CMHC Mortgage Insurance Calculator — Premiums & Monthly Cost
Calculate your CMHC mortgage insurance premium (Canada) or PMI cost (US) based on your down payment. See the total premium, how much is added to your mortgage, and the monthly impact. Free.
In Canada, mortgage default insurance (CMHC, Sagen, or Canada Guaranty) is mandatory when your down payment is less than 20% of the purchase price on homes up to $1.5M. The premium — 2.80% to 4.00% of the insured amount — is added to your mortgage balance, not paid upfront. In the US, PMI is a monthly charge (0.5–1.5% annually) that cancels automatically at 80% LTV.
Select your region for jurisdiction-specific rules (deposit caps, rent increase limits, transfer taxes, and more).
Inputs
Results
Insurance Premium / Annual Cost
$16,740
Down Payment %
10.00%
Loan Amount
$540,000
Total Mortgage (incl. insurance)
$556,740
Added to Monthly Payment
$0
Understanding This Calculator
Learn when mortgage default insurance is required, how the premium is calculated in Canada versus the US, and what it adds to your payment.
How the math works
In Canada, default insurance (CMHC, Sagen, or Canada Guaranty) is mandatory when the down payment is under 20% on homes up to $1.5M. The premium is a percentage of the loan tiered by down payment: 4.00% at 5–9.99% down, 3.10% at 10–14.99%, 2.80% at 15–19.99%. The premium is added to the mortgage balance: Total mortgage = loan + (loan × premium rate) — so you also pay interest on it over the amortization.
In the US, PMI works differently: roughly 0.5–1.5% of the loan per year, billed monthly, and it cancels once you reach about 80% loan-to-value rather than being capitalized up front.
Worked example
Using the defaults: a $600,000 purchase with $60,000 (10%) down in Canada.
- Loan amount = 600,000 − 60,000 = $540,000
- Premium rate at 10% down = 3.10%
- Premium = 540,000 × 3.10% = $16,740
- Total insured mortgage = $556,740
That extra $16,740 raises the monthly payment by roughly $95–100 at a 5% rate over 25 years. In some provinces, provincial sales tax on the premium is due in cash at closing even though the premium itself is financed.
How to read the result
The key comparison is the premium versus the cost of waiting to save 20%. On this example, reaching a $120,000 down payment eliminates the $16,740 premium entirely — but if saving the difference takes years in a rising market, buying sooner with insurance can still win. There is no universal answer; run both scenarios.
Also note the cliff effects: premiums step down at exactly 10%, 15%, and 20% down, so a few thousand dollars more can drop you a full tier. US buyers should instead watch the 80% LTV threshold where PMI cancels. A mortgage broker can confirm the current premium schedule for your situation.