Putting more down isn't always the wealthier move. Compare minimum, 10% and 20% down — including CMHC insurance — on your projected net wealth at 5, 10 and 20 years.
Held in a HISA, not invested or spent on the purchase.
GTA long-term avg 3–5%.
30 years is available to first-time buyers on insured (under-20%-down) mortgages.
Net wealth = home equity (price grown at appreciation, minus mortgage balance) + invested lump sum + invested monthly-payment difference + emergency fund. The scenario with the smaller payment invests the difference each month.
Every dollar has two jobs it can't do at once: sit in your home as equity, or grow in the market. A larger down payment lowers your mortgage and avoids CMHC insurance — but it also pulls money out of investments that may grow faster than your home.
This comparator keeps it apples-to-apples. Whatever you don't put down (after your emergency fund) is invested as a lump sum, and because a smaller down payment means a bigger monthly mortgage, the lower-payment scenarios invest that monthly difference too. Then it adds up your home equity, investments and emergency fund at each horizon so you can see the whole picture, not just the mortgage.
Minimum down in Canada: 5% on the first $500,000 and 10% on the portion from $500,000 to $1.5M. Above $1.5M you need 20% and can't use an insured mortgage. When your down payment is under 20%, CMHC insurance is added to the loan (4.00% at 5–9.99% down, 3.10% at 10–14.99%, 2.80% at 15–19.99%), with a 0.20% surcharge on a 30-year insured mortgage.
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