Mississauga is one city and two mortgage markets
The July 2026 TRREB figures make the split plain: Mississauga's all-types average was $899,002 while the average detached sale was $1,256,800. The condo and townhome end of the city — the Square One cluster, Cooksville, the Hurontario corridor — and the freehold end along the Credit River in Lorne Park and Streetsville are not variations on one market; they are underwritten differently and fail differently. On a condo, you are not the only party being assessed. Ontario requires a status certificate, and the corporation's reserve fund, any pending special assessment, outstanding litigation, or a high share of rental or commercial units can stall an approval no matter how strong your income is. Small units and investor-heavy buildings narrow the lender list further. On a Mississauga freehold, the property is rarely the obstacle — competition is. Waiving a financing condition to win a bidding war moves the appraisal risk off the lender and onto you: if the appraisal lands under your firm price, you cover the gap in cash. At $899,002 the tiered minimum down payment is 5% on the first $500,000 plus 10% on the balance — about $64,900 — and default insurance is available, so a first-time buyer can also use a 30-year amortization to lower the payment the stress test is applied to. At $1,256,800 the same tiered rule still applies, because the price is under the $1.5-million ceiling — but the cash requirement roughly doubles, and lender scrutiny of the debt-service ratios rises with the loan size.