Medical resident mortgage:
low residency pay, big student debt,
and you can still buy.

Yes. Resident and new-to-practice programs are built specifically for trainees whose current income is low but whose signed contract points to much higher practice income. Rather than using your residency pay, the lender qualifies you on a projected qualifying income supported by your signed residency placement, fellowship, or employment contract. Programs like this exist in several major banks' healthcare-professional offerings and at some broker-channel lenders. We confirm the exact terms against the current program for your lender and specialty before you rely on any number.

Instead of looking backward at your trailing T4, the lender looks forward at your signed contract or confirmed placement and qualifies you on a projected qualifying income tied to the practice or position you're about to start. In many cases a final-year resident or incoming fellow can qualify before the higher income actually begins. We never publish a specific projected figure here — it varies by lender and specialty and changes over time — and instead confirm the exact qualifying income against the current program for your lender and specialty when we structure your file.

Some resident programs allow the federal minimum down payment: 5% on the first $500,000 and 10% on the portion to $1.5M, for homes priced under $1.5M. As a first-time buyer you can also choose a 30-year amortization on an insured mortgage (in force since December 15, 2024). That's what makes buying during residency realistic — you don't need years of savings first. Higher-value or uninsured purchases require more down, and we model both routes so you can see the real cash-to-close before choosing.

Under a standard mortgage, that debt and its payment load your debt-service ratios and can sink the application. Resident and new-to-practice programs are designed around it: some lenders exclude student loans still in deferral during training or count a reduced payment; on insured files the insurer's rules apply. The treatment varies by program, so we confirm it against the current rules of the specific lender we place you with rather than assuming one standard applies.

Most lenders count a credit line by its balance (CMHC uses 3% of the outstanding balance for TDS purposes), but some use the limit on certain files. Resident programs reliably use the balance, so an unused or lightly-used line stops working against you. We make sure your file lands with a lender applying balance-based treatment.

These programs generally run through your final year of training and roughly the first 24 months after you complete residency or fellowship. Final-year residents and incoming fellows are often able to qualify before the practice income arrives, on the strength of the signed contract. If you're already established in practice rather than transitioning into it, our doctor mortgage and dentist mortgage pages cover the full physician and dental professional programs.

It can. Many residents will form a medical professional corporation once they start practising, and how you'll eventually pay yourself — salary, dividends, retained earnings — affects how lenders read your income down the road. We keep that future structure in mind when we set up your resident file, and we map the path to a full physician program once you transition. The incorporated-owner mechanics are covered on our self-employed mortgage page for when that stage arrives.

That depends on your specialty length, where you're training versus where you'll practise, and whether you expect to relocate after residency — it isn't automatically right for everyone. What the program does is remove the income obstacle, so the decision becomes about your plans rather than about whether you can qualify. We'll walk through the honest trade-offs, including resale and relocation risk, before you commit. Our first-time home buyer page covers the first-purchase fundamentals that apply on top of the resident program.

On a properly placed insured resident file, pricing is competitive with — and often the same as — a standard salaried borrower, because the lender is using the program to win a high-value client for the long term, not to charge a premium. We compare bank healthcare programs and broker-channel options on your file, and our compensation comes from the lender on funding and is always disclosed.

We map the transition from day one. Once you move into practice, you become eligible for the full physician program, and we can move you into it by renewing (or switching at renewal) with your now-higher actual income, which can open more lender options. A refinance before then is limited to 80% of your home's value. The resident mortgage is the bridge across the training years; the physician program on our doctor mortgage page is where it leads.