Mortgage Payment Calculator
Enter a home price, down payment, interest rate, and amortization period to see the monthly payment — and the total interest paid over the life of the mortgage. If you have never seen that second number before, brace yourself.
Uses Canadian semi-annual compounding for fixed-rate mortgages. Excludes property tax, insurance, and CMHC premiums.
How to Use the Mortgage Calculator
- Start with a real listing price from your city — the point is to work with numbers from your actual market.
- Try 5%, 10%, and 20% down payments and watch both the payment and the total interest move.
- Then change the interest rate by a single percentage point. That one small change is worth tens of thousands of dollars.
Why a Teen Finance Site Has a Mortgage Calculator
This is the exact exercise I was quoted on in Yahoo Finance: mortgage calculators are one of the best classroom tools for teaching what housing really costs, because the gap between the sticker price and the total paid is a lesson no lecture can match. You will not buy a home this year — but the person who has run these numbers at 17 makes very different choices at 27.
Try This
Run a $500,000 home with 10% down over 25 years at today’s rates, and look at the total interest. For most students it is the first time they realize a house can cost nearly double its price — and why every dollar of down payment and every fraction of a percent matters.
Mortgage FAQ
What is amortization?
The total number of years to pay the mortgage to zero — commonly 25 in Canada. Longer amortization means smaller payments but more total interest: the same trade-off as a car loan, with more zeros.
How much down payment do I need in Canada?
The legal minimum starts at 5% (rising with the price), but below 20% you also pay for mortgage default insurance. Verify current rules when the time comes — they change.
What should I be doing about this as a teenager?
Two things: learn the numbers (you are doing that now) and start the savings habit early — see how much to save before moving out and the FHSA, the account built exactly for this.
Keep Going
When you are 18+, the First Home Savings Account turns these numbers in your favour — tax-deductible in, tax-free out.
