Porting or transferring your mortgage

This piece was originally published in April 2012, and was most recently updated on October 15, 2026.

Let’s say you are currently locked into a five-year mortgage term, with two years to go until renewal time. But your life circumstances have recently changed – such as needing to relocate due to a new job offer, or acquire more space due to a growing family – and you’re going to need to get out of your mortgage sooner than you had originally planned.

While one approach would be to break your mortgage and incur a pre-penalty penalty, you may have other options; your mortgage contract may allow you to port your mortgage (also called transferring a mortgage).

But how does this work – and when may it not be a fit for you?

What is porting a mortgage?

Porting your mortgage means taking your existing mortgage – along with its current rate and terms – from one property and transferring it to another. You’re only allowed to port your mortgage if you’re purchasing a new property at the same time you’re selling your old one. Unlike mortgage refinancing, porting a mortgage doesn’t require you to break your mortgage and pay pre-payment penalties. Porting isn’t automatic, though: your lender will generally re-qualify you and the new property, and under the federal stress test you must qualify at the greater of your contract rate plus 2% or 5.25%. That rule was left unchanged by OSFI in January 2026.

Also read: Should you extend your mortgage amortization?

Don’t worry if the mortgage you’ll need for the new property will be larger – that’s very common when porting a mortgage. Your lender will offer you what’s called a blend and extend. This is essentially a weighted average of the existing mortgage and interest rate, and the new money required at a current mortgage rate. Some lenders also offer a “blend to term,” which keeps your original maturity date but usually results in a higher blended rate.

Mortgage porting example

Let’s assume you have a $500,000 balance remaining on your mortgage, a fixed rate of 3.49%, and are two years into a five-year term. You can break your mortgage and pay a fee, or you can borrow the additional amount from your lender. If the best mortgage rate you qualify for today is 5.29%, the blended rate will be somewhere between 3.49% and 5.29%.

For example, if you need to borrow an additional $200,000 and you want a new five-year term, your blended rate will be 4.52% on a $700,000 mortgage. Use our mortgage payment calculator to figure out what kind of payments you would need to make on a blended mortgage.

When to port your mortgage

If you’re considering porting or transferring your mortgage, it makes the most sense to do it when your mortgage rate is lower than what’s currently being offered by lenders. This is because your blended rate will end up being lower than if you were to start a new mortgage from scratch.

However, if the mortgage rate you can qualify for today is lower than what you currently have, it might not make sense to port. In order to access these lower rates, you’d need to consider refinancing your mortgage. Be sure to look at the penalty to break your mortgage before deciding whether or not that’s a good idea. 

This situation is more common than it was a couple of years ago. With the Bank of Canada’s policy rate at 2.25% and the best five-year fixed rates around 4.09% as of October 2026, some borrowers who locked in when rates were higher may now find that current offers beat their contract rate. Compare your rate and your penalty with today’s best rates before you decide.

Can you port any mortgage?

There’s a possibility you won’t be able to port your mortgage at all. Some lenders allow mortgage porting, while others do not. If you’re planning to move home during the term of a mortgage, this is a very important feature to have. A mortgage broker will be able to tell you which lenders are portable.

Finally, not all mortgages are portable. For example, most variable-rate mortgages can’t be ported. Some lenders will let you convert a variable rate to a fixed rate first so you can port, but fees may apply. The penalty to break a variable-rate mortgage is usually three months’ interest, which is often lower than the penalty on a fixed-rate mortgage, so breaking may cost less than you expect. The amount of time you have to complete the port, which is usually between 30 and 120 days, also varies among lenders. Some will allow just 30 days, which may be tight in some circumstances. But 120 days is usually enough time for someone to complete the sale of their old property and complete the purchase of their new home.

Even some fixed-rate mortgages cannot be ported. These are commonly known as restricted mortgages. Restricted mortgages can seem attractive due to their relatively low posted rates, but lack desirable (and often necessary) features like portability. It's a good idea to consult with a mortgage broker to ensure that you don't inadvertently get locked into a restricted mortgage. 

The bottom line

If you’re getting a new mortgage, being able to port your mortgage is a good feature to have, whether or not you expect to use it. After all, none of us know what the future holds. If you think you might move to a new home within your upcoming term, it’s a must. Porting matters most if your contract rate is lower than today’s best rates. If your rate is higher, breaking and refinancing may be the better move, so run the numbers both ways. If you’re currently looking to buy a new house, make sure you do your research and decide if porting your current mortgage is the right option for you.

Also read:

• Should I pay down my mortgage with a lump sum, or invest?
• The trigger rate: Everything you need to know
• The Tax-Free First Home Savings Account
• Mortgages and inflation: How do they affect each other?
• How does the stress test impact mortgage affordability?
• Should you switch from a variable-rate to a fixed-rate mortgage?
• What is a mortgage pre-approval?
• 7 tips to get approved for a mortgage