CMHC Insurance BC 2026: Premiums, Calculator & When You Pay

The biggest jump is between 10 percent down (3.10 percent) and 5 percent down (4.00 percent). Going from 5 percent to 10 percent saves roughly 0.90 percent of your mortgage in premium, which on a $700,000 loan is about $6,300. If you can find an extra 5 percent in down payment, the math almost always works in your favour.

Surcharges to know about:

• 30-year amortization surcharge: add 0.20 percent to the standard premium if you take advantage of the 30-year amortization for first-time buyers or new builds.
• Self-employed without traditional income proof: most insured self-employed buyers in BC use Sagen or Canada Guaranty for these files because their underwriting is friendlier. Premiums match CMHC, but a small surcharge can apply when third-party income validation is unavailable.
• Blended amortization (refinance): if you add new insured funds to an existing insured mortgage, the premium is calculated on a blended basis, not on the new portion alone.

Worked Example: $1.1M Vancouver Condo at 10% Down

Assume a $1,100,000 condo in Metro Vancouver with a 10 percent down payment. Here is how the premium and the actual mortgage break down:

• Purchase price: $1,100,000.
• Down payment: $110,000 (10 percent).
• Mortgage before premium: $990,000.
• CMHC premium (3.10 percent of $990,000): $30,690.
• Total insured mortgage: $1,020,690.

If the buyer is a first-time purchaser and elects a 30-year amortization, the premium becomes 3.30 percent (3.10 plus the 0.20 surcharge), or $32,670. The trade-off: a 30-year amortization at a 4.29 percent contract rate drops the monthly payment from roughly $5,460 (25-year) to about $5,030 (30-year), a $430 monthly cushion in exchange for $1,980 more in premium and significantly more interest paid over the loan's life.

For a self-serve sandbox of these numbers, CMHC publishes its own calculator at cmhc-schl.gc.ca. Run the same scenario against your actual rate and amortization to see the full payment schedule.

How the Premium Is Paid

The CMHC premium is added to the mortgage principal and amortized over the life of the loan. You never see a separate invoice. On the $1.1M condo example, the $30,690 premium is rolled into the $1,020,690 balance and you pay it down with every monthly mortgage payment, plus interest on it.

You can choose to pay the premium upfront in cash at closing instead of rolling it in, but almost no buyer does. The point of needing CMHC is that you are short on cash. The exception worth flagging: in BC there is no provincial sales tax on the CMHC premium itself. PST on premiums applies in Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, and that PST is always due at closing in cash even when the premium itself is rolled in. BC buyers skip that line entirely.

The premium is non-refundable. If you sell the home, break the mortgage early, or pay it off in full, you do not get a portion of the premium back.

30-Year Amortization for First-Time Buyers and New Builds

Effective December 15, 2024, two groups can stretch an insured mortgage to 30 years instead of the standard 25:

• First-time buyers buying any property type (resale or new).
• Any buyer purchasing a newly constructed home, regardless of whether they own elsewhere.

The 30-year option lowers the monthly payment but increases the total interest paid and adds the 0.20 percent premium surcharge. Federal estimates suggest the 30-year option boosts purchasing power by roughly 9 percent for the same monthly payment, which on a $700,000 mortgage is about $63,000 more in qualifying budget. For a first-time buyer in Surrey or Burnaby trying to clear the deal, that can be the difference between a townhouse and a small condo.

When CMHC Insurance Is NOT Required

Three common BC scenarios skip CMHC entirely:

• 20 percent or more down on a $1.5M-or-under home. Conventional uninsured mortgage. No premium.
• Purchase price over $1.5 million. Insurance is unavailable, so you must put down 20 percent or more (and on the West Side or West Vancouver, lenders typically push for 25 to 35 percent).
• B and C lender financing. Some borrowers (bruised credit, unconventional income, owner-financing) work with B-tier or private lenders that do not require default insurance, often at higher rates and with lender or broker fees.

Note that some lenders self-insure ("bulk insure" or "portfolio insure") even when you put 20 percent or more down on a sub-$1.5M home. That premium is paid by the lender, not the buyer, and is invisible to you. It is one reason rates on conventional mortgages are sometimes nearly identical to insured rates.

CMHC vs Sagen vs Canada Guaranty

Three insurers operate in Canada: CMHC (the federal Crown corporation), Sagen, and Canada Guaranty. Premium rates and minimum down payment rules are identical across all three; the products are interchangeable from a borrower's perspective. The differences live in underwriting flexibility:

• CMHC tends to be more conservative and is often the default for vanilla salaried files.
• Sagen (Canada's largest insurer by market share) tends to be more flexible on self-employed and BFS (Business For Self) files.
• Canada Guaranty sits between the two and is competitive on borrowed-down-payment programs.

Critically, you do not pick the insurer. Your lender does, and they often shop the file across multiple insurers to find one that approves it on the best terms. As a borrower, your job is to qualify; the insurer routing happens behind the scenes.

Renewal and Portability

Once a mortgage is insured, the insurance follows the loan. At renewal, the insurance stays in place; you do not pay a new premium and you do not requalify under the stress test for a straight switch (a useful relief OSFI made permanent in November 2024). If you sell and buy a new home, CMHC's portability feature lets you transfer the premium to the new mortgage so you do not pay twice, provided the new loan amount is similar or lower and the new property meets eligibility.

If the new home is more expensive and you need to top up the mortgage, the new portion is reinsured at current rates and a small top-up premium applies. Your broker handles the math.

What CMHC Insurance Does NOT Cover (the BC Confusion)

This trips up almost every first-time buyer in BC. CMHC mortgage insurance is not the same as:

• BC Property Transfer Tax (PTT). PTT is a separate provincial tax due at closing. CMHC has nothing to do with it. First-time buyer PTT exemptions and the rest of the rules are covered in our BC Property Transfer Tax guide.
• Home insurance. CMHC does not cover fire, water damage, or liability. You still need a standard BC home insurance policy before any lender will fund your mortgage.
• Mortgage life insurance. Optional creditor insurance that pays your mortgage if you die or become disabled, sold by the lender. Different product, different premium.
• Title insurance. Protects you against title fraud or unknown encumbrances, paid as a one-time premium at closing.

CMHC protects the lender if you default. Every other insurance product on a BC purchase protects you (or your title), and the premiums sit outside the mortgage entirely.

Bottom Line for BC Buyers

If your down payment is below 20 percent on a sub-$1.5M home, CMHC (or Sagen or Canada Guaranty) is part of the deal. Plan for the premium to be rolled into your mortgage at 2.80 to 4.00 percent of the loan amount, scaling with your down payment. If you are a first-time buyer and a 30-year amortization unlocks a property you actually want, the 0.20 percent premium surcharge is usually worth it. If you can scrape together 20 percent down on a home priced under $1.5M, you skip the premium entirely, which on a $1.1M Vancouver condo saves the $30,690 example above.

For a tailored numbers run on your specific scenario (rate shopping, premium impact, 25 versus 30-year, blended versus straight), Zealty's broker referral makes the introduction. Get matched with a BC mortgage broker who can model the CMHC math against your actual income, debts, and target neighbourhood. Or if you are still browsing the market, Metro Vancouver listings under the $1.5M insurable cap are easy to filter on the Metro Vancouver search.