Free · Every monthly line · Canadian math
Total Cost of Ownership Calculator
What owning actually costs each month — mortgage, property tax, insurance, condo fees, utilities and upkeep — and how much of that payment you get back as equity.
The home
- Mortgage
- $3,539
- Everything else
- $1,442
- A year
- $59,771
- Per sq ft
- $5.53
What your lender quoted you
A payment of $3,538.67. What actually leaves your account is $4,981 — a difference of $1,442 a month, $17,307 a year.
None of that difference appeared in the payment you were quoted, and only part of it appeared in the calculation that approved you.
Property tax is estimated from your purchase price using Toronto, ON's mill rate and an assumed assessment ratio. In Ontario especially, assessed values sit well below market price, so this line is the softest number here — enter the actual annual tax if the listing shows it.
Approval tells you what a lender permits. It does not tell you what the home costs to run. A broker can size a mortgage against the whole picture rather than the slice the ratios count.
Talk to a brokerEvery line, every month
The mortgage payment is 71% of what you pay. The rest arrives whether you planned for it or not.
How much of that is cost, and how much is yours
Part of the mortgage payment repays principal — it reduces what you owe rather than being spent, so it moves into your equity. Use the full $4,981 to judge whether you can afford the home, and the $3,791 when comparing against rent, which buys no equity at all.
The income behind it
A lender counts $4,274.26 of housing cost — the mortgage, property tax, a $100 heat allowance and half the condo fee. That is $707 a month less than you actually pay.
Where a lender approves you
Housing lands exactly on the 39% limit. That is the most stretched they will let you be — a ceiling, not a recommendation.
Where this is comfortable
Your full carrying cost at a third of gross income — utilities, insurance and upkeep included, not just the slice the ratios count.
What leaves your account
- Every month
- $4,981
- Every year
- $59,771
- The mortgage payment isEverything between that and 100% is what the payment alone never tells you
- 71%
Line by line, monthly
- Mortgage paymentPrincipal and interest
- $3,538.67
- Property taxEstimated from Toronto, ON's mill rate
- $295.59
- Home insuranceRequired by every lender before closing
- $100.00
- Condo feesYou pay all of it; a lender counts half
- $680.00
- UtilitiesYour estimate — worth replacing with real figures
- $200.00
- Maintenance reserve0.25% a year — interior only, the fee covers the building
- $166.67
How much of that is actually cost
- Principal — you keep this34% of the mortgage payment moves to your own equity rather than being spent
- $1,190.17
- True cost — this is goneInterest, tax, insurance, fees, utilities and upkeep
- $3,791
- Equity built in year oneRises every year as the balance falls
- $14,282
The income behind it
- Where a lender would approve youThe income at which housing hits the 39% limit exactly — the most stretched you are allowed to be, not a target
- $131,516
- Where this sits at a third of incomeYour full carrying cost, not the narrower slice lenders count
- $179,313
- What a lender actually countsMortgage, property tax, a $100 heat allowance and half the condo fee — $707 less than you really pay
- $4,274.26
Per square foot
- Carrying cost per sq ft per monthThe fairest way to compare a condo against a freehold home of a different size
- $5.53
- Floor area used
- 900 sq ft
The mortgage figure uses semi-annual compounding as the Interest Act requires, and the principal split comes from the first year of the real amortization schedule. Property tax is estimated from your purchase price and the local mill rate unless you enter the actual bill — assessed values often sit well below market price, so the estimate is the softest figure here. Maintenance reserves are planning conventions, not forecasts. Utilities and insurance are your own estimates and vary a great deal by property. One-time closing costs are excluded; they are a separate calculation. An estimate for planning, not a bill.
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What the Total Cost of Ownership Calculator does
A lender quotes you a mortgage payment. That is not what owning a home costs. Property tax arrives whether you budgeted for it or not, insurance is mandatory, a condo fee is due every month regardless, utilities are yours now, and something in the building will eventually need replacing. This adds all of it up.
It then does something most calculators of this kind do not: it separates the money that is actually gone from the money that is simply moving into your own equity. Part of every mortgage payment repays principal, and counting that as a cost overstates what owning is costing you — which is the same class of error as pretending the payment is the whole bill, just in the opposite direction.
- Every monthly line: mortgage, property tax, insurance, condo fees, utilities and upkeep
- The share of your payment that builds equity rather than disappearing
- True monthly cost — everything except principal — for comparing against rent
- Cost per square foot, so a condo and a freehold home compare fairly
- Two income figures: where a lender approves you, and where this is actually comfortable
Outlay is not the same as cost
These are two different questions and mixing them up leads people in opposite wrong directions.
What leaves your account each month is the number that matters for cash flow — whether you can pay the bills. Every line here counts toward it, including the full mortgage payment. That is the figure to budget against and the one this page leads with.
What owning actually costs you is different, because part of the mortgage payment is not spent. It reduces the balance you owe, which means it moves from your bank account to your equity. Early in a 25-year amortization that portion is small — most of the payment is interest — but it is real, and it grows every year. On an $800,000 condo with 20% down at 4.49%, about $1,190 of the monthly payment builds equity in the first year, roughly $14,300 over twelve months.
Use the outlay figure to decide whether you can afford the home. Use the true-cost figure when comparing owning against renting, because rent buys you no equity at all.
- Outlay: everything that leaves your account — the cash flow question
- True cost: interest, tax, insurance, fees, utilities and upkeep — the money genuinely gone
- Principal repayment is savings, not spending, and it grows every year
- Early in an amortization most of the payment is interest, so the two figures are close
- Compare true cost against rent; compare outlay against your income
What lenders count, and what they leave out
A lender does not assess the number this page produces. Their debt service ratios count a narrower slice: the mortgage payment, property tax, a standard heat allowance, and half of any condo fee.
That last one causes real trouble. Your lender counts 50% of the condo fee when deciding what you qualify for, but you pay 100% of it every month. On a $680 fee that is $340 a month of real spending that never appeared in the calculation that approved you. Utilities, home insurance and maintenance do not appear at all.
Which is why the two income figures on this page differ so much. The first is the income at which a lender would approve this purchase, with housing landing exactly on the 39% limit — that is a ceiling, the most stretched they are willing to let you be, not a recommendation. The second is what it takes for your full carrying cost to sit at a third of gross income, which is a proportion most households can actually live with.
- Lenders count: mortgage payment, property tax, a heat allowance, half the condo fee
- Lenders ignore: utilities, home insurance, maintenance, and the other half of the fee
- The 39% GDS limit is a ceiling for approval, not a target for comfort
- A condo fee is the most common gap between qualifying and actually paying
- Approval tells you what is permitted; this page tells you what it costs
How this is actually calculated
The mortgage payment uses the same semi-annual compounding engine as every other calculator here, including a default insurance premium where the down payment is under 20%. The principal and interest split comes from the first year of the real amortization schedule rather than an approximation, because the mix shifts every month and the first year is what a buyer is budgeting.
Property tax is estimated from your purchase price using the municipal mill rate and an assumed assessment ratio — but if you enter the actual annual bill, that is used instead. It is worth doing. In Ontario particularly, assessed values sit well below market price, which makes the estimate the softest number on the page.
The maintenance reserve is a planning convention: roughly 1% of value a year for a freehold, about a quarter of that for a condo, whose monthly fee already funds the building’s reserve. Utilities and insurance are entered directly rather than derived, because neither has a defensible national figure and both move the total by a hundred dollars or more either way.
- Mortgage: semi-annual compounding, with any insurance premium financed into the balance
- Principal / interest split: taken from year one of the actual schedule
- Property tax: your actual bill if entered, otherwise price × mill rate ÷ 12
- Maintenance: 1% of value a year freehold, about 0.25% for a condo interior
- Income at the ceiling: lender housing costs ÷ 39%. Comfortable: full carrying cost ÷ one third
Using your results well
Compare total carrying cost rather than purchase price when weighing a condo against a freehold home. A cheaper condo with a large monthly fee can carry the same as or more than a pricier house with none, and the cost-per-square-foot figure is the fairest way to see it.
If you are still choosing a neighbourhood, run it twice with different cities. Property tax is usually the second-largest line and mill rates vary widely — the same home can carry meaningfully differently a few kilometres away.
And get real numbers where you can. Enter the actual property tax from the listing rather than the estimate; get an insurance quote once you have an address; ask a condo for its status certificate and reserve fund study before assuming the current fee will hold. A thin reserve fund is the clearest warning of a special assessment to come.
- Enter the actual property tax bill instead of relying on the estimate
- Get an insurance quote once you have a specific address
- Ask for a condo’s status certificate and reserve fund study before you commit
- Compare cost per square foot when weighing a condo against a house
- Remember closing costs are separate — this page is ongoing cost only
Common questions
What does owning a home really cost each month beyond the mortgage?
For most owners the total runs 35% to 60% above the mortgage payment once property tax, insurance, utilities, maintenance and any condo fee are added. On an $800,000 Toronto condo with 20% down, a $3,539 mortgage payment becomes roughly $4,981 a month all in — the payment is only about 71% of the real figure.
Is my whole mortgage payment a cost?
No. Part of it repays principal, which reduces what you owe and moves into your equity rather than being spent. Early in a 25-year amortization most of the payment is interest, so the portion you keep is modest — around $1,190 a month on the example above — but it is real and it grows every year. Interest is a cost; principal is savings.
Do lenders count my full condo fee?
No, typically only 50% of it goes into your debt service ratios, even though you pay all of it every month. That gap is a common source of payment shock for first-time condo buyers who budgeted to the number that got them approved rather than the number they actually pay.
How much should I budget for maintenance?
About 1% of the home’s value a year for a freehold property is the standard planning convention, covering roofing, furnaces, appliances and general upkeep over time. Condo owners generally need roughly a quarter of that, since the monthly fee already funds the building’s major repairs — their reserve only has to cover the unit interior.
Is a condo cheaper to own than a house?
Not necessarily. The purchase price and the maintenance reserve are usually lower, but the monthly fee can offset or exceed both. Comparing total carrying cost per square foot, rather than purchase price, is the reliable way to judge it — and remember the fee can rise or be supplemented by a special assessment.
How much income do I need for this home?
Two different answers. A lender will approve you when your housing costs — mortgage, property tax, a heat allowance and half the condo fee — reach 39% of gross income; that is a ceiling, not a recommendation. For the full carrying cost to sit at a third of gross income, which most households find livable, you generally need meaningfully more. Both figures are shown above.
Why is the property tax figure only an estimate?
Because it is derived from your purchase price and an assumed assessment ratio, not an actual assessment. In Ontario especially, assessed values are frozen at an older base year and sit well below market price, so the estimate can be off in either direction. If the listing shows the annual tax, enter it — it replaces the estimate outright.
Next step
Approval tells you what is allowed, not what you can live with.
Debt service ratios count a narrower slice of this than you actually pay, and the 39% limit is a ceiling rather than advice. A broker can size a mortgage against the whole picture, tell you what a condo fee is likely to do over your term, and be honest about where the comfortable number sits. Mortgage Directory lists licensed brokers across Canada — placement is never sold, and an enquiry goes to one broker only.