Monthly cut line
Each band is a full monthly housing estimate. Green fits under your line. Coral goes over it. The thin end-marked line shows a lower-to-upper planning range.
Buy a 2-bedroom apartment condo
What your comfort line can buy
Your situation and city estimates
Choose the Canadian market you are considering first, then enter the facts you know. The dashboard skips sale and mortgage questions when you do not own a home.
About you
Home you own now
Current rental
City estimates
Calgary market starting valuesThis changes the estimated rent, purchase prices, property tax, fees, insurance, and utilities for the home you may move to.
Changing city never changes your income, savings, current home, current rent, or comfort line. The mortgage rate, five-year price change, savings return, and shared-home offset stay under your control below. Every city value can still be adjusted.
Your planning settings
Five realistic paths
The cheapest path is not always the best one. The selected option shows its monthly parts, its trade-offs, and the first fact to verify.
Buy a 2-bedroom apartment condo
Monthly pieces
Five-year position
This is what could remain after five years if owned homes are sold then and every monthly saving is invested. It is a comparison tool, not a promise.
Trade-off matrix
Use this table to catch the things a monthly payment cannot show.
| Option | Space | Flexibility | Ownership | Main risk | Best fit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Keep the house | 4 beds + lot | Low | Full | Highest monthly cost and repairs | You value land, privacy, and no move |
| Keep + rent a room | Shared 4-bed home | Medium | Full | Privacy, tax, tenant rules | You want relief without selling |
| Rent a 2-bedroom | About 2 beds | High | None | Rent rises and no home equity | You want a low-risk trial |
| Buy apartment condo | 2 beds, usually compact | Medium | Full | Fees and special assessments | You want ownership with the biggest cut |
| Buy townhouse | 2 beds, often more storage | Medium | Full | Smaller savings than other downsizes | You want a softer space change |
A safe decision plan
Do the cheap checks first. Confirm the lender and condo facts before you make an offer.
The first cut is clear.
Sources and model notes
- Statistics Canada, first quarter 2026 asking rents is the main two-bedroom rent source. The expanded list also draws on the related city series in Canada’s 2026 housing briefing. Rent values are rounded city planning starting points, not quotes.
- Purchase prices use the latest available local-board figures where available: CREB for Calgary, REALTORS® Association of Edmonton for Edmonton, TRREB for Toronto, and Greater Vancouver REALTORS® for Vancouver. Cross-city condo context comes from WealthNorth, WOWA, and Royal LePage. Prices remain editable city planning estimates, not listing quotes.
- New-home property tax uses a 2026 residential city rate or a rounded planning rate where local assessment rules vary. Examples of the underlying municipal sources are Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto, Vancouver, Hamilton, and St. John’s.
- WealthNorth’s 2026 condo-fee guide provides the city fee ranges. Apartment condo profiles use rounded midpoints for a typical 900 sq ft unit; townhouse fees are editable planning allowances and can be $0 for freehold homes.
- Condo-unit insurance profiles use current Rates.ca and InsurEye examples. Townhouse insurance profiles are starting allowances informed by PolicyMe’s June 2026 homeowner data; get a real quote for the home you choose.
- Statistics Canada table 34-10-0145-01: the 5.12% five-year conventional mortgage rate is a national benchmark, not a lender quote. RECA notes that commissions are negotiable; the model uses a 4.5% combined sale-and-move allowance, not a quoted fee.
Checked September 8, 2026. The city picker includes 20 major Canadian metro markets plus Custom. It changes only the estimated cost of the next home: two-bedroom rent, apartment and townhouse prices, property tax, condo fees, insurance, and utilities. It does not change your current home or rental, income, cash savings, bedrooms, comfort line, mortgage rate, five-year price change, savings return, or shared-home offset. “Buy condo” means buying a two-bedroom apartment condo. “Buy townhouse” means buying a two-bedroom row home; neither label means renting. Purchase closing costs are modelled at 1% of price. Condo corporations often insure the building through the condo fee, so lower the townhouse insurance estimate if that applies to the home you are considering. Mortgage payments use Canadian semi-annual compounding and a neutral 25-year planning term. If the down payment falls below 20%, the model adds an estimated mortgage-insurance premium. The affordability bands use 90%, 100%, and 110% of your comfort line, include all listed monthly housing costs, use the owner’s estimated sale cash plus any extra savings or the renter’s cash savings, and require at least 5% down. The monthly range lines are sensitivity checks, not forecasts: rent and purchase prices move 10%, a new mortgage rate moves one percentage point, condo fees and utilities move 20%, and smaller operating costs move 10%. All dollar values are rounded.
This is educational planning, not financial, mortgage, tax, legal, or real-estate advice. A licensed mortgage professional, lawyer, accountant, and condo-document reviewer can confirm the numbers that apply to you.