Did you know there were hidden costs to buying a home, or just suspect it. Sad to say there are, and if you are planning on buying a home in addition to your down payment you're going to want to have some extra cash saved up.

Your down payment needs to be 5% minimum, but if you have less that 20% down your mortgage will need to be insured by either CMHC (Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation) or GE (Genworth Financial Canada). This is different than mortgage insurance that you pay on your monthly payments, this is called Mortgage Loan Insurance and the cost carries depending on the size of your down payment.

The Good news is this extra cost will be rolled into your mortgage, so for example if you were borrowing $100,000 and the issuance cost was 1%, you would actually be borrowing $101,000

The premiums are as follows:

With a down payment of:

15.1% to 20% add 1.00 % to the mortgage

10.1% to 15% add 1.75 %

5.1% to 10% add 2.00 %

at 5% add 2.75%

Full chart: http://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/en/co/moloin/moloin_005.cfm