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BC Real Estate Glossary

CMHC Default Insurance Cap

Also known as: CMHC cap · Mortgage insurance cap

The maximum home purchase price eligible for CMHC default mortgage insurance — raised from $1,000,000 to $1,500,000 effective December 15, 2024.

CMHC default mortgage insurance allows buyers to purchase a home with as little as 5% down (on the first $500,000) plus 10% on the portion between $500,000 and the cap. Effective December 15, 2024, the maximum eligible purchase price for default-insured mortgages was raised from $1,000,000 to $1,500,000 — the most material loosening of the high-ratio mortgage market in over a decade.

Above the $1,500,000 cap, conventional 20%-down financing is required. The same December 15, 2024 reform also extended 30-year amortization eligibility to all first-time home buyers and to all buyers purchasing newly constructed housing, regardless of the property's purchase price.

Related terms

  • 30-Year Amortization Eligibility — A December 15, 2024 reform permitting 30-year amortization on CMHC-insured mortgages for first-time home buyers (any property) and any buyer purchasing newly constructed housing.
  • OSFI Mortgage Stress Test (B-20) — OSFI Guideline B-20 requires federally-regulated lenders to qualify mortgage borrowers at the greater of (a) the contract rate plus 2 percentage points or (b) the Bank of Canada qualifying rate (5.

See also

Cite this fact

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BibTeX — LaTeX, academic
@misc{bronsonjob-cmhc_insurance_cap,
  author       = {Job, Bronson},
  title        = {{CMHC default insurance maximum purchase price}},
  howpublished = {BC Real Estate Codex},
  year         = {2026},
  url          = {https://www.bronsonjob.com/codex#cmhc.insurance_cap},
  urldate      = {2026-05-08},
  note         = {Fact ID: cmhc.insurance_cap, version 2.}
}
APA — Press, journalism
Job, B. (2026). CMHC default insurance maximum purchase price. *BC Real Estate Codex*. Retrieved 2026-05-08, from https://www.bronsonjob.com/codex#cmhc.insurance_cap
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CMHC default insurance maximum purchase price — Bronson Job, BC Real Estate Codex (2026-05-08). https://www.bronsonjob.com/codex#cmhc.insurance_cap

Fact id: cmhc.insurance_cap · v2 · machine-readable: /api/v1/facts/by-id/cmhc.insurance_cap.json

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Bronson Job, REALTOR®
Bronson JobREALTOR® · GVR Member #6015742 · FVREB Member #FJOBBR