CMHC (Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation)

From housing veterans to housing policy

CMHC was created in 1946, as the Central Mortgage and Housing Corporation, to house soldiers returning from the Second World War. It has been the federal government's housing arm ever since, and took its current name, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, in 1979. Today it wears three hats: insurer of mortgages, funder of housing programs, and the country's main source of housing data and research.

"CMHC insurance": what people usually mean

When Canadians say "CMHC insurance" or "CMHC fees", they almost always mean mortgage default insurance, the coverage that is mandatory when your down payment is under 20%. CMHC is the largest of the three insurers that provide it; Sagen and Canada Guaranty, both private companies, are the other two. Your lender picks the insurer, the premiums are identical across all three, and the shorthand has stuck to CMHC the way "Kleenex" stuck to tissues.

The premium depends on your down payment (as of July 2026): 4.00% of the loan amount with 5% to 9.99% down, 3.10% with 10% to 14.99% down, and 2.80% with 15% to 19.99% down. It is usually added to the mortgage balance rather than paid in cash at closing.

One point people get wrong constantly: the insurance protects the lender, not you. You pay the premium, but if you default, the payout goes to the lender, and the insurer can pursue you for any shortfall. The mortgage default insurance entry covers how that works in detail.

Behind the scenes: how CMHC helps fund mortgages

CMHC's least visible role may matter most to your rate. Lenders bundle insured mortgages into NHA mortgage-backed securities, and CMHC guarantees that the investors who buy them will be paid on time; a related program, Canada Mortgage Bonds, repackages those securities for large investors. Because the guarantee carries the federal government's credit, investors accept low yields, which gives lenders a cheap and stable source of mortgage funding, even in stressed markets. Part of that saving flows through to the rates Canadians pay.

What CMHC is not

The name shows up so often in housing that it collects jobs it does not actually do. CMHC:

• Does not lend mortgage money to homebuyers. Your mortgage comes from a bank, credit union, or other lender; CMHC's direct lending goes to affordable and rental housing providers, not individuals.
• Does not insure you. Default insurance covers the lender's loss if you stop paying; it is not job-loss, disability, or life insurance.
• Does not approve your application or set mortgage rates. It sets the criteria a loan must meet to be insurable, which is where the confusion comes from.

Research, reports and first-time buyers

CMHC is also the country's housing statistician. Its Housing Market Outlook, Rental Market Report, and monthly housing starts figures are the data behind most Canadian housing headlines, and they are free to read on its website. For first-time buyers, CMHC publishes plain-language guides and calculators covering down payments, closing costs, and the insurance premium, useful even though the buyer programs themselves, like the Home Buyers' Plan and the FHSA, are run by other parts of government.