Most newcomers assume buying a home in Canada is something for later — after permanent residency, after a few years of credit history, after the savings pile up. Then they hear the figure attached to a Scotiabank StartRight mortgage on a work permit: 35% down.
That number is real. It is also one specific path out of two, and the other one starts at 5%. Working out which path you are on is most of what there is to know here.
Short answer: Yes, newcomers can buy a home in Canada, and the widely quoted 35% down payment applies only to uninsured mortgages for temporary residents; with mortgage default insurance, a work permit holder can put down as little as 5%. The foreign buyer ban runs to January 1, 2027, but permanent residents are unaffected and work permit holders qualify with at least 183 days left on their permit. A thin Canadian credit file is rarely the real blocker.Key points from this guide · last reviewed Sep 14, 2026
What the Scotiabank StartRight Mortgage Actually Is
StartRight is usually described as a banking and credit card package for newcomers, and that is the part most people encounter first. But Scotiabank also runs StartRight mortgage programs, and there are two of them, with genuinely different rules.
One is for permanent residents who landed within the last five years. The other is for temporary residents — people on a work permit. They share a name and very little else. Both are limited to owner-occupied principal residences, meaning the home you actually live in, and both require a clean credit record with no defaults or write-offs.
If you’re still working out whether you qualify for StartRight at all, the eligibility rules and document list are worth reading first — mortgage approval sits on top of that, not instead of it.
First: Can You Legally Buy a Home Right Now?
This question comes before financing, and it catches people by surprise. Since January 1, 2023, a federal law has banned most non-Canadians from buying residential property in cities and larger towns. It was extended once already and now runs until January 1, 2027.
Where you stand depends entirely on your status. Permanent residents are not affected — the ban does not apply to you. Work permit holders are exempt if your permit has at least 183 days of validity remaining on the day you sign the purchase agreement. That last detail matters more than it sounds: a permit with four months left will not clear it, even if renewal is a formality.
International students face a much harder test. The exemption requires five consecutive years of filed Canadian tax returns, physical presence in Canada for at least 244 days in each of those years, and a purchase price no higher than $500,000. In practice, very few students clear all three.
Two footnotes worth carrying with you. The ban applies to census metropolitan areas and census agglomerations — essentially cities and larger towns — so rural properties fall outside it. And clearing the federal ban is not the same as avoiding provincial taxes: Ontario and British Columbia both levy substantial non-resident speculation taxes that operate on separate rules.
What a Scotiabank StartRight Mortgage Asks You to Put Down
Here is where the two programs separate, and where that 35% figure comes from. These are the terms as Scotiabank sets them out in its program materials — they change periodically, so confirm the current version before you plan around them.
| Permanent residents | Temporary residents | |
|---|---|---|
| Down payment, uninsured | 20% | 35% |
| Down payment, insured | From 5% | From 5% |
| Maximum mortgage, uninsured | $1.8M ($1.5M for condos) | $2M |
| Canadian employment required | Standard verification | At least 3 months full-time |
| Permit requirement | PR within last 5 years | Work permit valid 1 year, 6+ months left |
| Other Canadian property | Up to 2 properties | None permitted |
One rule applies to both and trips people up: your down payment must come from your own resources. Not gifted, not borrowed. And if you own a rental property back home, the income from it generally cannot be counted toward qualifying.
The 5% Route Most Newcomers Miss
Look again at the second row of that table. On a work permit, the down payment on a Scotiabank StartRight mortgage drops from 35% to 5% — and the reason is mortgage default insurance.
In simple terms: when you put down less than 20%, the lender requires insurance that protects them if you stop paying. You pay the premium, usually added to the mortgage balance. In exchange, the lender will accept a much smaller down payment.
Canada has three of these insurers, and all three run newcomer programs. CMHC’s newcomer rules allow up to 95% financing — 5% down — for both permanent residents and non-permanent residents, as long as you’re legally authorized to work in Canada, at least one borrower has a credit score of 600 or better, and the property is one to four units that you live in. Sagen and Canada Guaranty run comparable programs, with most requiring around three months of full-time Canadian employment first.
What this means for you: the 35% figure is the price of avoiding insurance, not the price of entry. If you qualify for an insured mortgage, a work permit does not keep you out of the housing market.
Two limits to keep in view. Insured mortgages are capped by property value, so above roughly $1.5 million the insured route closes and you are back to the uninsured rules. And the premium is a real cost — it makes the mortgage larger, and you pay interest on it for years.
No Canadian Credit History? That’s Not the Blocker
Newcomers often assume a thin credit file is what stands between them and a mortgage. It is usually not the deciding factor.
CMHC explicitly allows lenders to establish creditworthiness by other means when Canadian history is limited — an international credit report, or a letter of reference from a bank in your home country. Twelve months of documented rent payments and utility bills in your own name carry weight too.
That said, starting a Canadian credit file early makes everything downstream easier, and it costs nothing to begin. If you’re in the first year or two, our guides on building credit as an international student and the best credit cards for newcomers cover the practical steps.
What Changes on January 1, 2027
Unless Ottawa extends it again, the foreign buyer ban lapses at the start of 2027. The temporary-resident side of the Scotiabank StartRight mortgage currently carries a warning on Scotiabank’s own page that the program may be affected by the law — a note that would presumably come off if the ban expires.
Whether it simply lapses is another matter. The ban was already extended once, in 2024, and Ottawa is now reported to be weighing a targeted replacement — exemptions aimed at new builds and redevelopment — rather than a straight extension or a clean end. Housing affordability remains politically charged. It would be unwise to build a purchase timeline around the assumption that it will lapse on schedule. If you’re exempt today, the exemption is what you can rely on.
Where a Scotiabank StartRight Mortgage Fits
StartRight is not the only newcomer mortgage in Canada. Every major bank runs a version, and mortgage brokers can reach the same insurer newcomer programs without going through a bank’s branded package at all.
What a Scotiabank StartRight mortgage offers is continuity: if your chequing account, credit card and payroll deposit already sit with Scotiabank, the bank has a view of your finances that a new lender would have to build from scratch. That can smooth an application where Canadian history is short. It does not, on its own, mean a better interest rate — a newcomer program is a set of qualifying rules, not a discount.
The practical move is to get a sense of your own numbers first: which status you hold, whether you clear the ban, and whether you’re on the insured or uninsured path. Then compare at least two lenders, or talk to a broker who can compare several at once.
Key Takeaways
- A Scotiabank StartRight mortgage is really two programs, not one — the rules for permanent residents and work permit holders differ substantially.
- The widely quoted 35% down payment applies to uninsured mortgages for temporary residents. With mortgage default insurance, 5% down is available on a work permit.
- Canada’s foreign buyer ban runs to January 1, 2027. Permanent residents are unaffected; work permit holders need at least 183 days left on their permit when they sign; international students face a much stricter test.
- A thin Canadian credit file is rarely the blocker — international credit reports, foreign bank references and a year of documented rent payments can stand in.
- A newcomer mortgage program is a set of qualifying rules, not a better rate. Compare lenders before committing.
This article is for general educational purposes and isn’t financial, mortgage or legal advice. Mortgage terms, insurer rules, down payment minimums and the federal purchase prohibition are set by lenders, mortgage insurers and government and change often — confirm current terms with Scotiabank, a licensed mortgage professional and, where the purchase prohibition may apply to you, a lawyer before making any decision.