TRENDING: Coast Mental Health Planning 29-Storey Social Housing In Mount Pleasant

Housing Costs

Understand housing costs in Canadian real estate, what’s included, how they affect mortgage approval, and why they matter for budgeting.

Housing Costs

May 22, 2025


What are Housing Costs?

Housing costs refer to the monthly expenses directly related to owning or renting a home, including payments, taxes, utilities, and maintenance.

Why Do Housing Costs Matter in Real Estate?

In Canadian real estate, housing costs are a critical part of affordability calculations. Lenders use these figures to determine mortgage eligibility through the Gross Debt Service (GDS) ratio.

Housing costs typically include:
  • Mortgage principal and interest payments
  • Property taxes
  • Heating expenses
  • 50% of monthly condo fees (if applicable)
Buyers must understand these ongoing expenses to accurately budget for homeownership. In addition to the direct costs included in GDS, homeowners also face insurance, repairs, and occasional major upkeep.
Understanding housing costs is essential for evaluating financial readiness, comparing properties, and passing lender affordability tests.

Example of Housing Costs in Action

A condo buyer’s housing costs include $1,600 in mortgage payments, $200 in taxes, $100 in heating, and $150 in condo fees — totaling $2,075 per month.

Key Takeaways

  • Recurring monthly expenses tied to housing.
  • Used in mortgage affordability calculations.
  • Includes mortgage, taxes, heat, and condo fees.
  • Helps define budget and lender limits.
  • Must be accurately estimated before buying.

Related Terms

Additional Terms

Public Realm Improvements

Public realm improvements are enhancements to public spaces such as sidewalks, parks, plazas, and streetscapes, often funded or contributed by. more

Mortgagee in Possession

A mortgagee in possession is a lender who takes control of a property after borrower default, but before foreclosure or power of sale. The lender. more

Lease Surrender Agreement

A lease surrender agreement is a negotiated contract between a landlord and tenant that ends a lease before its scheduled expiration. Terms may. more

Green Infrastructure

Green infrastructure refers to natural or engineered systems that manage stormwater, reduce heat, and improve sustainability in developments.. more

Escrow Holdback

An escrow holdback is a portion of funds withheld at closing and held in escrow until specific conditions are met, such as completion of repairs,. more

Underused Housing Tax

The Underused Housing Tax (UHT) is a federal annual 1% tax on the value of vacant or underused residential property owned by non-resident,. more

More For You

Canderel Breaks Ground On Forêt Forest Hill With Five-Bank Financing In Place

Canderel Breaks Ground On Forêt Forest Hill With Five-Bank Financing In Place

(liveatforet.ca)

At Bathurst and St. Clair, Canderel has officially started construction on Forêt Forest Hill — its three-tower, master-planned community in midtown Toronto.

The development has secured construction financing from a consortium of five major Canadian banks led by CIBC, with National Bank, TD, Desjardins, and Laurentian Bank rounding out the group.

Keep Reading Show less

The 6 Key Takeaways From CMHC's 2026 Mid-Year Rental Market Update

The 6 Key Takeaways From CMHC's 2026 Mid-Year Rental Market Update

(CMHC)

Last week, Rentals.ca published their latest rental market report, noting that the average asking rent in Canada declined by 4.7% year over year in May, marking the 20th consecutive month to see a year-over-year decline.

“Since reaching a low of $1,662 in April 2021 during COVID-19, average rents have risen 22.1%, but have declined 7.8% from the high of $2,202 in May 2024,” they said.

Keep Reading Show less

Ontario Brokerages Required To File Finances With RECO Starting This Fall

Ontario Brokerages Required To File Finances With RECO Starting This Fall
Shutterstock

Ontario real estate brokerages are getting a new piece of homework, courtesy of their regulator.

Starting October 1, 2026, every brokerage in the province will have to attest to and submit an annual financial filing to the Real Estate Council of Ontario (RECO) — a requirement meant to give RECO a clearer, more consistent look at how brokerages manage money, and specifically the funds they're holding in trust on behalf of buyers and sellers.

Keep Reading Show less

Spring Market At Last? Canadian Home Sales Jumped 5.5% In May

Spring Market At Last? Canadian Home Sales Jumped 5.5% In May
Shutterstock

After a spring that never quite got going, the Canadian housing market found a gear in May.

Home sales across Canadian MLS® Systems rose 5.5% from April, according to the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) — the first month in 2026 to post any meaningful upward momentum in headline demand.

Keep Reading Show less

Toronto Rail Yards Would Bring 4,000 Homes To Downtown Rail Corridor

Toronto Rail Yards Would Bring 4,000 Homes To Downtown Rail Corridor

Fengate

What do New York City’s Hudson Yards, Chicago’s Millennium Park, and Paris’s Rive Gauche have in common? They’re all built directly on top of active railway lines. And Toronto has fresh plans to do the same – this time, as a brand-new mixed-use community rather than a standalone park.

For years, what to do with the airspace above the Union Station rail corridor has been a hot topic. Former Toronto mayor John Tory famously proposed Rail Deck Park – a 21-acre green space with a $1.7 billion price tag – back in 2016. Now, following several years of planning and ownership consolidation, the LiUNA Pension Fund of Central and Eastern Canada and master developer Fengate Asset Management have unveiled reworked plans for an entire mixed-use community called Toronto Rail Yards.

Keep Reading Show less

Bank Of Canada Holds Interest Rate At 2.25%

Bank Of Canada Holds Interest Rate At 2.25%

The Bank of Canada held its overnight rate at 2.25% on June 10, citing a mix of domestic weakness and global turbulence that has complicated the economic outlook.

Canada's GDP slipped 0.1% in Q1, weaker than the Bank had projected in April, and the economy is expected to remain in excess supply even as growth rebounds modestly in Q2.

Keep Reading Show less

Vancouver Plan To Pre-Zone 17 Villages Set For Public Hearing

Vancouver Plan To Pre-Zone 17 Villages Set For Public Hearing

(City of Vancouver)

After approving the Vancouver Plan in 2022, the City of Vancouver adopted the Vancouver Official Development Plan (ODP) on March 31, 2026, which replaces the 2022 plan as the guide for how Vancouver will grow over the next 30 years.

The Vancouver ODP categorizes areas of Vancouver into several neighbourhood designations based on “the type, scale, and intensity of change envisioned”: Metro Core/Broadway, Municipal Town Centre, Rapid Transit Area, Neighbourhood Centre, Multiplex Area, Rapid-Transit Overlap Areas, and Villages.

Keep Reading Show less

A Lake Tremblant Waterfront Estate Just Broke Québec's Residential Sales Record

A Lake Tremblant Waterfront Estate Just Broke Québec's Residential Sales Record

A lakefront estate in Mont-Tremblant, listed at $19,800,000, has sold — setting a new record as the highest residential sale ever recorded in the region through the Québec Professional Association of Real Estate Brokers' Centris database.

The sale, brokered by Sotheby's International Realty Canada, involved a Canadian buyer represented through the Sotheby's Québec network. Further details of the transaction are being kept private.

Keep Reading Show less
Privacy Policy About Us Terms of Use Advertise with Us Jobs Contact Us RSS Feed
All rights reserved SiteMedia © 2026.