Financing

What Salary Do You Need to Buy in Montreal or Laval?

By Georges Matar · May 6, 2026 · 4 min read

This is one of the most frequent questions among first-time buyers, and no single number can answer it honestly.

Two people earning exactly the same salary can be approved for amounts that differ by $150,000. Here is why, and how to work out yours.

The lender is not looking at your salary, it is looking at two ratios

Canadian financial institutions use two debt service ratios.

GDS, gross debt service. The share of your gross monthly income going to housing: mortgage payment, municipal and school taxes, heating, and half the condo fees if applicable. The usual ceiling sits around 32%, sometimes slightly higher depending on the file.

TDS, total debt service. The same thing, plus all your other debts: car loan, line of credit, credit cards, student loan, support payments. The usual ceiling is around 40% to 44%.

It is TDS that blocks most files, not salary.

Why your neighbour on the same income is approved for more

Take two households with the same combined income of $110,000.

The first carries no debt. The second has a $650 monthly car payment and a balance on a line of credit. That car payment alone strips tens of thousands of dollars off borrowing capacity, because it consumes a share of TDS that would otherwise have gone to housing.

That is why the same rule applies to any purchase planned in the next twelve months: do not finance a vehicle, do not take on a new personal loan, and pay down credit card balances before you apply. The effect on your borrowing capacity is larger than a $5,000 raise.

The stress test

Another element many buyers discover too late: you are not qualified at the rate you are offered.

Federally regulated lenders must qualify you at a rate higher than your actual rate, to verify you could keep paying if rates rose. In practice, your payment is calculated at a higher rate for approval purposes.

The result: the amount you can borrow is lower than your real payment would suggest. It is frustrating, but it is also what protects buyers from an impossible renewal five years out.

The down payment changes the whole calculation

Canadian minimum down payment rules are tiered:

5% on the first $500,000 of the price
10% on the portion between $500,000 and $1,500,000
20% above $1,500,000

Below 20% down, mortgage loan insurance is mandatory. That premium is added to the amount borrowed and therefore raises your monthly payment, which in turn reduces your purchasing capacity.

Going from 15% to 20% down often has a bigger effect on your monthly budget than buyers anticipate, because the insurance premium disappears at the same time.

And the costs the lender’s calculation ignores

Your approval tells you what the bank is willing to lend. It does not tell you what you can live with comfortably.

The line items new owners underestimate most:

Transfer duties, commonly called the welcome tax, payable a few months after purchase
Notary fees, the inspection and the move
Municipal and school taxes, if you were previously renting
Maintenance, often estimated at around 1% of the property value per year
Condo fees, if it is a condominium

A household approved for $550,000 that buys at $550,000 often finds the first year tight. Buying slightly below your approval ceiling is not a lack of ambition, it is breathing room.

How to get your own number

There is no universal minimum salary for buying in Montreal or Laval. What exists is your number, calculated from your income, your debts, your down payment and the rate of the day.

Two concrete steps:

Run a first estimate with the affordability calculator and the mortgage calculator to see how price and down payment affect your payment.
Get a real pre-approval from a lender or mortgage broker. It is free, it locks a rate for a set period, and it is what gives you weight when you make an offer. A pre-approval is worth infinitely more than an online simulation.

Only then do you start looking at properties. Searching before you know your number is the surest way to fall in love with something you cannot finance.

To go further, read the real cost of buying your first home in Quebec and the pre-approval mistakes to avoid.

Want to know what your situation actually supports? Write to me. I can refer you to mortgage brokers who run this calculation properly, at no cost to you.