The Federal Government recently increased the minimum downpayment to purchase a home in Canada. Prior to the change a buyer was able to buy up to a 1 million dollar home (if they qualified) for as little as 5% down or $50,000 of their own money and borrow the other $950,000. Now buyers (if they qualify) will need 5% on the first $500,000 and 10% on the next $500,000. So, that same 1 million dollar home will now require a minimum $75,000 downpayment.  Here’s the big newsflash that most media outlets failed to report. It is very very difficult for a buyer to ever qualify for up to a 1 million dollar home with only 5% down. Most buyers would need a much bigger down payment for that size of loan. For that reason this slightly higher downpayment requirement will have little to no impact on the market simply because no one was ever able to qualify at 5% down in the first place.