Is There Any Such Thing as Zero Down in Ontario?

Published 12 November 2026 · By Jatin Dua, Broker of Record, RE/MAX Quantum Realty

People ask this constantly, and the honest answer is short: no, there is no true zero-down insured mortgage in Canada. The minimum is 5% on the first $500,000 of the purchase price, and the minimum normally has to come from your own funds.

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That is the rule. But “no zero down” is not the same as “no way in,” and the useful part of this question is what the actual routes to a small down payment are. Here they are, honestly assessed.

Why zero down does not exist

A down payment below 20% requires mortgage loan insurance, and the insured mortgage rules set the floor at 5% on the first $500,000, rising to 10% on the portion between $500,000 and $1.5 million. At $1.5 million and above, you need 20% and insurance is not available.

There is no insured product at 0%. Any offer that sounds like one is either not a mortgage, not insured, or not what it appears to be.

The legitimate routes to a small down payment

1. A gift from an immediate family member

The most common way first-time buyers in the GTA actually close. Lenders generally accept gifted down payments from immediate family with a signed gift letter confirming the money is a genuine gift and not repayable, plus evidence the funds have been received and are in your account.

Two practical points. Lenders want the money in your account well before closing, not the day of — give it several weeks. And it has to genuinely be a gift; a “gift” that is really a loan, disclosed to no one, is misrepresentation on a mortgage application.

2. The First Home Savings Account

$8,000 of participation room a year, to a $40,000 lifetime maximum, with unused room carrying forward. Contributions are deductible and qualifying withdrawals come out tax-free, which makes it the most efficient savings vehicle available for this purpose.

You need to be an adult resident of Canada and a first-time buyer — meaning you have not lived in a home you owned or co-owned in the past four years, and you do not live in a home your spouse or common-law partner owns.

If you are two or more years from buying, opening one today is close to a free decision, because the room starts accumulating when you open the account.

3. The Home Buyers’ Plan

Up to $60,000 per person withdrawn from your RRSPs tax-free, repaid over 15 years. For a couple, that is up to $120,000.

The trade-off is real: that money is out of your retirement savings and not growing, and the repayments are a real obligation — missed repayments can trigger additional tax. It is a loan from your future self, and it should be treated like one.

The FHSA and the HBP can be used together for the same purchase, which is the combination that gets most first-time buyers over the line.

4. Lender-specific flex-down products

Some lenders have, at various times, offered arrangements that allow a borrowed or non-traditional source for part of the down payment. Availability, pricing and eligibility vary by lender and change often, the interest rate is typically higher, and they are not universally offered.

This is firmly a question for a mortgage broker about what exists today, not something to plan around on the basis of an article. If a broker tells you nothing suitable is available, that is a real answer rather than a reason to look for a less careful broker.

Things to be sceptical about

Where there is a hard rule, there are people selling a way around it. Treat the following with real caution:

Anything described as “no money down” real estate. Ask precisely who is lending what, on what security, at what rate, and what happens if you miss a payment.
Vendor take-back arrangements offered as a substitute for a down payment. These exist legitimately but the terms matter enormously, and your lender must know about them.
Borrowing the down payment on a line of credit or credit card without telling the lender. This is misrepresentation. It also means you are carrying two debts on one property, with the expensive one unsecured.
Rent-to-own promoted as a path to ownership with nothing saved. Some of these are reasonable. Many transfer the risks of ownership to you while leaving the ownership with someone else.

The general test: if an arrangement only works because the lender does not know about it, it is not a route in. It is a problem you have agreed to have later.

The option nobody likes hearing

Sometimes the answer is to buy something less expensive, or to wait eighteen months and save.

That is unglamorous advice and I understand why it is unwelcome in this market. But a purchase made with no reserves is fragile, and a house with no cushion behind it turns an ordinary event — a furnace, a job change, a rate renewal — into a crisis. Beyond the down payment you want closing costs and a few months of payments available.

The people I have seen do worst in this market are not the ones who waited. They are the ones who got in with absolutely nothing behind them.

The short version

No zero down. Minimum 5% on the first $500,000, normally from your own funds. The real routes are a documented family gift, an FHSA, the Home Buyers’ Plan, and — if one is available to you today — a lender’s flex-down product. Combine the FHSA and the HBP if you can. And have closing costs and a reserve beyond the down payment.

I am a real estate broker, not a mortgage professional or a financial advisor, and this is general information rather than advice about your circumstances. Program limits and lender offerings change — confirm with a mortgage broker and the CRA.

Sources

Free toolToronto real estate facts 2026Short, sourced answers on land transfer tax, mortgage rules, the rent guideline and more, with the date each was verified.

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