Every number a Canadian first-time buyer needs
A $600,000 home in Toronto needs $47,283 in cash to close, and only $35,000 of that is the down payment.
Nobody has put all of this in one place, so I did. Every program, every cost, every threshold, with the 2026 numbers. Save it.
Canada only. Sorry to the roughly half of this app that's American.
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PART 1 - MONEY YOU CAN GET
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1. FHSA
$8,000 of room a year. Carry-forward is capped at one year's worth, so $16,000 is the most that can ever go in at once. Lifetime cap $40,000.
Deductible going in, like an RRSP. Tax-free coming out for a qualifying home. No repayment, ever.
Your room does not start accumulating until the account exists. Open it even with $0 in it.
2. Home Buyers' Plan
$60,000 out of your RRSP, per person. It's a loan from yourself, repaid over 15 years.
New and almost nobody has clocked it: if your first withdrawal happens between January 1, 2026 and December 31, 2028, repayment doesn't start for five years. Withdraw in 2026, first payment due 2031.
Miss a year's repayment and that amount gets added to your income for that year.
3. You can use both. Same home, same year.
Two buyers together: $40,000 FHSA plus $60,000 HBP each. That's $200,000 of ceiling.
4. Home Buyers' Amount
A $10,000 claim on your tax return. Non-refundable, applied at the lowest federal rate.
That rate is now 14%, not 15%. So it's worth $1,400.
Every article online still says $1,500. The rate changed and nobody went back and updated the math.
Can be split between spouses, but the total across everyone can't exceed the maximum.
5. Ontario Land Transfer Tax refund
Up to $4,000. Fully covers the provincial tax on a home up to about $368,000. Above that, you get the $4,000 and pay the rest.
6. Toronto Municipal Land Transfer Tax rebate
Up to $4,475, on top of the provincial one. Fully covers the municipal tax up to $400,000.
Toronto is the only Ontario municipality with its own land transfer tax, and its own rebate.
You have to claim it: occupy within 9 months, apply within 18 months.
7. First-Time Home Buyers' GST/HST Rebate - new builds only
100% of the federal GST rebated on a new home up to $1 million, phasing out between $1M and $1.5M, nothing above that.
5% of $1 million is $50,000. It's the biggest number on this entire list.
It also applies to almost nobody, because it's new construction and substantial renovations only. Resale doesn't qualify.
It stacks on top of the existing GST/HST New Housing Rebate.
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PART 2 - WHAT YOU'LL ACTUALLY PAY
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8. The down payment is tiered, not a flat percentage
5% on the first $500,000
10% on the portion from $500,000 to $1,500,000
Above $1,500,000 nothing is insurable, so 20% minimum
On a $600,000 home that's $25,000 plus $10,000. Thirty-five thousand, not thirty.
9. Mortgage default insurance (CMHC, Sagen, Canada Guaranty)
5-9.99% down: 4.00% of the mortgage
10-14.99% down: 3.10%
15-19.99% down: 2.80%
20% or more: none
Add 0.20% if you take a 30-year amortization as a first-time buyer or on a new build.
The premium gets added to your mortgage. You finance it over 25 or 30 years.
10. The PST on that premium - this is the one that catches people
Ontario charges 8% PST on the insurance premium.
It cannot be added to the mortgage. It is due in cash, on closing day.
That $600,000 home with $35,000 down: mortgage of $565,000, premium of $22,600, PST on it of $1,808. In cash. On top of everything else.
11. Land transfer tax, same house, in Toronto
Provincial: $8,475, less the $4,000 refund = $4,475
Municipal: $8,475, less the $4,475 rebate = $4,000
Total: $8,475
Which is a strange piece of arithmetic - after both first-time buyer rebates, a Toronto buyer pays exactly what one round of the provincial tax would have cost.
12. So the actual cash to close on a $600,000 Toronto home:
$35,000 down payment
$8,475 land transfer tax
$1,808 PST on the insurance premium
$2,000 legal fees and disbursements
= $47,283
Plus title insurance, inspection, and tax and utility adjustments, none of which are in that number.
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PART 3 - WHETHER YOU QUALIFY
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13. The stress test
You don't qualify at your rate. You qualify at the greater of your contract rate plus 2%, or 5.25%.
Whatever rate you're quoted, add two points. That's the number you're actually tested against, and it's why people get approved for noticeably less than they expected.
14. The exemption almost nobody knows exists
Straight switches at renewal are exempt.
Move an uninsured mortgage to another federally regulated lender with no increase to the loan amount and no increase to the amortization, and you are not re-stress-tested.
Most people believe switching means requalifying. That belief is why the renewal letter gets signed without anyone shopping it, and it is the single most expensive misunderstanding in Canadian mortgages.
15. Credit score
Insured, under 20% down: at least one borrower needs 600.
Uninsured, 20% or more down: lender-set. Most want 680.
16. The ratios
GDS, max 39%: principal, interest, property tax, heat, plus half your condo fees, over gross income.
TDS, max 44%: all of the above plus every other debt payment - including 3% of your credit card balance, whether or not you pay it off every month.
That last line moves people's approvals more than anything else on this list. A $20,000 limit you never carry still counts if there's a balance sitting on it at the wrong moment.
17. Amortization
25 years standard.
30 years if you're a first-time buyer or buying new construction - and it costs you the extra 0.20% on the insurance premium.
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What did I get wrong, or leave out? Tell me and I'll add it. I want this to be the version people save.
Next one: the same list, for renewals. The 2026 renewal wall is going to land on a lot of people in this app and most of them haven't looked at their date yet.
Educational only, not tax, legal or investment advice. Figures verified against CRA, CMHC and OSFI as of August 27, 2026 - programs and thresholds change.
Jenny Tate, Mortgage Agent Level 1, Licence M22002086. Brokerage: Tango Financial Inc., FSRA Lic# 13691. This is not a commitment to lend. Rates and terms are subject to change without notice. All mortgage applications are subject to meeting the lender's approval criteria.
