How much house can an Ontario teacher afford?

A single Ontario teacher earning about $70,000 has an illustrative borrowing estimate of roughly $302,000 of mortgage, and one at the top of the grid near $120,000 for roughly $555,000. Those figures qualify at 6.00 per cent, which is a 4.00 per cent contract rate plus the two-point stress test, within a 39 per cent gross and 44 per cent total debt service limit over 25 years. Your own number moves with property tax, heat, condo fees and any car loan or credit card balance.

There are two useful numbers: what a lender may approve and what you can comfortably pay. Start with both. Pension deductions, childcare, savings and daily expenses can make your comfortable budget lower than a lender maximum.

The examples below use 2025-26 salary figures, the latest published grids. They have not been verified as the current 2026-27 schedule, so use your own board letter. With stated assumptions, they are estimates, not mortgage approvals.

Income, qualifying rate and housing costs

• Your gross annual salary, before any deduction. Pension contributions do not reduce this.
• The stress test. For an uninsured mortgage you must prove you could carry a rate two percentage points above the one you sign, or 5.25 per cent, whichever is higher. That is the minimum qualifying rate set by OSFI.
• Gross debt service, normally capped near 39 per cent. That is the share of your gross monthly income allowed to go to mortgage payment, property tax and heat combined.

Worked examples on the Ontario grid

These use the Halton elementary 2025-26 grid as published, a 4.00 per cent contract rate qualifying at 6.00 per cent under the stress test, a 25-year amortization, the 39 per cent gross and 44 per cent total debt service limits, and allowances of $3,000 a year for property tax and $100 a month for heat. Change any of those and the answer changes.

• Category A, Step 0, about $51,370: roughly $206,000 of mortgage.
• Category A4, Step 0, about $70,194: roughly $302,000 of mortgage.
• Category A4, Step 11, about $119,969: roughly $555,000 of mortgage.

Grid dollar figures vary by board and by panel. Secondary boards label the same QECO tiers Group 1 to 4 rather than A1 to A4. Use your own salary letter, not these examples.

How salary and fixed housing costs affect the estimate

Look at the jump from $51,370 to $119,969. The salary rises about 2.3 times but the mortgage rises about 2.7 times. That is because property tax and heat are close to fixed, so they eat a much larger share of a starting teacher's debt service room than a senior teacher's. Every step you move up the grid buys you more than the raise alone suggests.

Check that your board has the correct QECO evaluation. A category change may require additional education and is not simply a paperwork exercise. Confirm both its cost and its salary effect before planning a purchase around it.

Costs that can reduce borrowing capacity

• Debt payments can reduce borrowing capacity when the total debt-service limit becomes the constraint. The effect depends on income, housing costs and all other debts; there is no fixed mortgage reduction for every $400 payment.
• Credit card and line-of-credit obligations, assessed under lender rules.
• Condo fees. Lenders add a portion, commonly half, into your ratios.
• A student line of credit, counted even when interest-only.

Budget separately for the down payment and closing costs

Qualifying for the mortgage is separate from having the cash. The minimum down payment is 5 per cent of the first $500,000 and 10 per cent of the portion above it, for a purchase price below $1,500,000, so $22,500 on a $450,000 home, $35,000 on $600,000 and $50,000 on $750,000. Anything under 20 per cent down normally needs mortgage default insurance. Land transfer tax is on top of that again and cannot be added to the mortgage.

Eligible first-time buyers may combine FHSA and Home Buyers' Plan withdrawals for the same home. Check both sets of conditions and the HBP repayment requirement.

Sources and dates

Sources below support the relevant figures and rules. Source dates and historical salary years are shown where available. A planned review date does not guarantee that a figure stays current; check the source and your own eligibility before acting.

• ETFO Halton local salary grid, 2025-26 (as of 2025-26)
• OSFI, minimum qualifying rate for uninsured mortgages (as of 2026-01-29)
• CMHC, mortgage loan insurance for homeownership: debt service ratios (accessed 2026-08-26)
• Financial Consumer Agency of Canada, how much you need for a down payment (accessed 2026-08-26)
• Canada Revenue Agency, participating in your FHSAs (accessed 2026-08-26)
• Canada Revenue Agency, the Home Buyers' Plan (accessed 2026-08-26)