When you apply for a mortgage that is more than 80% of the purchase price of a property, that mortgage is required to be insured by Canada Mortgage and Housing (CMHC) or any private insurance company. The more your down payment is, the less of a premium is charged by these insurance companies. When you get a mortgage for your property at 95% of the purchase price, a premium of 3.75% is added on top of your mortgage. If you increase your down payment to 10% of the purchase price, the insurance premium can be reduced to 2.5%. Ultimately, if you put down 20%, you don’t have any insurance premiums. There are ways that you can structure your financing to avoid the CMHC insurance premiums, ask your financial advisor for more information.