Mortgage Payment Calculator

Math last reviewed May 1, 2026.

Estimate your monthly, bi-weekly, or accelerated bi-weekly mortgage payment, including CMHC insurance for down payments under 20%. The calculator uses the Canadian semi-annual compounding convention every federally regulated lender applies, and outputs a full amortization chart so you can see how much of each payment goes to interest versus principal across the life of the loan.

How this calculator works

Canadian mortgages compound semi-annually but are paid monthly (or bi-weekly). To get the per-payment rate, the calculator derives the effective annual rate from the nominal annual rate using (1 + annual / 2)² − 1, then converts that to a periodic rate matching your payment frequency. The standard payment formula P = L × i / (1 − (1 + i)⁻ⁿ) gives the fixed dollar amount that fully amortizes the loan over the chosen term.

CMHC insurance applies when the down payment is below 20%. The premium is added to the loan principal — you don't pay it up front, but you do pay interest on it for the life of the mortgage. The current tiers are:

5.00–9.99% down: 4.00% CMHC premium
10.00–14.99% down: 3.10% CMHC premium
15.00–19.99% down: 2.80% CMHC premium
20%+ down: no CMHC required (conventional mortgage)

Why semi-annual compounding matters

The 0.5–1% gap between "rate" and "effective rate" sounds small, but over a 25-year amortization on a $500,000 mortgage it's worth several thousand dollars in either direction. Canadian Bank Act rules require semi-annual compounding for fixed mortgages — a stricter standard than the monthly compounding used in most US calculators. If you've used a US-built calculator, expect this one to show payments roughly 0.1–0.2% lower for the same posted rate.

Bi-weekly versus accelerated bi-weekly

Standard bi-weekly payments split the equivalent monthly payment across 26 periods per year (the same total annual cash, with rate compounded at bi-weekly intervals). Total interest is essentially identical to monthly payments.

Accelerated bi-weekly takes the monthly payment and divides by two — meaning you pay 26 half-monthly amounts per year instead of 24. That's roughly one extra monthly payment per year, applied directly to principal. On a typical mortgage it shaves 3–5 years off the amortization and saves $20,000–$50,000 in interest over the life of the loan. The calculator surfaces both so you can see the trade-off side by side.

Sharing scenarios

Every input is encoded into the URL as you change it. Bookmark or share the page and the next visitor lands on the same scenario you saw. Useful when comparing quotes with a broker, partner, or co-buyer.