Mortgage Pre-Approval in Canada

What the lender checks

• Income and employment, with documents
• Debts and credit history
• Down payment and where it came from
• The qualifying rate is the higher of your contract rate plus 2 percentage points or 5.25%.
• GDS at most 39% and TDS at most 44%

What a pre-approval gives you

A maximum mortgage amount, and often a rate hold for a set period. The lender still has to approve the specific property, so keep a financing condition in your offer where possible.

Amortization limits

With less than 20% down, the maximum amortization is 25 years, or 30 for first-time buyers and new builds. You need at least 5% of the first $500,000, plus 10% of any part of the price above $500,000. At $1,500,000 or more, the minimum is 20%.

Today's borrowing costs

On new uninsured mortgages, Canadians paid an average of 4.58% (Aug 2026) for fixed terms of five years or more and 3.90% (Aug 2026) for variable rates, according to the Bank of Canada. Insured borrowers paid 4.12% and 3.74%.

The Bank of Canada's policy rate is 2.50% (Nov 11, 2026) and the banks' prime rate is 4.70% (Nov 11, 2026). Variable rates move with prime; fixed rates follow Government of Canada bond yields, with the 5-year yield at 3.46% (Nov 10, 2026).

Documents to have ready

• Government-issued photo ID
• Recent pay stubs and an employment letter, or two years of tax assessments if self-employed
• Statements showing your down payment and where it came from
• Details of debts, such as car loans, lines of credit and support payments