Data sources & methodology
How every number on this site is calculated, and where the rules come from.
Prepared and maintained by ChowChow Labs.
Calculation version 2026.10-2 · Mortgage rules effective 2024-12-15, reviewed 2026-10-20 · Land transfer tax reviewed 2026-10-20
Payments
Fixed-rate Canadian mortgages compound interest semi-annually. We convert the yearly rate j you enter to a rate per payment i = (1 + j/2)^(2/f) − 1, where f is payments per year (12 monthly, 24 semi-monthly, 26 biweekly, 52 weekly), and use the standard level payment A = P × i / (1 − (1 + i)^−n). At 0% the payment is P / n.
Accelerated biweekly is half the monthly payment every two weeks; accelerated weekly is a quarter of it every week. Regular biweekly and weekly payments are calculated for their own frequency and don’t shorten the mortgage.
Variable rates are compounded monthly, as most Canadian lenders do: i = (1 + j/12)^(12/f) − 1. Lenders’ variable-rate contracts differ, and we hold the rate you enter for the whole projection, which is a snapshot, not a forecast. Open or closed doesn’t change the payment; it changes whether you can prepay or leave early without a penalty.
On the full payment calculator, the first two years of the amortization schedule are free (the home page shows the first year). Premium shows every year and every payment, with term and lifetime totals.
Schedules and totals
Each period, interest on the opening balance is rounded to the cent, the scheduled payment is applied, then any extra payment. The final payment is reduced to the interest plus the remaining balance, so the balance never goes negative and total principal repaid equals the amount financed. Semi-monthly payments fall on the 1st and 15th; biweekly and weekly every 14 or 7 days, so some calendar years have an extra payment. Yearly and one-time lump sums are applied with the last payment of each payment year. Term totals stop at the end of your term and show the balance at renewal. Lifetime totals assume the rate stays the same after renewal, which isn’t guaranteed.
Results are checked against the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada’s mortgage calculator. Lenders round and date payments in their own ways, so expect differences of a few cents per payment.
Test cases
These results are produced by the site’s calculation code when the site is built, and each one was also recalculated independently from the formulas above. Lenders may differ by a few cents because of their own rounding and dates.
| Case | Result |
|---|---|
| $500,000, 4.5% fixed (semi-annual), 25 years, monthly | $2,767.36 |
| Same, accelerated biweekly | $1,383.68 |
| Same, weekly | $637.71 |
| $500,000, 4.5% variable (monthly compounding), 25 years, monthly | $2,779.16 |
| $300,000 at 0%, 25 years, monthly | $1,000.00 |
| Minimum down payment on a $600,000 home | $35,000 |
| $600,000 home, 10% down: insurance premium (3.10%) added to the mortgage | $16,740 → $556,740 mortgage |
| That insured mortgage at 4.5%, 25 years, monthly | $3,081.41 |
| Land transfer tax, $800,000 home in Toronto (Ontario + municipal) | $24,950 |
Down payment and insurance
- Minimum down payment: 5% of the first $500,000, 10% of the portion up to $1.5 million, 20% at $1.5 million or more (FCAC).
- Insurance premium by loan-to-value: 0.60% up to 65%, 1.70% up to 75%, 2.40% up to 80%, 2.80% up to 85%, 3.10% up to 90%, 4.00% up to 95%, plus 0.2% for a 30-year insured amortization (CMHC). The premium is added to the mortgage.
- Provincial sales tax on the premium (Ontario 8%, Quebec 9%, Saskatchewan 6%) is shown as cash due at closing and never financed.
- Affordability uses the qualifying rate (the greater of your rate + 2% or 5.25%; OSFI), GDS 39% and TDS 44%, heating of $100 a month by default and half of condo fees.
When inputs can be calculated but a lender wouldn’t accept them, the result is labelled a hypothetical scenario.
Land transfer tax
Supported: Ontario (with Toronto’s municipal tax), British Columbia, Manitoba, and Alberta and Saskatchewan (no land transfer tax). Other provinces and territories are labelled as not yet supported rather than estimated with the wrong rules. Each result links to its official source.
Housing market data
The Housing market tab uses Statistics Canada’s New Housing Price Index (table 18-10-0205-01) and CMHC’s Starts and Completions Survey (housing starts from table 34-10-0156-01, units under construction from table 34-10-0154-01, both published by Statistics Canada), under the Statistics Canada Open Licence and the CMHC data licence, with the attribution each licence prescribes next to every chart. We fetch them from Statistics Canada’s public Web Data Service when the site is built and check once a week for a newer month, so a new release usually appears within a week. Missing or suppressed values are left out, never shown as zero; if the service is down, the last good figures stay up with their own dates. The 12-month change in the price index is our calculation.
Change log
- October 22, 2026: mortgage comparison calculator added (two scenarios free, up to five with Premium); a scenario below the minimum down payment is still calculated and flagged; the housing page lists only the regions an update includes.
- October 21, 2026: housing figures are now built into the pages and checked weekly; guides and worked examples added under each calculator.
- October 20, 2026: land transfer tax rules reviewed; mortgage rules reviewed (calculation version 2026.10-2).
Found a mistake?
Tell us on the contact page. We review calculation reports first.