10/14/2026
🏠 “We need $70,000 saved before we can even look.”
No, you don’t. 🙅♂️ That number has stopped more first-time buyers in this city than interest rates ever have.
💡 The 20% down payment is not a rule. It is the point where you stop paying mortgage insurance. Those are two very different things.
The actual minimum in Canada is 5% on the first $500,000.
📍 Here’s what that looks like right now:
🔹 Grand Lake / Chipman / Minto — $202,700 → $10,135 down
🔹 Silverwood — $284,500 → $14,225 down
🔹 Fredericton region — $364,400 → $18,220 down
🔹 Oromocto — $434,000 → $21,700 down
⚠️ Now the part nobody tells you:
The down payment is not the whole number.
On that $364,400 you also need about $3,644 in land transfer tax. New Brunswick has no first-time buyer rebate, unlike Ontario, BC and PEI. Plus $5,466 to $14,576 in closing costs. All of it due on closing day, in certified funds.
💰 So the real cost is roughly $27,000 to $36,000, not $18,220.
That is still nothing near $70,000. But it is the number to plan against, and the gap between the two is where I see first-time buyers get caught.
🗓️ One thing worth doing this week even if you are two years out: open an FHSA. $8,000 of room a year, $40,000 lifetime, deductible going in and tax-free coming out, and the room only starts accruing the year you open the account, not the year you turned 18. Waiting twelve months costs you $8,000 of room permanently. Opening it empty costs you nothing.
