the estimate into a real quote
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Frequently asked questions
About $420,000 of mortgage with no other debts, at today's qualifying rate over 25 years, plus your down payment. With a $500 car payment it falls to roughly $405,000, because the car moves TDS above GDS as the binding ratio. The exact figure depends on the property tax and heat on the home you choose, which is why the calculator asks for them.
The greater of your contract rate plus 2% or 5.25%. At a 4.09% contract rate the qualifying rate is 6.09%. The 5.25% floor only bites when contract rates are below 3.25%.
Not if you renew with your existing lender, and not if you make an uninsured straight switch to another federally regulated lender without increasing the amount or amortization — that exemption has applied since 21 November 2024. A refinance or a switch that adds money is tested.
$35,000: 5% of the first $500,000 ($25,000) plus 10% of the remaining $100,000 ($10,000). Because that is under 20%, the mortgage would be insured and the premium added to the loan.
The down payment sets a ceiling of its own: $50,000 covers the minimum down payment on a price up to $750,000. Whether your income supports a $700,000 mortgage is the other half of the answer, and the calculator works out both and shows you the lower one.
For an insured mortgage, yes — CMHC, Sagen and Canada Guaranty cap GDS at 39% and TDS at 44%. Banks generally apply the same limits to uninsured files. Alternative lenders go to 50% on both, and credit unions sit in between. Where you are on that spectrum is what a broker works out.
On an uninsured mortgage, yes — 30 years is routine and adds roughly 7% to the maximum. On an insured mortgage, 30 years is available to first-time buyers and to anyone buying a newly built home, since 15 December 2024, with a 0.20% higher premium.
The rules are federal, so the calculation is the same anywhere in Canada. What differs is the property tax rate — around 0.7% of value in Toronto, closer to 0.65% in Calgary, over 1% in many smaller Ontario municipalities — and that is why the tax field is there rather than assumed.
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