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Calculate the Mortgage Payment on an Average Home in British Columbia

For anyone who is considering buying a home, it’s important to educate yourself on both your local real estate market as well as how large of a mortgage loan you can afford to take on. In this blog series, we look at the average home price in your city or province and walk you through the mortgage payment calculations with our provincial mortgage calculator. For this post, we are going to calculate the mortgage payments for an average home in British Columbia.

According to the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA), the average home price in British Columbia is $528,507. This figure has decreased by 0.8% in the last year, but continues the trend of poor housing affordability in the province. But what does owning a home at this price look like in terms of a monthly mortgage payment? Let’s find an example and run the numbers through our British Columbia mortgage calculator.

The two-bedroom home seen above is located in the Gordon Head area of Victoria, British Columbia and is priced at $525,000. Using this home as an example, we will compare the monthly mortgage payments that would result from both a 5% and a 20% down payment. Note that both calculations use a 5-year fixed mortgage rate of 2.74% and an amortization period of 25 years.

With a 5% down payment:

A 5% down payment on a $525,000 home is $26,250. Because the down payment is less than 20%, you would also need to pay for British Columbia CMHC insurance (mortgage default insurance). In this example, the British Columbia CMHC insurance is $13,716 and is included in the total mortgage of $512,466. Assuming a 5-year fixed mortgage rate of 2.74%, your monthly mortgage payment would be $2,357.

With a 20% down payment:

A 20% down payment on a $525,000 home is $105,000. And because you made a down payment of 20% or more, you would not need to pay for British Columbia CMHC insurance, so your total mortgage would be the purchase price minus your down payment ($525,000 – $105,000 = $420,000). Assuming you took on a 5-year fixed mortgage rate at 2.74%, your monthly mortgage payment would be $1,932.

Beyond your mortgage, there are a number of other closing costs to consider, such as the British Columbia land transfer tax (LTT). For this example, your LTT would be $8,500. If a first-time homebuyer purchased a home for $425,000 or less, they could be eligible for an LTT rebate. Unfortunately, the average home price in British Columbia goes above and beyond that home price limit. Please note that LTT is an additional closing cost that you would need to save up and pay for on closing day.

Our calculator tells you what your mortgage payments would be monthly, but you can choose from other payment options as well. Most lenders give you the ability to choose monthly, bi-weekly or accelerated bi-weekly payments, and others may even let you make weekly payments. You can learn more about different mortgage payment options here.