Renewing your mortgage in Toronto? The costs that aren't the rate
A new survey found 45% of Canadians who renewed this year say housing now eats half or more of their household budget. Rate shopping is only part of the fix — the rest of the number is property tax, condo fees and deferred repairs you can look up.
Canada is in the middle of its largest wave of mortgage renewals, and the numbers coming out of it are ugly. A Rates.ca survey conducted by Leger in late July 2026 found that 82% of Canadians who renewed since January saw their borrowing costs go up, and that 45% of renewing households say the payment now consumes half or more of their entire household budget. Younger owners took it hardest: 90% of those aged 18 to 34 renewed at a higher rate, and 56% of that group put housing at 50–70% of their budget.
For context, RBC's own guidance is that no more than 30% to 32% of gross annual income should go to mortgage expenses — and it defines that to include principal, interest, property taxes, heating and condo fees.
This is general information, not financial advice. Talk to a mortgage broker or advisor about your own situation.
The rate is the part everyone shops
And you should shop it. The consistent advice is to start reviewing options at least 120 days before your renewal date, which gives you room to compare rate, term, amortization and prepayment flexibility rather than signing whatever your lender mails you. In this year's cohort, 40% chose five-year terms and 35% went to three years.
But look again at how RBC frames the 30–32%: principal and interest are only two of five items. In Toronto, the other three are where a renewal budget quietly breaks.
You can negotiate the rate once every few years. You inherit the property tax, the condo fees and the deferred repairs every single month.
The three costs you can actually look up
Property tax. Toronto's 2026 residential rate is 0.767311% of MPAC assessed value, and Council resets the City portion with every budget. On a $900,000 assessment that's roughly $575 a month before anything else. It's also based on 2016 values, which is why two similar homes can carry very different bills — we unpack that in why your property tax is based on 2016 values and run the arithmetic in how much is property tax in Toronto. Get your own figure from the property tax calculator.
Repairs the last owner didn't do. An open order or violation against the property is the City telling someone to fix something, and it doesn't disappear at closing. If you're renewing and considering a move rather than a renewal, that's a number to price before you commit — pull orders and violations and the permit history for any address you're looking at. Work done without a permit is a bill waiting for whoever owns the place next.
Condo fees and what's behind them. Fees follow the building's actual condition, not its marketing. A building with a thin reserve and major mechanical work still ahead of it will find that money one way or another. The permit record shows what's already been done; what hasn't been done yet is the risk.
Running the whole number
The honest renewal question isn't "what rate can I get." It's whether the full monthly carrying cost — payment, property tax, insurance, utilities, condo fees, maintenance — still fits a budget that's absorbing 3.0% headline inflation as of July 2026. If it doesn't, extending amortization, switching terms and moving are all on the table, and they're all math problems rather than vibes.
Our sister site Metrestick builds those comparisons on official Canadian data — rent-vs-buy, carrying cost and affordability calculators at metrestick.ca. If the answer comes back "renting is cheaper right now," that's a legitimate result, and rent or buy when condos don't appreciate works through what that looks like in this market.
Before you sign the renewal
- Start shopping ~120 days out; don't let the auto-renewal letter be the offer.
- Pull your actual property tax figure rather than using last year's.
- Check for open orders on the property you own — and on anything you're thinking of buying.
- Add condo fees, insurance and utilities before comparing anything to a rent number.
Check any Toronto address
Run the property tax calculator, pull orders and violations and permit history, or start from the full property snapshot. Monitor an address to catch new orders and permits as they're filed, and size the affordability math with Metrestick's calculators at metrestick.ca.