First Home Savings Planner
See when a down payment plan reaches its target, or how much a month it takes to buy by a date. The planner adds up the full cash stack (down payment plus closing costs), shows how the FHSA, the Home Buyers' Plan, and a TFSA can fund it, and compares minimum down with 20% down.
Saving $1,500 a month, this plan reaches $43,783 in about 22 months (around Aug 2028).
Your cash stack
| Down payment (5.8% of $600,000) | $35,000 |
|---|---|
| Ontario land transfer tax | $8,475 |
| First-time buyer rebate or exemption | −$4,000 |
| Provincial sales tax on the CMHC premium (paid in cash) | $1,808 |
| Legal, title, inspection and other fees assumption | $2,500 |
| Total cash needed at closing | $43,783 |
The CMHC insurance premium (4.00% of the loan, $22,600) is added to the mortgage, not paid in cash. Only the sales tax on it is due at closing.
Rule-of-thumb check: closing costs of 1.5% of the price would be $9,000. The itemized total above excludes the down payment: $8,783.
Where the money comes from
| FHSA (tax-free qualifying withdrawal) | $24,673 |
|---|---|
| TFSA | $19,110 |
| Left over after closing | $540 |
Order shown: FHSA first, then the Home Buyers' Plan, then TFSA, then taxable savings, then gifts. New monthly savings are placed in the FHSA until its yearly room is used, then the TFSA, then a taxable account. This is one way to sequence the accounts, shown so you can compare; it is not a recommendation.
FHSA contributions are also tax-deductible. For an $8,000 deduction in Ontario, the refund is roughly $1,524 to $3,473 depending on income (19.05% to 43.41% combined marginal rates). The planner does not add refunds to your savings. First-time buyers can also claim the Home Buyers' Amount, worth about $1,400 of federal tax relief in 2026.
The 20%-down tradeoff
| Minimum down | 20% down | |
|---|---|---|
| Down payment | $35,000 | $120,000 |
| Cash needed at closing | $43,783 | $126,975 |
| Time to save it | 22 months | 71 months |
| CMHC premium added to mortgage | $22,600 | $0 |
| Mortgage amount | $587,600 | $480,000 |
| Payment at 4.50% | $3,252 | $2,657 |
| Qualifying payment (stress test 6.50%) | $3,936 | $3,215 |
| Payment at 3.91% snapshot rate | $3,062 | $2,502 |
| Interest over 25 years if the rate never changed | $388,062 | $317,001 |
20% down takes about 49 months longer to save in this plan, avoids a $22,600 insurance premium, and lowers the payment by about $596 a month. Rent paid, home-price changes, and rate changes during the extra time are not included.
After you buy: the budget shock
| Mortgage payment at 4.50% | $3,252 |
|---|---|
| Property tax (0.767% a year) | $384 |
| Maintenance (1% of price a year) assumption | $500 |
| Home insurance assumption | $150 |
| Monthly cost of owning | $4,286 |
Utilities and moving costs are not included. The money you were setting aside for the down payment ($1,500 a month in this plan) is freed up after closing.
Assumptions behind these numbers
- Savings rate 2.75% re-check. The default comes from EQ Bank's rate, which requires $2,000 a month in direct deposits. Without that, EQ's base rate is 1.00% (checked 2026-09-28).
- Mortgage rate 4.50% illustrative, verify. Taken from a worked example, not a lender quote. The Ratehub best 5-year fixed snapshot of 3.91% is shown alongside and expires 2026-10-15. Payments use Canadian semi-annual compounding.
- Closing fees $2,500 assumption. Legal, title, inspection and similar fees vary by lawyer and region. Extra cushion defaults to $0; a larger cushion is a personal choice, not a sourced figure.
- Toronto land transfer tax verified against toronto.ca 2026-09-30. Uses the tiers in effect from April 1, 2026.
- Home Buyers' Plan repayments use the standard schedule. The temporary 5-year grace applied only to 2022-2025 withdrawals, so it does not apply to a future purchase.
- Maintenance 1% of price a year and insurance $150 a month assumption. Design defaults, editable above.
- Every account earns the same savings rate. Deposits land at the end of each month. Future TFSA room is assumed to stay at the 2026 limit of $7,000 a year.
- Past FHSA contributions are assumed to have been made in the earliest years with room. Couples are assumed to have opened their FHSAs in the same year.
- Home prices, rents, and rates are held constant. Tax refunds from FHSA or RRSP deductions are not added to savings.
Sources and dates
- FHSA annual contribution limit: www.canada.ca, checked 2026-09-29
- FHSA lifetime limit: www.canada.ca, checked 2026-09-29
- FHSA unused-room carry-forward: www.canada.ca, checked 2026-09-29
- Home Buyers' Plan withdrawal limit per person: www.canada.ca, checked 2026-09-26
- HBP standard repayment period: www.canada.ca, checked 2026-09-26
- HBP repayment start offset (standard rule): www.canada.ca, checked 2026-09-30
- Home Buyers' Amount: 2026 credit value: turbotax.intuit.ca, checked 2026-09-29
- Tax refund from an $8,000 FHSA deduction, Ontario illustrative range: internal design default, checked 2026-09-30re-verify
- 2026 TFSA annual contribution limit: www.canada.ca, checked 2026-09-29 (expires 2026-12-31)
- Insured mortgage price cap (Dec 2024 reform): www.canada.ca, checked 2026-09-29
- Minimum down payment tiers (federal, Dec 15, 2024): www.canada.ca, checked 2026-09-27
- CMHC mortgage insurance premiums (% of mortgage): www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca, checked 2026-09-27
- OSFI minimum qualifying rate (stress test): www.osfi-bsif.gc.ca, checked 2026-09-27
- Ontario land transfer tax tiers (2026): www.ontario.ca, checked 2026-09-27
- Ontario first-time home buyer LTT rebate maximum: homefind.ca, checked 2026-09-29
- Toronto MLTT brackets up to $3M (1-2 single-family residences): wowa.ca, checked 2026-09-29
- Toronto MLTT luxury tiers (residential, closings on/after Apr 1 2026): wowa.ca, checked 2026-09-29
- Toronto first-time buyer MLTT rebate maximum: homefind.ca, checked 2026-09-29
- BC property transfer tax general brackets: www.paxlaw.ca, checked 2026-09-29
- BC First Time Home Buyers' Program: price thresholds: www2.gov.bc.ca, checked 2026-09-29
- BC first-time home buyers program exemption cap: www2.gov.bc.ca, checked 2026-09-29
- Legal, title, inspection and other closing fees (planner default): internal design default, checked 2026-09-30assumption
- Extra cash cushion on top of itemized closing costs (planner default): internal design default, checked 2026-09-30assumption
- Planner default savings interest rate: www.eqbank.ca, checked 2026-09-28re-verify (expires 2026-10-15)
- EQ Bank everyday rates snapshot (Sept 2026): www.eqbank.ca, checked 2026-09-28 (expires 2026-10-15)
- Illustrative mortgage contract rate (planner default): internal design default, checked 2026-09-30assumption
- Best 5-year fixed rate snapshot (Ratehub, Sept 2026): www.ratehub.ca, checked 2026-09-27re-verify (expires 2026-10-15)
- Closing costs rule of thumb: www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca, checked 2026-09-27
- Rent-vs-buy calculator default assumptions: internal design default, checked 2026-09-27assumption (expires 2026-11-15)
- Home insurance per month (planner default): internal design default, checked 2026-09-30assumption (expires 2026-11-15)
- Toronto residential property tax rate (2026): www.toronto.ca, checked 2026-09-27
- Calgary residential property tax rate (2026): www.calgary.ca, checked 2026-09-27
- Edmonton residential property tax rate (2026): www.edmonton.ca, checked 2026-09-27