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CMHC premium calculator / $600k

CMHC insurance on a $600,000 home

CMHC premium on a $600,000 home at every down payment: minimum down $35,000, premium up to $22,600, sales tax in ON, QC and SK, and the monthly cost.

Purchase & financing

$

Insured mortgages are unavailable at $1.5M and up

%

Minimum here: $35,000 (5.8%)

%
yrs

30 yrs insured adds 0.20 points; first-time buyers and new builds only

ON, QC and SK charge sales tax on the premium

CMHC insurance premium

$16,740

3.10% of the loan at 90.0% LTV, added to your mortgage

Insured
Purchase price$600,000
Down payment (10%)−$60,000
Loan before premium$540,000
CMHC premium (3.10%)+$16,740
Total mortgage$556,740
Monthly payment$3,234.86
Of which the premium costs$97.27/mo
Sales tax on premium (8%)$1,339

The premium is added to your mortgage, but this tax is due in cash at closing.

LTV

90.0%

Premium rate

3.10%

Cash at closing

$61,339

Cash at closing here is the down payment plus premium tax only; add legal fees, inspection, and land transfer tax.

The premium at every down payment

Minimum down payment on a $600,000 home is $35,000 (5.8%). Above $500,000 the minimum is 5% on the first $500,000 plus 10% on the rest, so a flat 5% down is not allowed here. Monthly payments assume 4.99% over 25 years with the Canadian semi-annual compounding formula.

DownLoanRatePremiumTotal mortgageMonthly
5% ($30,000)below minimum$570,000n/an/an/an/a
10% ($60,000)$540,0003.1%$16,740$556,740$3,235
15% ($90,000)$510,0002.8%$14,280$524,280$3,046
20% ($120,000)$480,000none$0$480,000$2,789

Sales tax on the premium, due in cash

Three provinces tax the premium and none of them let you add the tax to the mortgage. With 10% down on $600,000:

Ontario (8%)$1,339
Quebec (9%)$1,507
Saskatchewan (6%)$1,004

Every other province and territory: nothing. Manitoba removed its tax on default insurance premiums in 2020.

The 10% cliff on this price

Premiums step at exactly 90% and 85% loan-to-value. At this price the minimum down payment already sits at 5.8%, so the next cliff is 15% down: $90,000 takes the premium from 3.1% to 2.8%, saving $2,460 of premium for an extra $30,000 down.

Frequently asked questions

What is the minimum down payment on a $600,000 home?+

$35,000, which is 5.8% of the price. The rule is 5% on the first $500,000 plus 10% on the portion above it, so a flat 5% down is not allowed at this price. Insured mortgages are available up to $1.5 million since December 15, 2024.

How much is CMHC insurance on a $600,000 home with 10% down?+

$16,740. The loan before insurance is $540,000, the loan-to-value is 90.0%, and the premium at that tier is 3.1% of the loan. It is added to the mortgage, so the total mortgage becomes $556,740. In Ontario, Quebec and Saskatchewan the provincial sales tax on the premium ($1,339 in Ontario) is paid in cash at closing.

How do I avoid CMHC insurance on a $600,000 home?+

Put down 20%, which is $120,000. That takes the loan-to-value to 80% and no default insurance is required. Compared with 10% down, the extra $60,000 of down payment removes a $16,740 premium and cuts the monthly payment from $3,235 to $2,789 at 4.99% over 25 years.

What does a 30-year amortization cost on a $600,000 insured mortgage?+

An extra 0.20 percentage points of premium, so 3.3000000000000003% instead of 3.1% with 10% down: a premium of $17,820 rather than $16,740. The monthly payment drops from $3,235 to $2,974. Insured 30-year amortizations are limited to first-time buyers and buyers of new construction.

Other prices and tiers

Buying a duplex to fourplex to live in? The house hacking calculator applies these premiums inside a full monthly cost. Closing costs are the other cash item: see the land transfer tax calculator.