Looking for a mortgage broker in Toronto?

What buying in Toronto actually asks of you up front

In the City of Toronto you need two things most buyers underestimate: a minimum down payment set by your purchase price, and two land transfer taxes instead of one. That second point is the expensive one. Toronto is the only municipality in Ontario that charges its own Municipal Land Transfer Tax on top of the provincial tax, and it is due in cash on closing day.

The down payment rules are federal and they are not negotiable. On a purchase of $500,000 or less the minimum is 5%. Between $500,000 and $1.5 million you need 5% of the first $500,000 plus 10% of everything above it. At $1.5 million or more the minimum jumps to 20%, and mortgage default insurance is no longer available at any price. That $1.5 million ceiling replaced the old $1 million cap on 15 December 2024 — if a page or a calculator still tells you the limit is $1 million, it has not been updated.

That one threshold decides more about a Toronto file than anything else, because the city's housing types sit on opposite sides of it. According to TRREB's September 2026 Market Watch, the average detached home in the City of Toronto sold for $1,562,966 — above the ceiling, so 20% down and no insurance. The average condo apartment sold for $640,248 — comfortably inside it, so the tiered calculation applies and a much smaller cash figure gets you in.

My job is to tell you which side of those lines your plan falls on before you write an offer, not after. Start with a pre-approval so the number you shop with is real.

Toronto land transfer tax: you pay it twice, and first-time buyers get both rebates back

Buy anywhere inside the City of Toronto — downtown, North York, Scarborough, Etobicoke, York or East York — and you pay the Ontario provincial land transfer tax and the Toronto Municipal Land Transfer Tax. Cross Steeles Avenue into Vaughan or Markham, or cross into Mississauga or Brampton, and the municipal tax disappears entirely. Same province, same mortgage rules, materially different cash at closing.

The good news for first-time buyers is that both governments offer a rebate and you can claim both. The Toronto municipal rebate is up to $4,475. The Ontario provincial refund is up to $4,000, and the province charges no land transfer tax at all on the first $368,000 of the price. Claimed together, that is up to $8,475 back on a Toronto purchase — and your lawyer can usually credit it at closing rather than making you wait for a cheque.

The conditions are strict and nearly identical on both sides. You must be at least 18. You must occupy the home as your principal residence within nine months of the transfer. You must never have owned a home, or any interest in one, anywhere in the world — a condo you part-owned in another country counts and disqualifies you. If you have a spouse, your spouse must not have owned a home anywhere in the world while married to you; if they did, neither of you qualifies. And you must be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, or become one within 18 months of the transfer.

That last clause matters more in Toronto than almost anywhere. I work with a lot of newcomers, and the "become a citizen or PR within 18 months" window is routinely missed by people who were eligible and did not know it. If you are newly arrived, read the new to Canada mortgage page as well — the lender side has its own rules about credit history and down payment source.

Insured, insurable or uninsured — and what it costs

If you put down less than 20%, your mortgage is insured and you pay a CMHC premium calculated on the loan amount: 0.60% up to 65% loan-to-value, 1.70% from 65.01% to 75%, 2.40% from 75.01% to 80%, 2.80% from 80.01% to 85%, 3.10% from 85.01% to 90%, and 4.00% from 90.01% to 95%. The premium itself can be added to the mortgage. In Ontario it also attracts provincial sales tax — and the PST cannot be added to the loan. It is cash, on closing day, alongside your down payment and both land transfer taxes. It is the single most commonly forgotten line on a Toronto closing.

Amortization is where a lot of Toronto buyers leave money on the table. A 30-year amortization is available on an insured mortgage if either at least one borrower is a first-time buyer or the property is newly built. It is either/or, not both — so a repeat buyer purchasing a brand-new condo qualifies, and so does a first-time buyer purchasing a 1950s bungalow. It applies to high-ratio owner-occupied purchases only, and CMHC adds a 0.20% premium surcharge when a first-time buyer takes the 30 years. In a city with Toronto's price-to-income gap, that extra five years is often the difference between qualifying and not.

If you are putting down 20% or more, you are uninsured and the stress test applies at your federally regulated lender: you must qualify at the greater of your contract rate plus 2% or 5.25%. That has not changed as of 29 January 2026. The stress test guide walks through how it is actually calculated against your income and debts.

Already own in Toronto? Renewals, switches and equity

Most of my Toronto work is not purchases. It is people whose renewal letter arrived with a rate they suspect is not competitive, and who assume moving is a hassle. Often it is not. OSFI does not expect lenders to apply the minimum qualifying rate to an uninsured straight switch at renewal — same loan amount, same remaining amortization, no new money. That change took effect on 21 November 2024 and it means you can usually move your mortgage to a better-fitting lender without re-qualifying under the stress test.

Change the amount or stretch the amortization, though, and it stops being a straight switch and the stress test comes back. A refinance is always stress-tested. If you are weighing the two, the switch versus refinance guide lays out which one fits which goal, and the renewal page covers timing.

Toronto homeowners also hold a lot of equity, and the city has made it easier to use — garden suites and laneway suites have been permitted across the city since 2022, and I see a steady stream of files financing them. Most lenders cap a refinance at 80% of the property's appraised value as a matter of standard practice, which sets the practical ceiling on what you can pull out whether you do it by refinancing, by HELOC, or by consolidating higher-interest debt.

One warning worth repeating: breaking a mortgage early usually costs the higher of three months' interest or the interest rate differential. Which of those two you get, and how large the IRD turns out to be, depends entirely on your lender's calculation method and the wording of your contract. Anyone who tells you the penalty is predictable without reading your commitment has not read your commitment. The penalty guide explains the methods.