CostGuides for Canadian home buyers, sellers and owners
Straight answers to the questions every Canadian calculator leaves out — land transfer tax, mortgage mechanics, closing costs, and more.
How Much Is Land Transfer Tax in Ontario?
Ontario charges provincial land transfer tax on every resale purchase, calculated in marginal brackets — and Toronto buyers pay a second, municipal version on top.
Land transfer taxWhy Toronto Buyers Pay Land Transfer Tax Twice
Toronto is the only Canadian municipality with the legal power to charge its own land transfer tax — and it uses brackets almost identical to the province's.
MortgagesHow Are Canadian Mortgage Payments Actually Calculated?
Canadian law requires fixed-rate mortgages to compound semi-annually, which is why the math differs slightly from a typical American mortgage calculator.
MortgagesThe Mortgage Stress Test, and Whether You Would Pass It
Every insured and most uninsured Canadian mortgages are qualified against a rate higher than what you'll actually pay — here's exactly how that number is set.
MortgagesCMHC Mortgage Insurance Explained in Plain English
If your down payment is under 20%, mortgage default insurance isn't optional — here's what it protects, what it costs, and who it's really for.
Closing costsHow Much Are Closing Costs in Canada?
Closing costs in Canada typically run 1.5% to 4% of the purchase price, depending mostly on your province and whether you're a first-time buyer.
First-time buyersWhat Is the Minimum Down Payment in Canada?
Canada's minimum down payment rule changes at three price thresholds, and it's easy to underestimate what you'll actually need above $500,000.
First-time buyersFHSA vs RRSP Home Buyers' Plan: Which Should You Use First?
The FHSA and the RRSP Home Buyers' Plan solve the same problem differently — one gives you a tax deduction you never repay, the other lets you borrow from savings you already have.
SellingWhat Does It Cost to Sell a House in Canada?
Selling a home in Canada typically costs 5% to 6% of the sale price once commission, its sales tax, and legal fees are all counted.
InvestingIs a Rental Property Worth It? Cap Rate and Cash Flow Explained
Cap rate tells you how the property performs on its own; cash flow tells you what it does to your bank account once financing is involved — and they can disagree.
Land transfer taxLand Transfer Tax by Province: A Full Comparison
The same $600,000 purchase can cost you nothing in land transfer tax or over $20,000, depending only on which province — and which city — it's in.
Land transfer taxFirst-Time Buyer Land Transfer Tax Rebates in Every Province
Several provinces refund some or all of your land transfer tax if you've never owned a home before — but the amounts and eligibility rules differ more than you'd expect.
Closing costsThe Eight Line Items Your Real Estate Lawyer Will Invoice
A lawyer's closing invoice usually isn't one number — it's a flat fee plus a list of disbursements paid on your behalf, and knowing the difference helps you compare quotes properly.
Closing costsWhat Is Title Insurance and Do You Need It?
A one-time premium, usually a few hundred dollars, that protects against a narrow but real set of risks you can't fully rule out with a title search alone.
Closing costsHow Much Are Legal Fees When Buying a House in Canada?
Legal fees for a standard resale purchase typically land between $800 and $2,000 all-in — and the variation mostly comes down to disbursements, not the lawyer's own fee.
MortgagesFixed vs Variable: How to Decide in 2026
Fixed and variable rates are closer together than they were a year ago — which changes the calculus for how much you're actually paying to lock in certainty.
MortgagesBreaking Your Mortgage: IRD vs Three Months' Interest
Breaking your mortgage early costs the greater of two numbers, and one of them — the Interest Rate Differential — can be many times larger than most people expect.
SellingCapital Gains Tax on Selling a Property in Canada
Half of your gain on an investment property gets added to your taxable income the year you sell — the other half is yours, tax-free, under Canada's current inclusion rate.
SellingIs Real Estate Commission Negotiable? Here Is the Math
There's no law setting real estate commission in Canada — what you pay is a negotiation, and a single percentage point can be worth thousands of dollars.
SellingBridge Financing: Buying Before Your Sale Closes
Your new home closes two weeks before your old one sells. Bridge financing is the short-term loan that covers your down payment in the meantime.
First-time buyersEvery First-Time Buyer Program You Can Stack in 2026
No single program covers everything a first-time buyer needs — but stacked together, several federal and provincial programs meaningfully lower the real cost of a first home.
First-time buyersThe RRSP Home Buyers' Plan 15-Year Repayment, Explained
An RRSP Home Buyers' Plan withdrawal isn't free money — it's a 15-year repayment obligation to yourself, with a real tax consequence if you miss a year.
InvestingWhat Rent Do You Need to Break Even on a Rental?
Break-even rent isn't just your mortgage payment — it's every real ongoing cost of ownership added up, including the ones easy to forget.
InvestingCash-on-Cash Return vs Cap Rate: Which Matters More?
Two rental property metrics answer two different questions — using the wrong one for your situation can make a mediocre deal look great, or a great deal look mediocre.
InvestingRental Income and Your Mortgage Approval
Rental income helps you qualify for a mortgage — but lenders don't count all of it, and the exact discount can change what you're actually approved for.
TaxesToronto's Vacant Home Tax: Who Has to File
Toronto requires every residential property owner to declare their home's occupancy status annually — and the filing itself is mandatory even if your home is clearly occupied.
TaxesBC's Speculation and Vacancy Tax Explained
BC's Speculation and Vacancy Tax applies only in specific designated areas of the province, and the rate you'd pay depends heavily on your residency status.
First-time buyersPre-Approval vs Pre-Qualification: What the Difference Costs You
The two terms sound interchangeable, but only one of them means a lender has actually verified your numbers and held a rate for you.
MortgagesAccelerated Biweekly Payments: How Much They Really Save
Accelerated biweekly payments feel like a small scheduling change, but the math hides a full extra payment a year — and that adds up fast.
Closing costsDo You Need a Home Inspection When Buying a Condo?
A condo inspection covers a narrower scope than a house inspection, since most of a condo's major systems are the corporation's responsibility, not the unit's.
First-time buyersHow Much Income Do You Need to Buy a $700,000 Home?
The stress test, not your actual contract rate, is usually what determines the income you actually need — and it's a higher bar than a quick back-of-envelope estimate suggests.
Closing costsStatement of Adjustments: What You Are Reimbursing the Seller For
A document that shows up late in the process, reconciling who actually owes what once prepaid costs like property tax are split fairly between buyer and seller.
SellingThe Principal Residence Exemption, and When You Lose It
Canada's principal residence exemption is powerful, but it isn't automatic, unlimited, or immune to a change in how the property is used.
Land transfer taxWhich Provinces Have No Land Transfer Tax?
Only two provinces skip land transfer tax entirely — a genuine, meaningful cost advantage worth knowing if you have any flexibility in where you buy.
OntarioBuying a Home in Ontario: The Complete Cost Breakdown
Every cost that goes into an Ontario home purchase, in one place, so nothing shows up as a surprise between your offer and your closing day.
British ColumbiaBuying a Home in British Columbia: The Complete Cost Breakdown
BC's Property Transfer Tax, its own first-time buyer exemption, and — in designated areas — the Speculation and Vacancy Tax all factor into the real cost of buying here.
Atlantic CanadaClosing Costs in Atlantic Canada
Atlantic Canada's four provinces each set their own land transfer tax rates independently, and the differences between them are worth knowing before you assume a regional average applies.
Market dataAverage Home Prices by Canadian City, and What They Cost to Close
The same down payment percentage means a very different dollar amount depending on which Canadian city you're comparing — here's the current spread.
Land transfer taxBC Property Transfer Tax Explained
BC's version of land transfer tax uses its own bracket structure and its own set of exemptions — distinct enough from Ontario's to be worth understanding on its own terms.
Land transfer taxQuebec's Welcome Tax: How It Differs From the Rest of Canada
Quebec's "welcome tax" isn't collected at your closing table at all — it's a separate municipal bill that arrives months later, which trips up buyers used to how other provinces handle it.
Mortgages25 vs 30 Year Amortization: What the Extra Five Years Cost
Five extra years of amortization lowers your monthly payment by less than you'd hope, and costs you more in total interest than you might expect.
MortgagesMortgage Renewal: Why the First Offer Is Rarely the Best One
The renewal letter your lender sends automatically is designed to be easy to accept, not to be your best available rate — the two are rarely the same thing.
TaxesThe Federal Underused Housing Tax: Do You Owe It?
A federal tax on vacant Canadian residential property, aimed primarily at foreign and corporate owners — but the filing requirement can catch some Canadian owners too.
TaxesProperty Tax Rates Across Canadian Cities
Property tax rates vary enough between cities that a cheaper home in one city can still carry a comparable or even higher annual tax bill than a pricier home elsewhere.
AlbertaBuying a Home in Alberta: The Complete Cost Breakdown
No land transfer tax fundamentally changes the closing cost picture in Alberta compared to most of the rest of Canada.
QuebecBuying a Home in Quebec: What Is Different
Quebec's home-buying process differs from the rest of Canada in more than just its tax — its legal system and closing process work differently too.
PrairiesClosing Costs in the Prairie Provinces
The three Prairie provinces don't share a single approach to land transfer costs — two charge essentially none, while the third uses a full bracket system.