Mortgage Calculator: How much I qualify for with a $70,000 salary in Ontario?
TL;DR
- $70,000 is a common salary in skilled fields, including entry-level software, mid-level marketing/management, nursing, and licensed trades (welders, plumbers, electricians).
- Your borrowing power is controlled by two ratios: Gross Debt Service (GDS, max 39%) and Total Debt Service (TDS, max 44%). These ratios determine your maximum mortgage qualification.
- Eliminating debt is highly impactful: Getting rid of $500 per month in personal debt payments could increase your mortgage qualification amount by around $31,000.
- A larger down payment does not guarantee a bigger loan.
Mortgage calculators are super handy when calculating a potential mortgage payment, but it’s hard for them to give you a mortgage qualification amount. They can’t know your specific financial situation. Also, they can’t take into account how each lender has different calculations for mortgage qualification.
So you need a local mortgage agent.
But let’s make some assumptions and see what the numbers could be.
What jobs pay about $70,000 a year in Ontario?
If you work in tech or software development, an entry level software engineer / developer can start at $70,000 / year. But you have room to grow fairly quickly.
Many mid-level marketing roles, such as managers or specialists will make a similar amount of money.
In general, many managerial roles start at $70,000 a year in Ontario. But that increases significantly if you’re managing a highly skilled field.
Nurses in Ontario will usually start around this mark, although it really depends on your union’s collective agreement. Then there’s all the overtime and shift premiums you can earn.
Welders, plumbers, electricians, any trained / licensed trades person should easily be able to make at least $70,000 in Ontario.
If that’s you, if you’re at this level, congratulations! It takes a lot of work and training to get move from $35,000 entry level salaries to a $70,000 salary.
The question then becomes, what good is that salary going to do for you? Can you even qualify to buy a house in this economy? This is where you need a dedicated mortgage agent to evaluate your specific situation.
But we can look at some general numbers here, making several assumptions. Of course, the numbers in the article should not be used as advice for your specific situation. All calculations here are for illustrative purposes.
First, you need some context.
Debt to income ratios control your borrowing power
When a lender looks at your mortgage application, they focus on two key debt-to-income ratios:
- Gross Debt Service (GDS) Ratio: This measures your housing costs (including the mortgage payment, property taxes, heating, and half of any condo fees) against your total gross income. Lenders typically limit this to 39%. This ratio determines if you can afford the house itself.
- Total Debt Service (TDS) Ratio: This ratio goes further by adding all your other monthly debts (car loans and credit card payments) to your housing costs. Lenders cap this total at 44% of your gross income. The TDS ensures that after paying for your home and all your other debts, you still have enough money left for daily living expenses.
Mortgage preapproval (qualification) is the process of collecting income documents to get a precise income amount, pulling a full credit report to get your total debt payments, then calculating your GDS and TDS.
With your GDS and TDS calculated, we know how much your mortgage qualification will be.
Assumptions and warnings
First, all of these numbers are for education and illustration only! None of this should be taken as advice for your specific situation. If you want calculations for your own mortgage qualification, book a call and we’ll get started on you mortgage application.
Second, I’m using general assumptions as mentioned below. These numbers change drastically depending on your own financial position.
Interest Rates: I’m using interest rates that are relevant to October 2025. And even then, the rates I’m finding for clients will differ from what you see here based on their unique situation and the promotions offered at the time of their application.
Property Taxes: I’m assuming $3,000 in annual property taxes. Each municipality will have different tax rates. The higher the property taxes, the lower your mortgage qualification.
Appraisal Cost: Not all mortgages require an appraisal. In fact, as long as the property is in good condition and the purchase price isn’t wildly outside of fair market value, often no appraisal is required. However, I always include it in the Closing Costs calculation, just in case. Also, the actual value of an appraisal will be different depending on where the property is located, how big the property is, how quickly you need the appraisal completed, and sever other factors.
Legal Fees: I’m assuming $2,500 for legal fees to close the purchase of your property. That could be more or less depending your lawyer.
Mortgage Calculator Scenarios
Let’s break the mortgage and income calculation down into four scenarios. We’ll look at the effect of debt and larger down payment on your mortgage qualification.
By the way, these tables you’re about see are the types of scenarios I send to clients to help them evaluate their options.
Scenario 1 – 5% down payment, no debt
If you have no other personal debt, no credit cards, lines of credit, vehicles loans, or anything similar, this is what your qualification could look like.
| Purchase Price | $300,000.00 |
| Down Payment | $15,000.00 |
| Down Payment % | 5.00% |
| Default Insurance Premium | $11,400.00 |
| Total Mortgage | $296,400.00 |
| Term | 5 year fixed |
| Amortization | 25 years |
| Interest Rate | 4.09% |
| Monthly Payment | $1,573.62 |
| Est. Property Taxes | $250.00 |
| Est. Home Insurance | $100.00 |
| Total Monthly Cost | $1,923.62 |
| Closing Costs | |
| Land Transfer Tax (LTT) | $0.00 |
| Legal (Estimated) | $2,500.00 |
| Appraisal (Estimated) | $670.00 |
| PST on Default Premium | $912.00 |
| Total | $4,082.00 |
| Total Upfront Cash Needed | $19,082.00 |
Land Transfer Tax (LTT) – If you are a first time home buyer, then you wouldn’t have to pay an LTT. However, if you are not a first time home buyer, your LTT would be $2,975.00 on top of your other closing costs.
NOTE: Yes, even if you are not a first time home buyer, you can still put as little as 5% down on the purchase of your primary or secondary home.
Scenario 2 – 5% down payment, $500 total monthly debt payments
If your monthly debt payments add up to $500, here’s what the mortgage qualification numbers could look like. Note: we have to use 3% of outstanding balances for credit cards and lines of credit as your “monthly payment.”
| Purchase Price | $268,000.00 |
| Down Payment | $13,400.00 |
| Down Payment % | 5.00% |
| Default Insurance Premium | $10,184.00 |
| Total Mortgage | $264,784.00 |
| Term | 5 year fixed |
| Amortization | 25 years |
| Interest Rate | 4.09% |
| Monthly Payment | $1,405.77 |
| Est. Property Taxes | $250.00 |
| Est. Home Insurance | $100.00 |
| Total Monthly Cost | $1,755.77 |
| Closing Costs | |
| Land Transfer Tax (LTT) | $0.00 |
| Legal (Estimated) | $2,500.00 |
| Appraisal (Estimated) | $670.00 |
| PST on Default Premium | $814.72 |
| Total | $3,984.72 |
| Total Upfront Cash Needed | $17,384.72 |
Land Transfer Tax (LTT) – If you are not a first time home buyer, your LTT would be $2,495.00 on top of your other closing costs.
Scenario 3 – 20% down payment, no debt
What happens when we bump up your down payment so that you don’t have to pay mortgage default insurace?
| Purchase Price | $361,000.00 |
| Down Payment | $72,200.00 |
| Down Payment % | 20.00% |
| Default Insurance Premium | $0.00 |
| Total Mortgage | $288,800.00 |
| Term | 5 year fixed |
| Amortization | 25 years |
| Interest Rate | 4.39% |
| Monthly Payment | $1,580.82 |
| Est. Property Taxes | $250.00 |
| Est. Home Insurance | $100.00 |
| Total Monthly Cost | $1,930.82 |
| Closing Costs | |
| Land Transfer Tax (LTT) | $0.00 |
| Legal (Estimated) | $2,500.00 |
| Appraisal (Estimated) | $670.00 |
| PST on Default Premium | $0.00 |
| Total | $3,170.00 |
| Total Upfront Cash Needed | $75,370.00 |
Mortgage Default Insurance – Because you’re putting 20% down, you no longer need to pay a Mortgage Default Insurance premium.
Interest rate – Notice how this interest rate is slightly higher? Without the guarantee of Mortgage Default Insurance, lenders see these mortgages as slightly “riskier,” so they charge a slightly higher interest rate. You have to get to 35% down to see similar rates to “insured” mortgages.
Land Transfer Tax (LTT) – If you are not a first time home buyer, your LTT would be $3,890.00 on top of your other closing costs.
Scenario 4 – 20% down payment, $500 total monthly debt payments
And how much will $500 / month in debt payments hold back mortgage qualification, even with the higher down payment?
| Purchase Price | $322,000.00 |
| Down Payment | $64,400.00 |
| Down Payment % | 20.00% |
| Default Insurance Premium | $0.00 |
| Total Mortgage | $257,600.00 |
| Term | 5 year fixed |
| Amortization | 25 years |
| Interest Rate | 4.39% |
| Monthly Payment | $1,410.04 |
| Est. Property Taxes | $250.00 |
| Est. Home Insurance | $100.00 |
| Total Monthly Cost | $1,760.04 |
| Closing Costs | |
| Land Transfer Tax (LTT) | $0.00 |
| Legal (Estimated) | $2,500.00 |
| Appraisal (Estimated) | $670.00 |
| PST on Default Premium | $0.00 |
| Total | $3,170.00 |
| Total Upfront Cash Needed | $67,570.00 |
Land Transfer Tax (LTT) – If you are not a first time home buyer, your LTT would be $3,305.00 on top of your other closing costs.
Observations
So what does this all mean?
- $70,000 doesn’t take you very far in today’s real estate market, even if you have no personal debt.
- Eliminating $500 / month in debt payments could mean qualifying for about $31,000 more on your mortgage.
- It’s tempting to see these numbers and conclude that a higher down payment helps you qualify for a bigger mortgage, but when you look at the numbers, that’s not technically true. The full mortgage that you qualify for in Scenario 1 is $7,600.00 more than in Scenario 3. That’s be cause of the lower interest rate afforded to “insured” mortgages. That lower rate doesn’t help you with a higher purchase price, though, because you’re only putting 5% down.
Other options – How can you afford to buy a home?
If you’re income is consistently $70,000 a year, and it’s difficult for you to increase your income, it can seem hopeless when trying to get a mortgage preapproval. But there are options. Here are a few:
Two income households / cosigner
A cosigner is the easiest way to qualify for a higher mortgage. They don’t have to live in the house with you, but their name does have to go on the mortgage. Some lenders want all cosigners’ names on title as well.
If you’re buying with a spouse or partner, it can be much easier to qualify for a higher mortgage when you both earn fulltime incomes.
In a future article we’ll break down the mortgage qualification when you have two people in the household, each earning $70,000 annually.
Rental income
If you buy a home that has a legal second unit, we can use rental income from that unit to help you qualify for a bigger mortgage. We’ll go over the impacts of rental income on mortgage qualification in a future article.
Is it better to increase your down payment or pay off debt?
In these scenarios, it’s hard to tell if paying off debt or increasing your down payment helps you qualify for a bigger mortgage. We don’t know how much debt you’d need to pay off to wipe out the $500 monthly payments.
Typically, paying of unsecured debt (credit cards, lines of credit) will help you qualify for a bigger mortgage. Paying off fixed / secured debt (vehicle loan, student loan) doesn’t always have the same effect.
We’ll look at different scenarios for paying off debt in a future article.
Find out how much you will qualify for
Using a mortgage calculator will only take you so far. To get precise qualification information, schedule a call. We’ll look at your credit report and your total house hold income, then show you your options.
If you just want to see how much a specific mortgage will cost from month-to-month, use this hand-dandy mortgage calculator. But if you want to know how much you actually qualify for, it’s time to talk to a dedication mortgage agent, us! 🙂
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