A condo listed at $400,000 doesn't cost $400,000. With 10% down, it takes about $47,458 on signing day, then $2,744 a month for twenty-five years. The listed price is the smallest number in the transaction.
None of this is hidden. It's just scattered between a bank, a notary, a city and an insurer, and none of the four shows you the total. Here it is, line by line.
The minimum down payment climbs in tiers
You've probably heard the two rules that go around: “5% minimum” and “20% to avoid the insurance”. Both are true, and neither is the whole rule. The legal minimum is worked out in price tiers, like income tax:
- The first $500,0005%$25,000
- The rest, $200,00010%$20,000
A $700,000 home therefore needs $45,000, not $35,000. Buyers discover the $10,000 gap late in the process, and it's never a good moment. Above $1,500,000 it's 20% on everything, because no mortgage insurance exists at that price: the bank won't lend more than 80% without it.
Under 20%, you're buying insurance too
Below 20% down, the law requires the bank to insure your loan, and you pay the premium. It depends on the loan-to-value ratio, meaning the share of the price you're borrowing:
| You borrow | Down payment | Premium |
|---|---|---|
| 80% to 85% of the price | 15% to 20% | 2.8% of the loan |
| 85% to 90% of the price | 10% to 15% | 3.1% of the loan |
| 90% to 95% of the price | 5% to 10% | 4% of the loan |
Two things about this premium surprise people. First, you don't pay it: it's added to the loan, and you pay interest on it for twenty-five years. On our condo with 10% down, that's $11,160 more to repay.
The welcome tax isn't “1.5% of the price”
That's the shortcut that goes around, and it's wrong in both directions. The tax is worked out in brackets, and Montreal adds its own above the provincial table. On a $269,000 purchase, the shortcut says $4,035; the real amount is $2,383. On our Montreal condo, it's $4,154.
It also arrives after the purchase, by mail, three to six months later. The full calculation, the 2025 brackets and the taxable base that isn't always the price paid are in The welcome tax: the exact calculation, in Quebec and Montreal.
The fees that never appear in a listing
| Item | Common range |
|---|---|
| Notary | $1,300 to $2,000 |
| Inspection | $500 to $900 |
| Adjustments to the seller (prepaid taxes and condo fees) | a few hundred to a few thousand dollars |
| Moving, hookups, first repairs | varies, rarely zero |
Each line is small. Together, they usually run past whatever you had set aside for “the fees”.
When each dollar goes out
Offer accepted
Inspection within days, paid on the spot.
At the notary's, 30 to 60 days later
Down payment, notary fees, QST on the CMHC premium, adjustments to the seller. This is the big cheque.
One month after
First mortgage payment, then one a month (or every two weeks) for 25 years.
3 to 6 months after
The city mails the welcome tax bill. A single payment, usually due within 30 days.
The payment isn't the one Google gave you
In Canada, interest on a fixed-rate mortgage is compounded twice a year, not twelve times. It's a federal rule, and it works in your favour: at the same posted rate, you pay slightly less than with the American formula, the one most online calculators use without saying so.
On a $300,000 loan at 4.5% over thirty years, the gap is $7 a month, or $2,667 over the life of the loan. It won't change whether you can afford the place. It will change whether the number you plan around is the one your bank will use.
All of it together
Our $400,000 condo in Montreal, at 4.5% over twenty-five years, with $250 a month in condo fees, $3,400 in municipal tax and $380 in school tax a year, and $125 a month in home insurance:
The 10% option needs $38,996 less on signing day, and costs $283 more every month, plus $33,787 in interest over the life of the loan. Neither is the right answer for everyone. The question is whether the $38,996 is what's holding you back, or not.
The test the bank puts you through
Before lending, the bank checks that you could still pay if rates climbed. That's the stress test: it works out your payment at the higher of your rate plus 2% and 5.25%. At 4.5%, you're judged on a payment at 6.5%, or $2,143 a month on the 20% option instead of $1,771. You'll never pay that amount. You just have to be able to.
The one lever that pays you
Switch the same mortgage from monthly to accelerated bi-weekly payments. The amount becomes $886 every two weeks, which makes 26 payments a year instead of 12, the equivalent of thirteen months. The thirteenth goes entirely to principal.
Result: the loan is paid off 3.3 years sooner and you save $32,050 in interest. You renegotiate nothing: it's a checkbox, and most banks switch it on when asked.
Run it with your own numbers
Every amount in this article comes from the Atlas mortgage calculator: semi-annual compounding, down-payment tiers, the CMHC premium and its tax, the Quebec and Montreal welcome-tax brackets, accelerated payments. It's free, needs no account, and you can compare two or three properties side by side.
The tables it uses carry the year 2025, and every derived figure can be overridden by hand. A wrong number stated with confidence is worse than no number at all.
Keep reading
- Real estate
The welcome tax: the exact calculation, in Quebec and Montreal
The welcome tax isn't "about 1.5% of the price". It's a bracket table, Montreal has its own, and the bill arrives months after the purchase. The full calculation, with the 2025 brackets.
- Investing
TFSA limit 2026: how much can you really contribute?
The 2026 limit is $7,000, but your own limit is almost always higher, sometimes by a lot. It depends on your age, your past withdrawals, and a calendar rule that costs 1% a month to those who miss it.