Mortgage Rates Canada: Current Rates by Term, Type and Loan-to-Value

On the board updated 2026-09-23, the lowest 5-year fixed is 4.24% (insured) and the lowest 5-year variable is 3.34%, with prime at 4.45%. Which of those you can actually get depends on the shelf your file lands on — insured, insurable or uninsured — which is why the board asks for two numbers before it filters.

Insured means less than 20% down with default insurance on the file — the lowest rates, because the lender carries no loss. Insurable means 20% or more down on a file the lender can still back-end bulk insure: up to $1.5M property value, 25-year amortization, owner-occupied. Uninsured is everything else — refinances, properties above $1.5M, 30-year amortizations, rentals — and prices highest.

Because crossing 20% moves you off insured pricing. The premium disappears but the rate goes up. Between roughly 15% and 20% down the arithmetic can favour putting less down and paying the premium. It is worth running both before you decide.

Every two to three business days, and immediately when the Bank of Canada moves. This board was last updated 2026-09-23.

Often not. The cheapest rates usually come with the tightest prepayment terms and the most punitive break penalties, and a fair share of files that break a five-year term early would have been better off a few basis points higher with a fair penalty clause. The rate is one term of the contract.

APR folds the mandatory costs of the mortgage into the interest rate so two offers can be compared on one number. A lender with a low rate and a high fee can have a worse APR than a lender with a higher rate and none.

Sometimes, and only in hindsight. A variable rate starts lower often enough, but what you pay over the whole term depends on where prime goes. The more reliable difference is the cost to break: a fixed mortgage is usually far more expensive to exit early.

No. Both are qualified at the stress-test rate — the higher of your contract rate plus 2% or 5.25% — so your maximum does not change.

Because terms are priced on what the market expects rates to do, not on length. When a fall is expected, lenders price short terms above long ones.

The term is how long the contract and the rate are locked — typically one to five years. The amortization is how long the whole mortgage takes to repay, typically 25 years. You will sign several terms over one amortization.