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Pre-Construction Deposit Calculator Canada

Buying pre-construction means paying deposits in tranches over 12–24 months before occupancy, then occupancy fees for another 6–18 months before you own the unit. See your full deposit schedule, occupancy cost, and exactly how much cash you'll need and when.

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Your purchase

01Contract price

The price in your Agreement of Purchase and Sale with the builder, before upgrades, closing costs and taxes are added.

02Deposits and timing

Deposits go to the builder in tranches while the project is built, so a larger total ties up more cash for longer. Occupancy dates often slip.

What is the total deposit structure?

Typical Toronto condo: 5% on signing + 5% at 90 days + 5% at 180 days + 5% at occupancy = 20%.

When is the estimated occupancy date?

Months from signing to when you can move in (but don't own yet). Pre-construction typically 24–60 months.

03Ontario occupancy fee

Between moving in and title transfer you pay the builder a monthly fee capped at three parts: interest on your unpaid balance, municipal tax and common expenses. Enter the last two to model it rather than guess.

What is the estimated monthly occupancy fee?

The fee you pay between occupancy and final closing (title transfer). Covers builder's mortgage interest, property tax, and maintenance fee. Leave the default if you do not know it — the Ontario module below models it from its three statutory parts.

What interest rate does your agreement use for the occupancy fee?

Ontario occupancy fees charge interest on the balance you have not yet paid. Default is the Bank of Canada posted 1-year conventional mortgage rate, 5.49% (table as of 26 August 2026).

Estimated monthly municipal property tax on the unit?

The second of the three parts of an Ontario occupancy fee. Your builder's disclosure statement estimates it.

Projected monthly common expense (maintenance) fee?

The third part of an Ontario occupancy fee — the same maintenance fee you will pay after closing.

Total cash needed at closing

C$131,250

15% deposit (C$112,500) + closing costs (C$18,750)

Mortgage at closingC$655,350

Monthly mortgage paymentC$3,996

Occupancy fees totalC$33,600

Occupancy period (12 mo)C$2,800/mo

CMHC premium (added to mortgage)C$17,850

Deposit Payment Schedule

Tranche 1 — 5%

On signing

C$37,500

Cumulative: C$37,500

Tranche 2 — 5%

Month 3 from signing

C$37,500

Cumulative: C$75,000

Tranche 3 — 5%

Month 6 from signing

C$37,500

Cumulative: C$112,500

Ontario interim occupancy fee

Between the day you move in and the day title actually transfers, you pay the builder a monthly fee and own nothing. Under s.80(4) of Ontario's Condominium Act, 1998 that fee is capped at the sum of three things, and none of it is credited against your purchase price.

Two of the three parts of the fee are specific to your unit and your building, so this page asks for them rather than inventing them: the estimated monthly municipal property tax and the projected monthly common expense fee. Both are questions above, and your builder's disclosure statement carries both figures. Fill them in and the fee is modelled from its three statutory parts instead of resting on the single estimate you typed. Interest alone on your C$637,500 unpaid balance would be C$2,917 a month at 5.49%.

What we verified, and what we did not. The three components are Tarion's, checked 30 August 2026. The default 5.49% interest rate is the Bank of Canada posted conventional 1-year mortgage rate, table as of 26 August 2026. What we could not confirm at a primary government source is the regulation (O. Reg. 48/01) that defines which rate is the prescribed one — Ontario e-Laws did not return its text to us. That is why the rate is an input you can change, and why we do not state it as settled law. Your agreement of purchase and sale names the rate that binds you. No municipal tax rate is assumed here for the same reason.

All figures in Canadian dollars (CAD). Assumes 5.49% mortgage rate, 25yr amortization, ~12-month occupancy period before closing. Estimates only.

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What you'll need

Pre-construction purchase price
Deposit structure (15%, 20%, or 25%)
Estimated occupancy date
For the Ontario occupancy fee: the interest rate in your agreement, the estimated monthly municipal tax, and the projected common expense fee

What you'll get

Deposit schedule — Tranche-by-tranche breakdown
Ontario occupancy fee — Modelled from its three statutory parts, in CAD
CMHC premium — If applicable to your down payment
Total cash needed — Exactly how much and when

How it works

Enter the purchase price and deposit structure

Input the pre-construction contract price and whether your deposit structure is 15%, 20%, or 25% (standard in Toronto and Vancouver markets).

Set the occupancy date and monthly occupancy fee

The occupancy fee is what you pay to the builder between move-in and title transfer. It typically covers the builder's mortgage interest, your share of property taxes, and estimated maintenance fee.

See deposit schedule, occupancy cost, and mortgage at closing

We lay out each deposit tranche with its due date, total occupancy fees during the pre-closing period, CMHC premium if applicable, and your mortgage payment once title transfers.

Ontario interim occupancy fee — what it is made of

Interim occupancy is the stretch between the day you may move into a new Ontario condominium and the day the corporation is registered and title actually transfers to you. Through all of it you do not own the unit, your mortgage has not started, and you pay the builder a monthly occupancy fee. It is not rent and it is not a deposit: none of it is credited against your purchase price.

Under s.80(4) of Ontario's Condominium Act, 1998, the fee a declarant may charge is capped at the sum of exactly three things — interest on the part of the purchase price you have not yet paid, the estimated municipal realty taxes for your unit, and the projected monthly common expense contribution. The builder may not profit from it. The calculator above models all three rather than asking you to guess a single number.

A worked Toronto example, all figures in Canadian dollars: on a C$750,000 contract price with C$150,000 of deposits paid, the unpaid balance is C$600,000. At 5.49% that is C$2,745.00 of interest a month; add C$460.00 of estimated municipal tax and C$484.00 of projected common expenses and the fee is C$3,689.00 a month. Over an eight-month occupancy period that is C$29,512.00 — roughly three quarters of it interest on money the builder already has the use of, and none of it equity.

Sources: Tarion, “A condo buyer's guide to interim occupancy” (the three components, and that the fee is not credited to the purchase price), checked 2026-08-30. Bank of Canada, posted conventional 1-year mortgage rate — re-verified 2026-09-08: still 5.49%, table now dated 2026-09-02 (unchanged from the 2026-08-26 reading, restamped rather than assumed) — used as the default for the interest component and editable, because the regulation naming the prescribed rate could not be read at a primary government source. Your agreement of purchase and sale names the rate that applies to you.

Deposits, occupancy fees, and your mortgage: three separate cash calls

These are three different obligations that never overlap, and mixing them up is the most common budgeting mistake on a pre-construction purchase. Deposits (typically 15 –25% of the price, per the schedule above) are paid before occupancy and count toward the purchase price. The interim occupancy fee is paid monthly during occupancy and counts toward nothing — it is gone the moment you pay it. Your actual mortgage does not start, and no principal is repaid, until final closing, when title transfers and the balance of the purchase price (less deposits already paid) is due in full. A buyer who budgets only for the deposit and the eventual mortgage and skips the occupancy stretch is the single most common shortfall this calculator exists to catch.

What falls due at final closing

Occupancy fees stop the day the condominium is registered and title transfers to you. That same day, the costs this calculator treats as an estimate become real bills — and in Ontario the largest of them is land transfer tax, which you pay on the full purchase price, not on the balance still outstanding. Inside the City of Toronto you pay it twice: once to the province and once to the city.

Ontario closing costs calculator — provincial land transfer tax plus Toronto's municipal one on the band table effective 1 April 2026, both first-time buyer rebates, and the CMHC premium PST you cannot finance. All figures in CAD.
Canada closing costs calculator — the same breakdown for every other province.
CMHC insurance calculator — your premium and its provincial sales tax, if your deposit lands under 20%.

Pre-Construction Condo — C$750K, 20% Deposit, 36-Month Occupancy

Item	Amount
Total deposit (20%)	C$150,000
Tranche 1 (on signing, 5%)	C$37,500
Tranche 2 (90 days, 5%)	C$37,500
Tranche 3 (180 days, 5%)	C$37,500
Tranche 4 (at occupancy, 5%)	C$37,500
Occupancy fees (12 months × C$2,800)	C$33,600
Closing costs estimate (~2.5%)	C$18,750
Total cash needed	C$168,750
Mortgage at closing	C$600,000

Occupancy fees do not contribute to your mortgage or equity. Budget for them as a sunk cost during the pre-closing period.

By RealCost Editorial TeamReviewed by RealCost Editorial TeamLast updated September 21, 2026 with September 2026 data

Tarion's deposit protection cap depends on what you're buying, not a flat C$100,000: a condominium unit is protected up to only C$20,000 plus limited accrued interest, while a freehold home is protected up to C$60,000 (or 10% of price, capped at C$100,000, above C$600,000). A new condo purchaser also has a statutory 10-day right to rescind before accepting a deed, separate from any deposit-protection claim.

Tarion's deposit protection cap is not the same for a condo unit and a freehold home

Tarion's own coverage page states two different caps by property type. A condominium unit's deposit is protected for up to C$20,000, plus a limited amount of accrued interest. A freehold home purchased under an agreement signed on or after January 1, 2018 is protected differently: homes priced at C$600,000 or less are protected up to C$60,000, and homes priced above C$600,000 are protected for 10% of the purchase price, up to a maximum of C$100,000. The C$100,000 figure some buyers quote as a universal cap only applies to the higher freehold tier — a condo deposit above C$20,000 (plus limited interest) is not Tarion-protected.

A separate 10-day right to walk away, before deposit protection ever matters

Before any deposit-protection question arises, a new condominium purchaser buying from a declarant (developer) has a statutory right under the Condominium Act to rescind the agreement of purchase and sale before accepting a deed. Written notice must reach the declarant or its solicitor within 10 days of the latest of: receiving the disclosure statement, receiving the condominium guide, or receiving the agreement signed by both parties. Exercised in time, the Act requires the declarant to promptly refund all money received, without penalty, plus interest at the prescribed rate. This right applies to new units bought from a declarant only, not resale condos, and it closes long before the deposit tranches or occupancy period this calculator models.

New construction adds a GST/HST rebate question — with two different threshold sets

Buying new (rather than resale) also brings GST/HST into the deposit-and-closing math. For eligible first-time buyers, the federal FTHB GST/HST rebate provides a 100% rebate of the GST (or federal part of the HST) on a new home valued up to C$1,000,000, phasing out for homes between C$1,000,000 and C$1,500,000, for agreements entered into on or after March 20, 2025. That is a separate, newer set of thresholds from the older, general GST/HST New Housing Rebate, which gives non-first-time buyers a full rebate only up to C$350,000, phasing out completely by C$450,000. A buyer who isn't a first-time buyer, or whose agreement predates March 20, 2025, is working against the lower C$350,000/C$450,000 thresholds, not the newer C$1,000,000/C$1,500,000 ones — the two sets of numbers are not interchangeable.

The Ontario LTT refund deadline runs from final closing, not from your deposit date

The Ontario land transfer tax refund for first-time buyers is filed against the registration that happens at final closing — years after the first deposit on a pre-construction contract — and it carries the same 18-month filing deadline from the date of registration as a resale purchase. A long pre-construction build timeline doesn't extend that window; the clock starts when title actually transfers, not when the deposit schedule began.

Methodology

Deposit-protection and rescission figures are taken directly from Tarion's own coverage page and the Condominium Act's own text; GST/HST rebate figures are CRA's and Department of Finance's own published thresholds, kept as two distinct threshold sets rather than blended into one number.

Sources

Tarion Warranty Corporation — Coverage before you close — accessed 2026-09-21
Government of Ontario (e-Laws) — Condominium Act, 1998, S.O. 1998, c. 19, s. 73 — accessed 2026-09-21
Canada Revenue Agency — First-time home buyers' GST/HST rebate — accessed 2026-09-21
Canada Revenue Agency — New Housing Rebates and the HST — accessed 2026-09-21
Government of Ontario — Land transfer tax refunds for first-time homebuyers — accessed 2026-09-21

About this calculator

What is a typical deposit structure for pre-construction condos in Canada?

In Toronto and Vancouver, typical pre-construction deposit structures are: 5% on signing, 5% at 90 days, 5% at 180 days, and 5% at occupancy — totalling 20%. Some builders now require 20–25% total with tranches spread over 12–18 months. Ontario's Tarion warranty requires deposits to be held in trust and protected up to C$100,000.

What is the occupancy period for pre-construction condos in Canada?

The occupancy period is when you can move in but haven't received title yet. You pay the builder an 'occupancy fee' covering their mortgage interest, property taxes, and estimated condo fees — but no money goes toward your own mortgage or equity. This period typically lasts 6–18 months in Toronto and Vancouver. Title transfers at final closing.

Are pre-construction deposits protected in Ontario?

Yes — in Ontario, pre-construction deposits are protected under the Condominium Act. The builder must hold deposits in trust. Tarion (Ontario's new home warranty program) protects a condominium unit deposit up to C$20,000 plus a limited amount of accrued interest; the C$100,000 ceiling applies to freehold homes (10% of a price above C$600,000, capped at C$100,000). Deposits paid above those limits are not covered by Tarion. Always verify the builder is Tarion-registered.

What is the risk of buying pre-construction in Canada?

Key risks include: construction delays (24–48 months is common), price increases for upgrades, interest rate changes between signing and closing (you'll qualify at closing rates), project cancellation, and occupancy fee costs during the pre-closing period. Buyers should obtain independent legal advice and review the disclosure statement carefully.

Related Calculators

GST/HST Rebate Calculator Canada

New condo? You may qualify for a significant GST/HST rebate.

CMHC Insurance Calculator

See if your deposit triggers CMHC insurance.

Closing Costs Calculator Canada

Full breakdown of closing costs when title transfers.

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