Rent or buy?Run the numbers.
What buying in Ontario would cost up front, what you would pay each month, and where owning versus renting and investing the difference leaves you after the years you choose.
The home
Property tax, condo fees, insurance and upkeep. Here they rise each year at your home price growth rate.
Renting instead
Your assumptions
Nobody knows these. Try a few and see how much the answer moves.
What it works out to
Fill in every box to see the result.
How this calculator works
Land transfer tax
Ontario charges land transfer tax on every purchase, in bands from 0.5% to 2.5% of the price for a home with one or two single-family residences. In the City of Toronto you pay the city’s tax as well. First-time buyers get up to $4,000 back from Ontario and up to $4,475 from Toronto. Other provinces have their own rules, which this calculator does not cover.
The minimum down payment
You need at least 5% of the first $500,000, 10% of the part above it, and 20% of the whole price on a home of $1,500,000 or more.
CMHC insurance
With less than 20% down, the mortgage has to be insured. The premium is 2.8% to 4% of the loan, depending on how much you put down, plus 0.2% for an amortization over 25 years, and it is added to the mortgage. A home priced at $1,500,000 or more can’t be insured.
The stress test
Lenders check that you could still make the payment at the higher of 5.25% or your mortgage rate plus 2 percentage points. The calculator shows that payment too.
Owning versus renting
Owning is worth the home’s value minus what you still owe. Renting is worth the down payment and land transfer tax invested instead, plus each month’s difference between the cost of owning and the rent, invested too. Home price growth, rent increases and investment returns are yours to choose, because nobody knows them.
Help with the down payment
An FHSA lets you put in up to $8,000 a year, $40,000 in all. The Home Buyers’ Plan lets you take up to $60,000 out of your RRSP, paid back over 15 years.
Sources
Government figures checked on October 31, 2026. Sources:
- www.ontario.ca/document/land-transfer-tax/calculating-land-transfer-tax
- www.toronto.ca/services-payments/property-taxes-utilities/municipal-land-transfer-tax-mltt/municipal-land-transfer-tax-mltt-rates-and-fees
- www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/consumers/home-buying/mortgage-loan-insurance-for-consumers/cmhc-mortgage-loan-insurance-cost
- www.canada.ca/en/financial-consumer-agency/services/mortgages/down-payment.html
- www.canada.ca/en/financial-consumer-agency/services/mortgages/preparing-mortgage.html
- www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/individuals/topics/first-home-savings-account/contributing-your-fhsa.html
- www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/individuals/topics/rrsps-related-plans/what-home-buyers-plan.html
An estimate to help you think it through, not financial or tax advice.
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