A buy vs rent checklist for Canadians

1. Your horizon and your situation

Everything else depends on how long you will stay and how stable your plans are. Start here and write the answers down before you open a calculator.

• How many years do you expect to live in this home? Pick a low, middle and high estimate
• Could a job change, relocation, family change or health need move you sooner?
• Is your income stable enough to carry a mortgage through a rate increase at renewal?
• Do you have an emergency fund that stays separate from the down payment?
• Are you buying alone, or with a partner whose plans also need to match yours?

2. Upfront cash and mortgage rules

List every dollar you would spend before moving in, and check the federal rules that determine the minimum you need.

• Down payment: the federal minimum is 5% of the first $500,000 plus 10% of the portion from $500,000 to under $1.5 million, and 20% at $1.5 million or more
• Mortgage default insurance if you put down less than 20%; the premium is a percentage of the loan and is usually added to the mortgage
• Closing costs: legal fees, title insurance, inspection, appraisal, moving and any land transfer tax or property transfer tax, which varies by province (Alberta has no land transfer tax, while Ontario and British Columbia do)
• Stress-test qualification: the greater of your contract rate plus 2 percentage points or 5.25%
• Registered accounts: FHSA ($8,000 a year, $40,000 lifetime) and the RRSP Home Buyers' Plan (up to $60,000 per person, repaid over time); confirm the current rules

3. The full monthly cost of owning

Do not stop at the mortgage payment. Build a monthly figure from every ownership cost, then compare it with the renter's.

• Mortgage payment at your actual rate and amortization
• Property tax from the municipality's current rate
• Home insurance, and condo insurance if applicable
• Condo fees, plus a cushion for special assessments, and a look at the reserve fund
• Maintenance allowance, commonly set as a percentage of home value each year
• Utilities that an owner pays and a tenant might not

4. The rent side of the ledger

Get a real quote for a comparable home, not an optimistic or stripped-down one. Then add the supporting costs a renter faces.

• Current rent for a similar size, age, location and condition
• What is included: parking, storage, utilities, laundry
• Tenant insurance
• Expected rent increases; check your province's rent rules (Ontario's 2026 guideline is 2.1% for covered units, and British Columbia's 2026 maximum is reported as 2.3%, so confirm each year; Alberta has no cap)
• Moving costs if you expect to change rentals
• Where the renter's invested money would sit: TFSA, RRSP, FHSA or a taxable account

5. Assumptions to stress-test

No one knows the future, so use a range and find the break-even. These are the three inputs to push on first, with the break-even values for our $600,000 example at a ten-year horizon (illustrative, not market data):

• Also test the mortgage rate at renewal, higher maintenance and a slower rent increase
• Note which single change flips your answer, and ask how plausible it is

6. Reading the result

Look at more than the final number. For the example, the calculator gives:

• Is your horizon comfortably beyond the break-even, or close to it?
• How big is the gap relative to the cash involved? A small gap is a toss-up
• Does the answer hold under your downside cases?

7. What the numbers leave out

Close the checklist with the questions a calculator cannot answer. Do you value control over your space more than flexibility? Would you rather avoid repair surprises? Could you handle owning a single asset that might fall in value? Are you comfortable leaving cash in a home rather than in an account you can reach?

For next steps, run your own figures in the main calculator, read how to decide for the sequence, and review common mistakes before relying on the result. This checklist is educational, not personal advice, and the rules above can change.