A rental property mortgage finances a home you will not live in. Lenders treat it as higher risk than a principal residence, a borrower under pressure protects the home they live in first, so the down payment is larger and the rate is higher.
The brokers listed here arrange rental and investment property mortgages across Canada, from single condos to multi-unit buildings. How a lender treats the rent is the variable that decides how many properties you can hold.
The brokers below have told us they take on rental property files. Narrow by city to see who works in your market, most lending decisions still turn on where the property sits.
One of these brokers has a mapped office. Tap the pin to open the profile.
I’m a Mortgage Broker with Premiere Mortgage Centre, bringing 16 years of mortgage and banking experience to clients across the Annapolis Valley and rural Nova Scotia. I take the time to und…
Lenders handle projected rent in one of two ways, and the difference is large. Rental addback treats a portion of the rent as income and adds it to yours. Rental offset subtracts a portion of the rent from the property's own costs, so only the shortfall counts against you.
Offset is far more favourable to an investor and is the reason two lenders can reach different conclusions on the same file. It is also why a broker who knows which lenders offset matters more on rental files than on any other kind.
Below a threshold number of units a property is financed residentially, with the terms and amortisations that implies. Above it, the file becomes commercial and is underwritten on the building's income rather than yours.
That boundary is worth planning around. Federal insurance programs for purpose-built and affordable rental, including MLI Select, can offer notably better terms on qualifying multi-unit projects than conventional commercial lending, in exchange for meeting affordability, energy efficiency or accessibility commitments.
More than for a home you live in. Mortgage default insurance is not available on a property that is not owner-occupied, so a rental purchase requires at least the uninsured minimum, and lenders often ask for more depending on the property and the number you already own.
Yes, but in two different ways. Rental addback adds a portion of the rent to your income. Rental offset deducts a portion of the rent from the property's costs so only the shortfall counts against you. Offset is considerably more favourable, and not every lender uses it.
Yes. A rental is not eligible for default insurance and is considered higher risk than a principal residence, so it prices above an owner-occupied mortgage. The gap varies by lender and by how much of your income the rent represents.
A federal mortgage insurance program for multi-unit residential rental that offers improved financing terms, including higher loan-to-value and longer amortisation, in exchange for commitments on affordability, energy efficiency or accessibility. It applies to qualifying multi-unit projects, not to a single rental condo.
There is no fixed limit, but individual lenders cap how many they will hold for one borrower, and each additional property tightens the ratios. Investors past the first few usually work across several lenders, which is a large part of what a broker does on a growing portfolio.
