Canada · https://decisionscalc.com/ca/tools/home-buying-cost-calculator/
Home Buying True Cost Calculator
The mortgage is just the beginning. See your complete Year 1 cost — closing costs, CMHC insurance, property taxes, insurance, and maintenance — broken down by item, percentage share, and monthly equivalent.
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Full Year-One Cost Breakdown
The deposit is not the cash you need
The costs on top of the deposit are substantial and, unlike the deposit, cannot be borrowed. Transfer or stamp duty, legal fees, searches, surveys, mortgage arrangement fees and moving costs all have to be paid from savings on completion.
How much varies enormously by country — under 1% of the price in some markets and well over 5% in others, with transfer tax the main reason for the spread. Buyers who budget only for the deposit find this out late, which is when it is most expensive to discover.
The first year after you move
Two things catch new owners out. The first is furnishing an empty house, which is a larger number than expected when appliances, curtains and flooring are all needed at once.
The second is maintenance, which no longer has a landlord attached to it. A common planning figure is around 1% of the property value a year, though it does not arrive evenly — several quiet years then a boiler or a roof. Older properties run higher, and a survey is the cheapest way to find out which sort you are buying.
The survey is the cheapest money you will spend
A full structural survey costs a few hundred to around a thousand and is the only step in the process that can save five figures. A lender's valuation is not a survey — it establishes that the property is worth what is being lent against it, and nothing about its condition.
Findings are also negotiable. A survey identifying significant work frequently pays for itself several times over in a reduced price, and occasionally does something more valuable by stopping the purchase.
What lenders look at beyond the deposit
- The loan-to-value band. Rates step down at thresholds — often 90%, 85%, 80%, 75% — so a small increase in deposit that crosses a band can cut the rate meaningfully, while a larger increase that does not cross one changes little.
- Affordability, not just the deposit. Lenders stress-test against a higher rate than the one you are offered, which is what usually sets the ceiling on borrowing.
- Mortgage insurance. Where the deposit is below a threshold, an insurance premium is added, and in some countries it is substantial enough to change what you should buy.
- Committed outgoings. Car finance, loans and credit limits reduce what you can borrow, sometimes by more than their monthly cost suggests.
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| Metric | Scenario A | Scenario B | Difference |
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What changes in Canada
- The minimum down payment is tiered: 5% on the first $500,000, 10% from $500,000 to $1.5 million, and 20% above $1.5 million, where no insured mortgage is available at all.
- Below 20% down, CMHC mortgage default insurance is mandatory — 4.00% of the loan at 5 to 9.99% down. It insures the lender, not you, and is normally added to the principal so you pay interest on it for decades.
- Land transfer tax is the largest regional swing in Canadian closing costs: nothing in Alberta or Saskatchewan, roughly $10,000 in Ontario, and about double that in Toronto, which charges a municipal tax on top of the provincial one.
- You must qualify at the stress test rate — the greater of your contract rate plus two percentage points or 5.25% — not the rate you are offered. This is why buyers who can afford the payment still get declined.
- An FHSA gives a deduction going in and tax-free growth and withdrawal for a first home, and the RRSP Home Buyers Plan can be used alongside it in the same purchase. Using both is usually better than either alone.
Data reference (Canada): CREA national avg ~$700k; 5-yr fixed ~4.9%; closing incl. land transfer tax (ON ~1.5–2%, Toronto doubled) (2025-26) · figures as of 2026-06 · Compiled from official public sources via AI-assisted research, current to 2025-26; latest available data, not individually verified - general information, not advice.. See our methodology for how every figure is sourced and dated.