New to Canada mortgage: buying your first home as a newcomer

A new to Canada mortgage is a mortgage underwritten around the fact that your financial life started somewhere else. Every major bank and all three default insurers run one. The rules are more generous than most newcomers are told at a branch counter, and the single most expensive misunderstanding in this space is the down payment.

Here is the version nobody says clearly: a work permit holder can buy with 5% down. The 10%, 20% and 35% figures you keep hearing apply to uninsured mortgages. Go through the insured route — CMHC Newcomers, Sagen New to Canada, or Canada Guaranty's Maple Leaf Advantage — and 95% loan-to-value is on the table for non-permanent residents with a valid work permit, subject to lender approval.

The other thing to know is that the ban on residential purchases by non-Canadians expires on January 1, 2027. Until then it applies, with exceptions, and the exception most newcomers rely on turns on exactly how many days of validity are left on their permit.

Signs the branch was underwriting you, not your file

Newcomer files fail for reasons that have nothing to do with whether you can afford the home. These are the ones we see weekly.

Can a newcomer or work permit holder buy a house in Canada?

Yes. Permanent residents and non-permanent residents with valid status can both buy and both get mortgages. There is no minimum period you must have lived in Canada before a lender will look at you — CMHC's Newcomers program states no minimum residency period, and its requirement for a non-permanent resident is simply that you are legally authorized to work in Canada.

What changes with status is not permission, it is pricing and program. Permanent residents who landed within the last five years fit every bank newcomer program. Work permit holders fit fewer bank programs but fit all three insurer programs. Study permit holders are the narrowest case and are additionally capped by the foreign buyer ban until it lifts.

You do not need to have owned before, and you do not need Canadian credit. What you do need is verifiable income in Canada, a documented down payment, valid status, and a property in a market the lender will lend in.

• No minimum residency period for a CMHC-insured newcomer mortgage
• Non-permanent residents must be legally authorized to work in Canada
• One to four units, with at least one unit owner-occupied
• Minimum credit score of 600 where a Canadian score exists
• Maximum property value $1,500,000 on insured deals

Insured vs uninsured: the down payment reality for work permit holders

This is the single most misreported fact in newcomer mortgage content. Comparison sites publish "10% to 35% down for non-permanent residents" as though it were the rule. It is the rule for uninsured mortgages only.

An uninsured mortgage is a conventional bank loan with no default insurance behind it. The bank carries the whole risk, so on a non-PR file it wants a large cushion — commonly 20%, and 35% where the borrower is a true non-resident living outside Canada. An insured mortgage puts a default insurer between the lender and the risk, and all three Canadian insurers explicitly underwrite work permit holders.

Sagen's New to Canada program allows 95% loan-to-value for both permanent residents and non-permanent residents on one to two unit properties. Canada Guaranty's Maple Leaf Advantage allows 95% on one to two units and 90% on three to four. CMHC Newcomers allows 95% on one to two units. So the honest answer to "how much down payment do newcomers need" is 5% on the first $500,000, subject to lender approval and program fit.

The same $720,000 purchase, insured vs uninsured, for a work permit holder

The three newcomer insurer programs compared

Default insurance is what makes a small down payment possible, and there are exactly three insurers in Canada: CMHC, Sagen and Canada Guaranty. A bank can only offer you the programs it works with, but a brokerage can put your file in front of all three. They differ on non-permanent residents, on non-traditional down payments, and on which forms of alternative credit they accept.

The differences are not cosmetic. Canada Guaranty prohibits borrowed down payments outright and excludes diplomats. CMHC excludes non-traditional down payment sources for non-permanent residents. Sagen is the most permissive on loan-to-value for non-PRs. Whichever one your file matches is often the whole deal.

CMHC Newcomers vs Sagen New to Canada vs Canada Guaranty Maple Leaf Advantage

Bank newcomer programs compared: StartRight, RBC, TD, NewStart and CIBC

Every big-five bank runs a named newcomer program, and the query volume on those brand names says most newcomers shop them one at a time. It is worth knowing what separates them before you spend three weeks at three branches.

The most consequential difference is on gifted down payments. Scotiabank's StartRight permanent resident stream requires the down payment to come from your own resources — not gifted, not borrowed. If a parent or sibling is funding your down payment, that program is closed to you no matter how strong the rest of your file is, and you will not learn that until late.

The second difference is the window. Most programs define "newcomer" as landed within the last five years. RBC extends eligibility to temporary residents within 48 months and has some student eligibility. BMO's NewStart accepts a permanent resident within five years or a valid work permit holder, and explicitly accommodates borrowers with less than one year of Canadian credit or employment history.

Bank newcomer mortgage programs, August 2026

Getting a mortgage with no Canadian credit history

You can get a mortgage in Canada with no Canadian credit score. What you cannot do is get one with no evidence of how you handle obligations. Lenders and insurers will swap the credit bureau for other proof, and the substitutes are specific.

The strongest substitute is an international credit bureau report from your home country, pulled through a service the insurer recognises. Where that is not available, twelve months of Canadian rental history with a signed landlord letter and confirmation of utility payments is the next best, and Canada Guaranty names that combination explicitly. Twelve months of bank statements works as well, reduced to six months where the loan-to-value is 90% or less. A reference letter from a foreign financial institution you have had a relationship with for at least six months is also accepted.

One caution: you still have to pass the stress test. Your mortgage is qualified at the greater of your contract rate plus 2% or 5.25%. On a 4.09% insured five-year fixed, that is 6.09%. A newcomer file with strong income and thin credit passes this comfortably; a file with a short probationary period and a car lease often does not, and that is where structure matters.

• International credit bureau report from your country of origin
• Twelve months of Canadian rent, with a landlord letter and utility confirmation
• Twelve months of bank or billing statements — six months at 90% loan-to-value or below
• Reference letter from a foreign financial institution, six-month relationship or longer
• Two years of Canadian tax filings if you have them, even from before you started working here

The foreign buyer ban expires January 1, 2027 — what changes

The Prohibition on the Purchase of Residential Property by Non-Canadians Act is in force until January 1, 2027, having been extended by two years in February 2024. On that date it lapses, and non-Canadians who are today prohibited will be able to buy residential property directly.

Until then, the exceptions decide everything. A work permit holder is exempt if the permit has at least 183 days of validity remaining at the time of purchase and they have not already purchased a residential property while the ban has been in force. International students are exempt on properties under $500,000 if they have filed tax returns and been physically present in Canada for at least 244 days in each of the preceding five years. Protected persons and refugees, non-Canadian spouses of citizens or permanent residents purchasing jointly, and accredited diplomats are also exempt.

The practical planning point is timing. If your permit is inside the 183-day window, renewing it before you make an offer is not paperwork — it is the difference between a legal purchase and a prohibited one. If you are outside every exception, a purchase completing on or after January 1, 2027 is the clean path, and pre-approvals can be structured around that date.

Who can buy today, and what changes on January 1, 2027

Which first-time buyer incentives can a newcomer actually claim?

This is the question nobody answers properly, and the answer splits cleanly along the citizen-or-permanent-resident line. Mortgage-side benefits are open to work permit holders. Tax and land transfer benefits mostly are not.

The First-Time Home Buyers' GST Rebate, worth up to $50,000 on a new home, requires you to be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident. A work permit holder cannot claim it. The BC property transfer tax first-time buyer exemption requires citizenship or PR plus twelve months of BC residency or two BC tax returns in the past six years, which excludes most recent arrivals even after they land PR.

Ontario is the useful exception. The Ontario land transfer tax rebate requires citizenship or permanent residency, but a non-permanent resident who becomes a citizen or PR within 18 months of registration can apply for the rebate after the fact. If your PR is in progress when you close, do not write the $4,000 off — diarise it.

First-time buyer benefits by status

Documents a newcomer needs for a mortgage in Canada

The list is the standard Canadian document set plus a small number of newcomer-specific items. Where a document is in another language, most lenders want a certified translation, and getting those done early is the difference between a two-week close and a missed financing condition.

Start the down payment paper trail before you need it. Lenders want 90 days of statements on every account the money touched, including the overseas account it came from. A wire that lands eleven days before closing with no visible history behind it is the most common reason an otherwise strong newcomer file stalls.

• Permanent resident card, or a valid work permit with the expiry date visible
• Passport plus a second piece of government photo identification
• Letter of employment stating position, salary, start date and guaranteed hours
• Two most recent pay stubs, plus T4s and Notices of Assessment if you have Canadian ones
• 90 days of statements on every account holding the down payment, including foreign accounts
• Gift letter and the accompanying bank statement, if any of the down payment is gifted
• International credit bureau report, or twelve months of rent plus utility confirmation
• Written consent for a Canadian credit bureau pull, and a void cheque

How Lendmax places a newcomer file

A branch can only offer you its own newcomer program. If your down payment is gifted and that program bars gifted funds, the answer is no and the conversation ends. A brokerage sends the same file to whichever of 30+ lenders and all three insurers will underwrite the specific shape of your situation.

Most newcomer approvals turn on documentation rather than income. The work is in building an evidence file a Canadian underwriter can read: status, income, source of funds, and a credit picture assembled out of things that are not a Canadian bureau score.

1. Status and eligibility check before you write an offer — We read the permit type, the expiry date and the days remaining against the 183-day exemption under the foreign buyer ban, and we confirm which insurer programs your status opens. This takes an hour and it prevents a prohibited purchase.
2. AI credit analysis on a thin or foreign file — Where there is a Canadian bureau, we read it structurally — utilisation, trade line age, inquiry pattern — and identify what moves the score before application. Where there is no bureau, we assemble the alternative credit package the insurer actually names, rather than guessing.
3. AVM valuation and a 30+ lender comparison — An automated valuation model tells us what a lender's system will likely say the property is worth before your financing condition runs. Then the file goes out for comparison on rate, penalty language, prepayment privileges and newcomer program fit, not rate alone.
4. Documents assembled once, signed digitally — Translations, source-of-funds trail, employment letter and consent are collected once and reused across lenders. Commitment and disclosure are signed electronically, so a file does not stall because someone needs to be in a branch on a Tuesday.

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