Canadian CMHC premium calculator
A smaller down payment means CMHC insurance, and that premium gets added to your loan. Enter your price and down payment to see the rate, the dollar cost, and your total mortgage.
The premium is one line. BrickROI runs the whole page.
This shows the standard owner-occupied premium. BrickROI runs the full financing picture on your real deal: CMHC and conventional side by side, MLI Select for multi-unit, the provincial premium tax, DSCR, and a lender-ready PDF. Paste a Canadian listing and see it all in two minutes.
Try a dealPaste a Canadian listing. See the full analysis in two minutes. No signup to try.
How the CMHC premium works in Canada
When you put down less than 20% on a Canadian home, the lender needs the mortgage insured against default. CMHC is the main insurer. The premium is a percentage of your loan, and the percentage gets bigger as your down payment gets smaller. The premium is then added to the loan and paid off over your amortisation.
So the premium costs you twice. First as the dollar amount itself, and second as the interest you pay on it over the years. That is why a Calgary investor on a forum warned that CMHC premiums "can easily add $10k+ to your numbers." On a $540,000 loan, even a 4% premium is more than twenty thousand dollars rolled into the mortgage.
The down payment bands
The rate steps down as your down payment climbs. Five percent down sits at the top rate. At 10% down the rate drops. At 15% it drops again. At 20% down the premium disappears, because the mortgage no longer needs insuring. The jump between bands is real money, so if you are close to a higher band it can pay to find the extra down payment.
The part people forget
- Several provinces charge sales tax on the premium itself. That tax is paid up front at closing, not rolled into the loan. Budget for it.
- The premium is based on the loan, not the price. A bigger down payment shrinks both the loan and the rate, so the saving compounds.
- For a rental of five units or more, you are looking at MLI Select, not the standard premium. The math is different.
CMHC premium questions
What is the CMHC premium?
It is the cost of mortgage default insurance from CMHC. If your down payment is under 20%, the insurance is required, and the premium is a percentage of the loan that gets added to your mortgage. The smaller your down payment, the higher the rate.
How much is the CMHC premium in Canada?
For owner-occupied homes the rate runs from about 2.8% of the loan at 5% down to 0% once you hit 20% down. The exact rate depends on your down payment band. This calculator uses the standard owner-occupied bands.
Is the CMHC premium added to my mortgage?
Usually yes. The premium is added to your loan and paid off over the amortisation, not paid up front. That means you also pay interest on it. In some provinces there is also a provincial sales tax on the premium that you do pay up front.
Does CMHC insurance apply to rental properties?
Standard CMHC insurance is for owner-occupied or small owner-occupied multi-unit. For a pure rental of five units or more, the path is MLI Select, which uses a points system instead. BrickROI runs both and shows which one fits your deal.