Every mortgage file starts with a property. Before you submit anything, you need to know what kind of property you’re dealing with, because the property type drives the deal as much as the borrower’s credit does. The same client with the same income qualifies for one lender on a detached house and an entirely different lender on a co-op. The down payment minimums change. The mortgage products available change. The documents your lawyer needs change.
This article gives examples of each property type you’ll encounter as a mortgage agent in Ontario, with the financing context that determines how the deal actually closes. Use it alongside Chapter 4 of the textbook.
DOWNLOAD: Property Types Quick Reference Guide
Detached houses
A detached house is a standalone building on its own lot, with no shared walls. Front yard, back yard, and almost always a basement.
Sub-types you’ll see:
- Bungalow. Single-storey home. Common in older Toronto suburbs (Etobicoke, Scarborough), small towns across Ontario, and post-war neighbourhoods.
- Raised bungalow. Bungalow with a partially above-ground basement, often used as a separate apartment or in-law suite.
- Two-storey. The standard detached house in most modern subdivisions. Main living areas downstairs, bedrooms upstairs.
- Three-storey. More common in urban infill developments and downtown Toronto. Sometimes called a “townhome-style detached” when the lot is narrow.
- Split-level (back-split, side-split, four-level). Levels offset by half-storeys. Popular in 1960s and 1970s construction. Common in Scarborough, North York, Mississauga.
Financing notes. Detached houses are the most straightforward property type to finance. Every A-lender, B-lender, monoline, and credit union has a product for them. Insured (less than 20% down), insurable, or conventional all work depending on the file. The property type itself doesn’t restrict the lender list.
What to confirm. Year built (affects insurer appetite and lender max age), heating type (oil heat narrows lender options), water source (well vs. municipal), septic vs. sewer for rural files, and lot size for rural or recreational property.
Semi-detached houses
Two houses joined by one shared wall. Each side is owned individually, each has its own lot, each is registered on title separately. Most semis share only a single wall along the main house body; some share only the garage wall.
Common across older Toronto neighbourhoods (Leslieville, Riverdale, the Junction, Bloor West Village), Hamilton, Brantford, and most older Ontario cities. Many were built between 1900 and 1950. Newer semis appear in modern subdivisions as a more affordable alternative to detached homes.
Financing notes. Treated essentially the same as detached homes by most lenders. A few lenders will price a semi slightly higher than a detached based on perceived resale risk, but it’s marginal. Insurance, products, and rules all match detached.
What to confirm. Whether there’s a party wall agreement registered on title. Whether the eavestroughs are shared. Whether the lot is fully separate or held in common with the adjoining unit (rare but it happens in older properties).
Row townhouses
A row of three or more houses joined by shared walls. The end units have one shared wall, the interior units have two. Each unit has its own front and back yard (usually small) and its own street address.
The critical distinction in Ontario is between freehold and condominium townhouses, because they’re financed differently.
Freehold townhouse. The owner owns the land and the building outright. No maintenance fee. No condominium corporation. The owner is responsible for their own roof, walls, windows, and yard. These are common in older parts of Toronto (Cabbagetown, parts of the Annex) and newer subdivisions across the GTA, Ottawa, and Hamilton.
Condominium townhouse. The unit and a defined yard area are owned by the resident, but the entire complex is run by a condominium corporation. There’s a monthly maintenance fee that covers shared elements like roads, visitor parking, landscaping, and exterior building maintenance. Common in newer suburban developments.
POTL townhouse. A third category worth knowing about. POTL stands for Parcel of Tied Land. The owner has freehold title to their unit and lot, but the land is “tied” to a Common Elements Condominium Corporation (CECC) that owns shared roads, parking, or amenities. POTLs were created by the Condominium Act, 1998 when it came into force on May 5, 2001. Monthly POTL fees are usually $50 to $200, lower than full condo fees.
Financing notes. Freehold townhouses finance like any detached or semi-detached property. Condo townhouses require a status certificate, included in the broker’s review. Important: lenders treat POTL fees the same as condo fees in the GDS and TDS calculation. That $125 monthly POTL fee reduces your client’s maximum qualifying amount. Catch this early.
What to confirm. Whether the townhouse is freehold, condo, or POTL. Get the answer in writing from the listing agent before you submit. Status certificate for condo and POTL. End unit or interior unit (affects value).
Condominium units
A unit in a building (usually a high-rise or mid-rise, but sometimes low-rise) where the resident owns the interior space and a share of the common elements. Common elements include the lobby, hallways, elevators, gym, pool, party room, and any other shared facilities. The condominium corporation manages everything and is funded by monthly maintenance fees from unit owners.
Examples in Ontario. Downtown Toronto towers (King West, Liberty Village, the Distillery District), Mississauga condo districts (Square One area), Ottawa downtown developments, Hamilton waterfront builds, and Kitchener-Waterloo’s growing condo market.
Financing notes. Condos are well-served by every major lender, but the file is more complex than a detached.
- Status certificate review. Required for every condo deal. Your lawyer reviews the corporation’s financial position, reserve fund, special assessments, lawsuits, and rules. This catches problems before closing. Build the timeline into your file.
- Condo fees in TDS. Lenders include 100% of the monthly condo fee in the TDS calculation when qualifying the borrower. A high condo fee can shift a client from one lender tier to another.
- Heating costs. Some lenders also factor in a portion of heating cost separately; some treat heating as included in the condo fee. Read your lender’s policy.
- CMHC and the other insurers have specific minimum reserve fund and building condition standards. Older condo buildings with thin reserves can fail insurer review.
What to confirm. Status certificate (lawyer reviews), reserve fund balance, any pending special assessments, the percentage of the building that’s owner-occupied vs. tenant-occupied (some lenders limit tenant ratios), and whether the building has had any major lawsuits or insurance claims.
Duplex, triplex, fourplex
Two, three, and four-unit buildings respectively. The owner can occupy one unit and rent the others, rent all units, or in some cases combine the units back into a single-family configuration.
Examples in Ontario. Common in older Toronto neighbourhoods (Parkdale, the Danforth, parts of East York), Hamilton (especially the area around McMaster), Ottawa (Sandy Hill near the university), Kingston near Queen’s, and London near Western. Most originated as large single-family homes converted into apartments through the 1950s to 1980s. Newer purpose-built triplexes and fourplexes also exist in some markets.
Financing notes. This is where the financing rules genuinely change based on unit count.
- 1-2 units. Treated as residential. Owner-occupied with less than 20% down can be insured: 5% down on the first $500,000 and 10% on the portion above, up to the $1.5 million insured price cap (in effect since December 15, 2024). Standard residential lenders.
- 3-4 units. Still residential under CMHC and Sagen rules with at least one unit owner-occupied, but the minimum down payment moves to 10%. Non-owner-occupied investment properties require 20% down.
- 5 units or more. Traditionally commercial mortgage territory: 25-35% down, shorter amortizations, different lender list. As of the federal government’s Spring 2026 Economic Update, private mortgage insurers are being permitted to cover 5-8 unit residential properties for the first time. The framework is still emerging; confirm with your lender what’s actually available on a given file.
Rental income from the additional units can usually be added to qualifying income, but each lender treats this differently. Some allow 50% of gross rent. Some allow 80%. Some require the lease agreement plus two years of T1 General returns showing the rental history. Check your lender’s rental income policy before you submit.
What to confirm. Number of legal units (check with the municipality; sometimes a “triplex” is actually a duplex with an unauthorized basement apartment, which changes everything). Whether the additional units are legally permitted. Existing leases and rent rolls. Year of conversion if the building was modified.
Co-operatives
This is where property ownership stops looking like property ownership.
A housing co-operative is a corporation that owns the land and the building. When you “buy” a co-op unit, you’re not buying real estate. You’re buying shares in the corporation, and the shares give you the right to occupy a specific unit. You don’t have title to the unit. The corporation does.
Because there’s no real property to mortgage, a traditional mortgage doesn’t work. The buyer needs a share loan, which is a loan secured against the shares in the corporation rather than the property.
Two types worth distinguishing:
- Equity co-op. The shares have meaningful value. They can appreciate over time. Owners can resell their shares at market price. Most older co-ops in Toronto (especially in the Estonian and Lithuanian communities) are equity co-ops.
- Non-equity (rental) co-op. Most newer co-ops. The shares cost a small nominal amount, often $1,000 to $7,000. The monthly housing charge is below market rent. Owners build no equity. When they leave, they get their share value back. These were developed mostly in the 1970s and 1980s with government funding and are coming back through the federal Co-op Housing Development Program.
Financing notes. Most banks won’t lend on a co-op. The lender list is small.
- Northern Birch Credit Union in Toronto is one of the best-known co-op lenders, with deep roots in the Estonian-Canadian community where co-op housing has been popular for decades.
- A handful of other credit unions and B-lenders will do share loans on a case-by-case basis, often with stricter criteria and higher rates.
- The board of the co-op must approve the buyer. This adds time and a layer of uncertainty.
- Down payments are typically 10% to 25% of the share value.
- CMHC insurance does not apply to co-op share purchases.
What to confirm. Whether the co-op is equity or non-equity. Whether the building has a blanket mortgage and what the buyer’s share of it is. The board’s approval process and timeline. Existence of any restrictions on resale.
Documentation. In Ontario, OREA Form 102 is used for the purchase and sale of co-op shares, not the standard agreement of purchase and sale used for real property.
Condominium types: a deeper look
Chapter 4 of the textbook covers the formal condominium types. Here’s what each looks like in practice and what to flag for the file.
Standard condominium corporation. The most common type. Includes high-rise apartment condos, low-rise condos, and condo townhouses. Owner has fee simple ownership of the unit plus an interest in common elements. Status certificate review required.
Common Elements condominium corporation (CECC). No units; only common elements. Used in freehold townhouse developments where owners share roads, lighting, or amenities through a CECC. POTL ownership (described earlier) lives here. Examples include some vacation community developments around Muskoka, Collingwood, and Niagara, and many newer suburban townhome subdivisions.
Vacant land condominium corporation. Resembles a traditional subdivision. The unit owner repairs and maintains the entire unit (no shared exterior walls), while shared infrastructure (roads, water systems, recreation areas) is owned and maintained by the corporation. The municipality does not assume ownership of those elements. Condo fees are usually lower than in a standard condo because the corporation maintains less. Common in newer rural and exurban developments.
Phased condominium corporation. Built by a developer in phases over up to ten years. Units may be sold once the Declaration and Description are registered. Existing phases must be able to sustain themselves if additional phases are never built. Many large Ontario condo communities are phased developments.
Leasehold condominium. The land is not owned by the corporation. The buyer purchases a leasehold interest in the common elements and unit. Lease term must be 40 to 99 years. The Condominium Act treats leasehold condominiums much like freehold condominiums, with two key differences: the monthly common expense fee includes a percentage of rent payable to the landowner, and once the ground lease expires, the owner’s right to occupy is automatically terminated.
Financing the leasehold condo. This is where it gets specific. Lenders look at the remaining term on the ground lease. Most institutional lenders want at least 20 years remaining after the mortgage matures. A leasehold condo with 25 years left on the ground lease and a five-year fixed mortgage is borderline. Run it past your lender before you submit.
Registering a condominium: what matters to the file
A condominium isn’t legally a condominium until the corporation is registered. Until registration, what you have is a building under construction with units that have not yet been formally separated. The builder submits the Declaration and Description to the land registrar, and once approved and registered under the Land Titles Act, the corporation exists and unit titles can be transferred.
Interim occupancy. Between move-in and registration, the buyer pays an interim occupancy fee to the builder. This fee covers the builder’s costs of financing the unit while waiting for registration. It can run for two to five months and sometimes longer for large developments. The buyer is not yet a unit owner during this period.
Why it matters to the mortgage broker. The mortgage cannot be advanced until the condominium is registered and title transfers to the buyer. If you submit a deal for a pre-construction or newly built condo, be clear with your client about interim occupancy and the timing of the actual mortgage advance. Some lenders have specific products for new-build condos.
Status Certificate (Form for s. 76 of the Condominium Act, 1998). The mandatory document the corporation provides showing financial position, rules, and any issues. The buyer’s lawyer reviews this. Make sure it’s ordered early in the deal.
Subdivisions
When a developer divides land into two or more parcels for sale, the Planning Act governs the process. A registered plan of subdivision is a legal document showing surveyed lot boundaries and dimensions, street locations and widths, and the sites of any schools or parks.
The plan must be surveyed by an Ontario Land Surveyor, conform to the official plan and provincial policies, be approved by the appropriate authority, and be registered.
Why brokers care about subdivisions. Two main situations.
New-build files in a recent subdivision. The lot is new, the home is new, the registration may be recent or pending. Confirm that the plan of subdivision is registered before mortgage instructions go to the lawyer. Lenders advance against registered title; unregistered lots can delay closing.
Resale files where a subdivision was recently created. When a property comes out of a severance or new subdivision, the legal description and PIN will be new. Verify the parcel register matches what’s on the application. Mismatches between the application and the register cause underwriting questions.
How to use this article on a file
The first three minutes of every new file should be spent answering one question: what type of property is this? The answer determines the next ten decisions.
- If detached or semi: any lender works. Standard rules apply.
- If row townhouse: confirm freehold, condo, or POTL. If anything other than freehold, the file needs a status certificate review and condo fees factor into TDS.
- If condo unit: status certificate is mandatory. Reserve fund, special assessments, and lawsuits all matter.
- If duplex through fourplex: confirm legal unit count with the municipality. Identify which down payment rules apply.
- If co-op: stop. This is not a mortgage file. Refer the client to a co-op lender like Northern Birch or send them to a lender who handles share loans. Use OREA Form 102, not a standard APS.
- If new build or pre-construction condo: confirm the registration status of the corporation. Set client expectations on interim occupancy.
- Get the property type right at the start, and the rest of the file moves predictably. Get it wrong, and you’ll find out after the lender comes back with conditions you can’t meet.
That’s the broker version of property due diligence. Pair it with the parcel register and the survey, and you’ve covered what the property actually is, what’s registered against it, and where things sit on the ground.
