Canadian Mortgage Calculator
Calculate a Canadian mortgage payment with the correct semi-annual compounding convention and CMHC insurance premium for high-ratio mortgages.
How to use the Canadian Mortgage Calculator
- Enter your inputs into the Canadian Mortgage Calculator above.
- Results update instantly as you type — no submit button needed.
- Adjust any value to see how the result changes in real time.
The Canadian mortgage math
Effective monthly rate = (1 + APR/2)^(1/6) − 1 · · · Loan = Price + CMHC premium (if applicable)
Canadian fixed-rate mortgages compound semi-annually but pay monthly — different from US monthly compounding. CMHC insurance applies to mortgages with less than 20% down and is added to the loan amount.
Worked example
A $600,000 home with 10% down ($60,000), $540,000 mortgage, 5.25% rate over 25 years: CMHC premium 3.10% ($16,740) added to loan = $556,740. Effective monthly rate from 5.25% APR ≈ 0.4326%. Monthly payment ≈ $3,331.
Frequently asked questions
What is CMHC insurance?
Government-backed mortgage default insurance required when down payment is less than 20%. Premium ranges from 2.8% to 4.0% of the loan and is typically added to the loan balance rather than paid upfront.
Why semi-annual compounding?
Canadian regulation requires it for closed mortgages. The effective rate is slightly lower than the same APR compounded monthly — a 6% Canadian mortgage is about 5.93% effective.
How does the Canadian stress test work?
OSFI requires lenders to qualify borrowers at the greater of contract rate + 2% or the benchmark rate (~5.25%). Designed to ensure borrowers can withstand rate increases at renewal.