How MLI Select changes the math on Canadian multi-unit
Start with what MLI Select is an exception to. Buy a conventional 1–4 unit investment property in Canada and the rules are unforgiving: 20% down minimum, and no CMHC insurance available at any price. Your leverage is capped and your cost of capital reflects it. Cross into purpose-built rental with 5 or more residential units and CMHC's MLI Select program opens a different world — up to 95% LTV and up to a 50-year amortization at the program's top tier. That is not a marginal improvement. It is the difference between needing a fifth of the purchase price in cash and needing a twentieth of it, on an asset whose income you can actually underwrite.
You earn your way there with points. MLI Select scores three commitments — affordability (holding rents below a market threshold), energy efficiency (a measured reduction against baseline), and accessibility (barrier-free design). Fifty points is the floor; below it the property is not eligible for the program at all. Above the floor the tiers step at 50, 70, and 100 points, and each tier is a real threshold rather than a smooth curve: the premium discount runs 10%, 20%, and 30% respectively, and the DSCR minimum tightens or loosens with it — the higher tiers reach as low as 1.10 against the roughly 1.20–1.25 a conventional deal must clear. Five points short of a tier is worth nothing; five points into it changes your whole capital stack. That asymmetry is why sophisticated sponsors design the building around the scoring rather than scoring the building they designed.
Amortization is the program's sharpest trade-off, and it cuts both ways at once. Stretching to 40 or 50 years lowers your monthly payment, which raises your DSCR, which lets the property support a larger loan — a genuine qualifying lever when cap rates are compressed. But since the July 2025 update the premium carries a surcharge of 0.25% for every 5-year increment beyond 25 years, so a 50-year amortization adds roughly 1.25% to your premium rate. You are buying DSCR headroom with premium dollars. Sometimes that is obviously worth it and sometimes it quietly isn't; the only way to know is to run both.
The insight most sponsors miss until underwriting: your loan is capped by the lesser of the LTV limit and the DSCR limit, not by whichever one you were focused on. Winning 100 points gets you a 95% LTV ceiling, but if the building's NOI only services a loan at 78% of value at a 1.10 DSCR, then 78% is your deal and the 95% is decoration. The reverse happens too — strong income, but points too thin to request the LTV the income could carry. This calculator shows both limits side by side and names which one binds, because that is the number that tells you what to fix. Pair it with the DSCR calculator, cap rate calculator, and rental property ROI calculator to see the whole picture.
One honest note on the premium: CMHC publishes its multi-unit premium schedule by LTV band and revises it over time, so this calculator asks you to enter the base rate you have been quoted rather than guessing from a table that may be stale. It then applies the two rules that are stable and verifiable — your tier discount and the amortization surcharge. Confirm the current base rate, point scoring, and DSCR minimums with CMHC or an approved lender.
CMHC's own MLI Select page confirms the points-tier table this calculator runs on: 50 points reaches up to 85% LTV and 40-year amortization, 70 points up to 95% LTV and 45 years, and 100 points up to 95% LTV and 50 years, with a minimum DSCR of 1.10 stated at every published tier. CMHC does not publish a public premium or discount-percentage schedule for the program — enter your lender's quoted base rate rather than a number found on a broker site.
The table CMHC itself publishes
CMHC's MLI Select page states the tiers directly: "Minimum 50 Points: Maximum LTV 85%, Maximum Amortization 40 years, Minimum DCR 1.1", stepping up through 70 and 100 points. Points are earned across three categories — affordability (up to 100 points existing, 50 new construction), energy efficiency/GHG reductions (up to 100 points), and accessibility (up to 40 points).
| Points | Max LTV | Max amortization | Min DSCR |
|---|---|---|---|
| 50 | 85% | 40 years | 1.10 |
| 70 | 95% | 45 years | 1.10 |
| 100 | 95% (up to 95% for new construction) | 50 years | 1.10 |
Source: CMHC MLI Select program page, retrieved 2026-09-21.
MLI Select is underwritten on its own DSCR, not the OSFI stress test
Uninsured mortgages qualify against the greater of the contract rate plus 2%, or a 5.25% floor — OSFI's minimum qualifying rate. MLI Select is CMHC-insured multi-unit financing, and the program's own binding constraint is the DSCR minimum in the table above, not that uninsured-mortgage stress test. Confirm which underwriting rule actually applies with your lender before assuming a stress-tested rate.
Current Canadian rates for your DSCR math
The Bank of Canada's target for the overnight rate has been 2.25% since October 30, 2025, most recently confirmed unchanged at the 2026-09-18 observation, and the chartered-bank prime rate was 4.45% as of the 2026-09-16 weekly observation. Use current figures like these, not a stale rate, as your starting point for the interest-rate input — the DSCR-based maximum loan this calculator reports is highly sensitive to that number.
Pair this with the ratios it depends on
This calculator shows whether your loan is capped by LTV or by DSCR. Check the ratio itself with the DSCR calculator and the NOI behind it with the cap rate calculator before relying on the 95% LTV headline.
Methodology
The points/LTV/amortization/DSCR table is quoted directly from CMHC's own MLI Select program page. Premium PST treatment, the OSFI uninsured-mortgage qualifying rate, and current Bank of Canada rates are drawn from CMHC, OSFI and Bank of Canada Valet API sources respectively, all retrieved 2026-09-21. No premium percentage or discount schedule is asserted; this calculator takes your quoted base rate as an input.
Sources
- CMHC — MLI Select program page — accessed 2026-09-21
- CMHC — Mortgage loan insurance cost (PST treatment) — accessed 2026-09-21
- OSFI — Minimum qualifying rate for uninsured mortgages — accessed 2026-09-21
- Bank of Canada — Valet API, target for the overnight rate (V39079) — accessed 2026-09-21
- Bank of Canada — Valet API, prime rate (V80691311) — accessed 2026-09-21
MLI Select tiers and what they unlock
| Points tier | Premium discount | DSCR minimum | Leverage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 50 | Not eligible | — | Standard CMHC multi-unit reaches 85% LTV |
| 50 points | 10% | ~1.20 | Tiered — confirm maximum LTV with CMHC |
| 70 points | 20% | As low as 1.10 | Tiered — confirm maximum LTV with CMHC |
| 100 points | 30% | As low as 1.10 | Up to 95% LTV, up to 50-year amortization |
Points are earned across affordability, energy efficiency, and accessibility; 50 is the minimum to qualify. Amortization beyond 25 years adds a premium surcharge of +0.25% per 5-year increment (a 50-year amortization adds ~1.25%). CMHC publishes the base premium schedule by LTV band and revises it over time — confirm current rates and program terms with CMHC or an approved lender.
Frequently asked questions
What is CMHC MLI Select?
MLI Select is CMHC's points-based mortgage loan insurance program for multi-unit rental properties with 5 or more residential units. Instead of a single set of terms, you earn points for commitments to affordability, energy efficiency, and accessibility, and those points unlock progressively better financing — a larger premium discount, a lower DSCR minimum, higher leverage, and longer amortization. It is the reason Canadian investors can reach far past the 20% down and no-insurance reality of conventional 1–4 unit investment property.
How many points do I need to qualify for MLI Select?
Fifty is the floor — below 50 points the property is simply not eligible for the program. Above that, the tiers sit at 50, 70, and 100 points, and each tier is a genuine step change rather than a sliding scale. The 50-point tier earns a 10% premium discount, 70 points earns 20%, and 100 points earns 30% along with the program's best leverage and amortization terms. Points are earned across affordability, energy efficiency, and accessibility, and you can combine categories to reach a tier.
Can MLI Select really get 95% LTV and a 50-year amortization?
Both are achievable at the 100-point tier. That combination is what makes the program transformative: 95% LTV means roughly 5% down on a purpose-built rental, and a 50-year amortization cuts the payment enough to lift DSCR into qualifying range on deals that would fail a 25-year test. Reaching 100 points requires deep commitments though — meaningful affordability, a strong measured energy-efficiency improvement, or full accessibility — and CMHC assesses each application on its own evidence.
What DSCR does MLI Select require?
The DSCR minimum is tiered, and at the higher point tiers it can go as low as 1.10 — versus roughly 1.20 to 1.25 on conventional financing. That gap matters enormously in Canadian markets where compressed cap rates leave many urban buildings unable to clear 1.25 at any sensible loan amount. Treat the figures in this calculator as program minimums to confirm with CMHC, since a lender may still underwrite to a more conservative internal threshold.
How does a longer amortization affect the premium?
Since the July 2025 update, the premium carries a surcharge of 0.25% for each 5-year increment of amortization beyond 25 years. A 30-year amortization adds 0.25%, a 40-year adds 0.75%, and a 50-year adds roughly 1.25%. This creates the core trade-off in the program: a longer amortization lowers your payment and raises your DSCR, letting the property support a bigger loan, but you pay for that qualifying power in premium dollars. Run both and compare the total cash required.
Why does this calculator ask me for the base premium rate?
Because CMHC publishes its multi-unit premium schedule by LTV band and revises it over time, and a stale hard-coded table would quietly produce wrong numbers. Enter the base rate you have been quoted for your LTV band and this calculator applies the two rules that are stable and verifiable — your MLI Select tier discount and the amortization surcharge — on top of it. Confirm the current base rate with CMHC or an approved lender.