Pre-approval amount calculator
The maximum mortgage you can get pre-approved for under current stress-test rules — federally regulated lenders, OSFI B-20.
Your scenario
Result
Estimate only — final approval depends on credit, employment tenure, and lender overlays.
How a mortgage pre-approval works in Canada
A mortgage pre-approval is a formal review of your credit, income, debt, and down payment by a lender. Unlike a pre-qualification (which is just a back-of-envelope estimate), a pre-approval comes with a rate hold — typically 90 to 120 days — and a written letter that sellers and real estate agents take seriously.
What this calculator computes
The federal mortgage stress test caps your qualifying payment at the higher of contract rate + 2% or 5.25%. This calculator applies that qualifying rate against the standard Canadian Gross Debt Service (GDS) and Total Debt Service (TDS) ratios — 39% and 44% respectively for insured borrowers. The smaller of the two ratios determines your ceiling.
What we don't include
- Lender-specific overlays (employment tenure rules, BFS docs, gift letter requirements)
- Credit-score-based rate adjustments
- Co-signers (run the co-signer impact calculator)
- Provincial cost stacks like land transfer tax (see LTT calculator)
Pre-approval vs pre-qualification
Pre-approval requires real document review and locks a rate. Pre-qualification is a guess.
Next steps
- Run full affordability for a deeper breakdown
- Run mortgage stress test at your specific rate
- Compare your lender's offer on the live rates board
Questions about this calculator
- What is a mortgage pre-approval?
- A lender's conditional statement of how much they would lend you, at what rate, based on verified income, credit and down payment. It normally holds the rate for 90 to 120 days and tells a seller you are a serious buyer.
- Is a pre-approval a guarantee?
- No. It is conditional on the property, the appraisal and nothing changing in your finances. Deals fall apart at this stage most often because the buyer changed jobs, took on a car loan, or the appraisal came in below the purchase price.
- What is the difference between pre-qualification and pre-approval?
- Pre-qualification is an estimate from numbers you state, with nothing verified — useful for orientation, worth little to a seller. Pre-approval involves documents, a credit pull and an underwriter, and carries a rate hold.
- Does a pre-approval hurt my credit score?
- The hard inquiry costs a few points and fades. Shopping several lenders within a short window is normally treated as one inquiry by the scoring models, so comparing offers properly does not compound the effect.