Canadian Mortgage Calculator
Work out a Canadian mortgage with interest compounded half-yearly, one of the two bases section 6 of the Interest Act allows for stating a mortgage rate. Type the home price, your down payment, the interest rate and the amortization. You get the monthly payment, the insured mortgage amount, the CMHC premium, the total paid and the total interest. With less than 20% down, the calculator checks the minimum down payment and the $1,500,000 limit for insured homes, then adds CMHC's premium for your loan to value to the mortgage. The rules come from CMHC, the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada and the Department of Finance. We read every page on 15 October 2026.
Monthly payment
$2,078.83
Insured mortgage amount
$395,200.00
Mortgage loan insurance premium
$15,200.00 (4.00% of the loan)
Loan before the premium
$380,000.00 (95.00% loan to value)
Down payment
$20,000.00 (minimum $20,000.00)
Effective yearly rate
4.0400%
Total paid over 300 monthly payments
$623,649.90
Total interest
$228,449.90
The last of the 300 payments is $2,079.73. It clears the cents left over from rounding.
CMHC premium for a loan to value above 90% up to 95%, added to the mortgage. You pay interest on it at the mortgage rate.
| Schedule | FCAC rule | Payment |
|---|---|---|
| Semi-monthly, 24 a year | monthly ÷ 2 | $1,039.42 |
| Biweekly, 26 a year | monthly × 12 ÷ 26 | $959.46 |
| Weekly, 52 a year | monthly × 12 ÷ 52 | $479.73 |
| Accelerated biweekly, 26 a year | monthly ÷ 2 | $1,039.42 |
| Accelerated weekly, 52 a year | monthly ÷ 4 | $519.71 |
The totals above are for monthly payments. Accelerated payments pay the mortgage off sooner, and the calculator does not work out how much sooner.
The calculator compounds interest half-yearly. Section 6 of the Interest Act asks a mortgage with blended payments to state its rate "calculated yearly or half-yearly, not in advance". Premium rates come from CMHC mortgage loan insurance costs and CMHC Home Start, which state no effective date. The minimum down payment comes from How much you need for a down payment (FCAC) and the amortization limits from Mortgage terms and amortization (FCAC). Insurance is not available from $1,500,000, a limit in force since 15 December 2024 according to Boldest mortgage reforms in decades come into force today (Department of Finance). The other payment schedules follow Choosing a mortgage that is right for you (FCAC). We opened every page on 2026-10-15.
Some provinces charge sales tax on the premium. It cannot be added to the mortgage, and the calculator leaves it out. It uses CMHC's rates for a traditional down payment, not those of Sagen or Canada Guaranty, the other insurers FCAC lists. Money is worked out exactly and rounded to the cent.
How to use the Canadian Mortgage Calculator
- Type the home price in dollars.
- Type your down payment as an amount in dollars or as a percentage of the price. The results show the minimum down payment for that price next to yours.
- Type the yearly interest rate. The calculator compounds it half-yearly and shows the effective yearly rate.
- Type the amortization in whole years. With less than 20% down, the limit is 30 years for a first-time buyer or a newly built home and 25 years otherwise.
- Read the monthly payment, the premium, the insured mortgage amount, the total paid and the total interest. The table under them gives the semi-monthly, biweekly, weekly and accelerated payments. The results update as you type, so there is no button to press.
The Canadian mortgage formula
Half-yearly growth: s = 1 + j ÷ 2 Monthly rate: i = s^(1/6) − 1 Payment: M = P × i ÷ (1 − (1 + i)^−n) At 0%: M = P ÷ n Insured mortgage: P = loan + loan × premium rate
j is the yearly rate you type, as a fraction. Compounded twice a year, it grows the balance by s every six months, so the monthly rate i is the sixth root of s minus 1 and the effective yearly rate is s² − 1. n is the amortization in months. The loan is the price minus the down payment. With less than 20% down, CMHC charges a premium on the whole loan at the rate for its loan-to-value band, and the premium joins the loan. Over 25 years the rate is the CMHC Home Start one, 0.20% higher. The calculator pays the mortgage the way a lender's account does. It rounds the monthly payment to the cent and charges each month's interest in whole cents. The last payment clears the few cents that rounding leaves, so it can be a little more or less than the others. The total paid is every payment added up, and the total interest is the total paid minus the insured mortgage, so both add up to the cent.
Worked example
The fields start with the example the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada uses: a $400,000 home, 5% down, 4% a year and a 25-year amortization, paid monthly. The down payment is $20,000.00, the minimum on that price, so the loan is $380,000.00 at 95.00% loan to value. CMHC's premium above 90% up to 95% is 4.00%, which is $15,200.00, and the insured mortgage amount is $395,200.00. The effective yearly rate is 4.0400%. The monthly payment is $2,078.83, and the last of the 300 payments is $2,079.73. In total you pay $623,649.90, of which $228,449.90 is interest. Biweekly, at monthly × 12 ÷ 26, the payment is $959.46, and accelerated biweekly it is $1,039.42. A first-time buyer who picks 30 years pays the Home Start rate of 4.20%, so the premium is $15,960.00 and the monthly payment $1,882.86. FCAC's table gives a total cost of $643,649 for this home, which is the down payment plus every payment with the cents dropped.
Frequently asked questions
How is interest compounded on a Canadian mortgage?
Section 6 of the Interest Act says a mortgage with blended payments of principal and interest must state the rate "calculated yearly or half-yearly, not in advance". Without that statement no interest is chargeable on the principal. The calculator reads your rate as compounded half-yearly, so 4% adds 2% every six months, which is 4.04% a year. We read the Interest Act on Justice Laws on 15 October 2026, in the version current to 21 September 2026.
What are the CMHC premium rates?
CMHC charges a share of the total loan amount, set by the loan to value. Above 80% up to 85% it is 2.80%, above 85% up to 90% it is 3.10%, and above 90% up to 95% it is 4.00%, or 4.50% with a non-traditional down payment. CMHC writes these bands as 80.01% to 85%, 85.01% to 90% and 90.01% to 95%. For an amortization over 25 years, CMHC Home Start charges 3.00%, 3.30% and 4.20%. Neither CMHC page states an effective date. We read both on 15 October 2026.
What is the minimum down payment in Canada?
The FCAC table asks 5% of the price for a home of $500,000 or less. From $500,000 to $1.5 million it asks 5% of the first $500,000 plus 10% of the part above $500,000. At $1.5 million or more it asks 20% of the price. On a $600,000 home that is $25,000 plus $10,000, or $35,000. FCAC says that with less than 20% down you will typically need mortgage loan insurance.
Can a home of $1.5 million or more have an insured mortgage?
No. CMHC says that if the home costs $1,500,000 or more, mortgage loan insurance is not available, so the down payment has to be at least 20%. The Department of Finance raised the limit from $1 million to $1.5 million on 15 December 2024. One paragraph of the FCAC down payment page still names $1 million, while its own table uses $1.5 million.
What is the longest amortization with less than 20% down?
FCAC gives 30 years if you are a first-time buyer or are buying a new build, and 25 years in all other cases. With more than 20% down, your lender sets the limit. The Department of Finance opened 30 years to all first-time buyers and all new builds on 15 December 2024. The calculator takes up to 30 years with less than 20% down and up to 50 years otherwise. It cannot tell whether you qualify for 30.
How are biweekly and accelerated payments worked out?
FCAC defines them from the monthly payment. Semi-monthly is monthly ÷ 2, biweekly is monthly × 12 ÷ 26 and weekly is monthly × 12 ÷ 52. Accelerated biweekly is monthly ÷ 2 and accelerated weekly is monthly ÷ 4. FCAC says accelerated payments make the equivalent of one extra monthly payment per year. The calculator shows each payment, but it does not work out how much sooner an accelerated schedule finishes or how much interest it saves.
What does the calculator leave out?
Some provinces charge sales tax on the premium. It cannot be added to the mortgage, and the calculator leaves it out. It also leaves out the rates for a non-traditional down payment and the premiums of Sagen and Canada Guaranty, the two other insurers FCAC lists. On the mortgage side it has no stress test, lender fees, closing costs, change of rate at renewal or prepayments.