Budget 2026 mortgage measures: proposals, not in-force rules

As of a 6 November 2026 extract of Budget 2026 Chapter 3 and the Finance missing-middle backgrounder, the mortgage items below are proposed or future-dated. Only missing-middle insurance has a recorded application date: applications lenders submit to insurers on or after 1 February 2027. Optional insurance, Bank of Canada insured-rate information, CRA income verification, the prepayment consultation, and the foreign-purchase ban extension do not state a start date. Nothing here is a lender decision or an available product today.

Optional mortgage insurance: price limit and amortization

Budget 2026 proposes raising the home-price limit for optional mortgage insurance from $1 million to $1.5 million and permitting 30-year amortizations for these insured mortgages where at least one borrower is a first-time home buyer or the home is newly built. The chapter does not state a start date.

These proposed changes would apply to optional mortgage insurance, not as a newly enacted general high-ratio cap change that applies today. Live product rules on our CMHC insurance explainer, 30-year amortization page, and CMHC calculator are unchanged by this announcement. Do not read the February 1, 2027 missing-middle date into this optional-insurance proposal.

Missing-middle insurance (three- to fifty-unit)

Finance says the new missing-middle insurance measures will be available for applications lenders submit to insurers on or after February 1, 2027. They include flexibilities for new three- and four-unit housing and permission for private insurers to insure five- to fifty-unit properties.

That date is a future lender-to-insurer application-submission date, not a closing, purchase-agreement, approval, or occupancy date. It is not present availability or a guarantee of lender participation.

New three- and four-unit housing

For new three- and four-unit housing, Finance lists maximum GDS/TDS ratios of 39%/44% and the minimum qualification rate. The backgrounder separately exempts construction finance from the maximum-amortization and debt-servicing requirements and says insurers will use their own underwriting criteria to assess construction-loan servicing.

Finance's backgrounder also lists, for new three- and four-unit eligible residential properties: construction of new properties and purchase of newly built ones; maximum loan to projected property value upon completion of 90 per cent; no owner-occupancy requirement; no maximum property value limit; maximum amortization of 30 years; and, at loan approval, at least one borrower or guarantor with a credit score greater than or equal to 600. The backgrounder names the minimum qualification rate (MQR) but does not state a numerical formula. GDS/TDS 39%/44% apply in that debt-servicing requirement for three- and four-unit housing, not to the five- to fifty-unit category.

Five- to fifty-unit properties

Finance defines an eligible property as one that contains no fewer than five and no more than fifty self-contained dwelling units, each with cooking, sleeping, and bathroom facilities, held under a single legal title or ownership structure and not formed by aggregating separately titled properties to meet unit-count thresholds. Permitted loan uses listed are construction, purchase, refinance, and renewal. Maximum loan to property value: 90 per cent for new construction; 85 per cent for other transactions. Maximum mortgage amortization: 50 years for new construction; 40 years for other transactions. Minimum debt coverage ratio (net operating income / total debt service): 1.15 for five-year mortgage terms and 1.1 for 10-year mortgage terms. No maximum property value limit and no owner-occupancy requirement. Net worth: the borrower must have minimum net worth equal to at least 25 per cent of the loan amount requested, with a minimum of $100,000, based on assets held by the borrower in Canada.

Construction-financing exception (five to fifty units): No requirement for maximum amortization or minimum debt coverage ratio will apply. Insurers will implement their own corporate underwriting criteria for assessing the borrower's ability to service a construction loan.

Those longer amortizations are for this multi-unit insurance package. They are not ordinary homebuyer 40- or 50-year rules, and they are not available for applications submitted before the February 1, 2027 trigger.

Public information on insured mortgage rates

Budget 2026 proposes regulations to improve publicly available information on insured mortgage rates, with the information to be published by the Bank of Canada. The chapter does not give a start date.

The chapter supplies no launch date, frequency, methodology, or borrower-specific rate. See also Rate Radar for how this site tracks the rate environment today.

CRA income verification

Budget 2026 proposes giving CRA authority to make agreements with mortgage lenders and insurers for an income-verification service, with $13 million over three years starting in 2027–28 to develop and pilot it. That funding period is not a stated service launch date.

2027–28 is the start of the proposed three-year funding period, not a stated service launch or the commencement of legislative authority. No consent or access mechanics are established by the chapter.

Prepayment-penalty transparency

The government says it intends to consult on potential reforms to improve transparency around prepayment penalties for insured mortgages. The chapter does not announce a new penalty formula or a reform start date.

Scope in the chapter is insured mortgages and a consultation intention, not an adopted formula. Our prepayment penalty calculator remains an educational estimate from the rates you enter.

Foreign-purchase ban

Budget 2026 proposes extending the foreign-purchase ban for existing residential properties to January 1, 2029, while exempting new residential properties. The chapter says legislation will be proposed and a regulatory process launched; it does not state when the changes would start.

January 1, 2029 is the proposed extended endpoint, not an exemption start date or proof of enactment. "In short order" is not a calendar date. No final definition of "new," transition rules, or detailed legal eligibility is established by that paragraph.

FHSA administration funding (not new account rules)

The Chapter 3 table proposes $62 million for CRA's continued administration of the FHSA. That entry does not announce changes to account eligibility, contribution limits, or withdrawal rules.

For how FHSA and the RRSP Home Buyers' Plan compare under current rules, see FHSA vs RRSP Home Buyers' Plan and the FHSA & RRSP guide.

Further homebuilder financing — options being explored

Chapter 3 says consultations on further homebuilder financing measures were completed in September and options are being explored. It does not announce an available financing product from that work.

September is a consultation-completion month in the chapter, not a program launch.

What this page does not change

This is one dated explainer. It does not rewrite live CMHC, amortization, multi-unit, income-verification, rate-information, prepayment, or foreign-buyer product pages as if any proposal is in force. This explainer does not establish a numerical minimum qualification rate for the missing-middle measures; Finance's backgrounder names the MQR but does not state its formula. We are not a brokerage (how we're paid); mortgage calculations on this site run client-side.

Sources (fetched 2026-11-06): Budget 2026 Chapter 3; Finance missing-middle backgrounder.