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Quebec City · Quebec · New to Canada

New to Canada and buying in Quebec City

PR or work permit. International credit accepted. 15+ languages in-house. Affordable provincial capital. Government-employee borrower base.

PR · 5% downWork permit OKIntl credit15+ languages
FSRA #13737 (Ontario) · Quebec files placed by a partner licensed in Quebec4.9 on Google (256 reviews)(opens Google in a new tab) Advisors in 16 languages
Quick scenario · Quebec City
On a $485,000 Quebec City home
Down payment
5% — min for new-to-canada mortgages
$24,250
Insurance premium
4.00% CMHC/Sagen/CG · financed
$18,430
Mortgage amount
At 4.19% · 30-yr amort
$479,180
QC welcome tax
Billed by the city AFTER closing
$5,386
Est. monthly payment
Principal + interest only
$2,330/mo
Assumes permanent resident status. A foreign national on a work or study permit brings the same cash to closing here: Quebec levies no non-resident purchase tax. What changes is the lender’s overlay, not the tax bill.
The payment above uses a 30-year amortization. An insured file only gets one as a first-time buyer or on new construction, and property owned abroad in the last four calendar years ends that — at 25 years the same mortgage is $2,570/mo.
Illustrative only. Your rate and amount depend on your file. An advisor will give you your exact numbers.
New-to-Canada mortgages in Quebec City

What does a new-to-Canada mortgage look like in Quebec City?

Quebec City's median single-family home price was $485,000 in Q2 2026, across 1,031 sales. Newcomer files are ordinary files in Quebec City, from Sainte-Foy to Sillery, and they fail for an ordinary reason: the page you read before this one priced a purchase for a permanent resident and you may not be one. What changes the arithmetic is not your credit history but your status: a permanent resident buying at Quebec City's $485,000 median single-family home price needs $24,250 down and about $34,445 in total cash at closing, while a foreign national on a work permit buying the identical house owes no non-resident purchase tax here at all — Quebec levies none — and meets the difference as a lender overlay on the down payment instead.

Centris (APCIQ), Q2 2026. Source.

Written by the Mortgage Squad Advisors Editorial Team · Reviewed by Surrayya Afzal, Principal Broker, FSRA #M14001433 · Figures current to June 2026

PR min down
5%
On insured mortgages
Work permit
5% min
Insurable to 95% LTV; lenders overlay more
Intl credit
90+
Countries via Equifax Intl
Languages in-house
15+
Plus Maya AI 24/7

How does each type of Quebec City home change the numbers?

What the Q2 2026 Centris release shows in the agglomeration. Each row is the board’s own median for Q2 2026. The last column is legal minimum down, 5% to $500,000, 10% above, 20% over $1.5M.

Single-familyPrice: $485,000Sales: 1,031Legal minimum down: $24,250
CondominiumPrice: $335,000Sales: 704Legal minimum down: $16,750
Plex (2–5 units)Price: $580,000Sales: 206Legal minimum down: $33,000

Centris (APCIQ), Q2 2026. Source. The last column is our arithmetic on each row, not a board figure.

The same Quebec City house, two closing days

Take Quebec City's $485,000 median single-family home price and change nothing but the buyer's status.

More detail

A permanent resident puts $24,250 down (5% — 5% of the first $500,000 and 10% of the rest), finances a 4.00% default-insurance premium of $18,430 into the mortgage, and brings $34,445 to the lawyer once you add $5,386 of land transfer and registration cost, the $1,659 of provincial sales tax on that premium — which cannot be financed — and roughly $3,150 of legal, title, inspection and adjustments. A foreign national on a work permit, insured to the identical loan-to-value at the identical minimum down payment, brings $34,445 — the same figure, because Quebec charges a non-permanent resident nothing extra at closing. Put a conventional 20% down instead, which is roughly where lender overlays on non-permanent-resident files tend to land, and the cash needed is $105,536: no insurance premium and no premium tax, but $97,000 of down payment instead of $24,250. The monthly payment is the smaller story — $2,570 against $2,081 in principal and interest at 4.19% over 25 years. The closing-day number is the one that decides whether the purchase happens, and on a file with no non-resident tax on it the thing worth shopping is the lender overlay, which is where a work-permit buyer's real premium is hiding.

How does your immigration status change a Quebec City purchase?

Your status, not your credit history, changes the math. Here is the difference on Quebec City’s $485,000 median.

Your status decides the file: three paths on the same Quebec City homePermanent resident · Work permit (foreign national) · Study permit (foreign national)
Permanent residentMinimum down: $24,250 (5%) — the federal tiered minimumNon-resident tax: None. A permanent resident is not a foreign national.Federal ban: Exempt outright — the Act does not apply to you.Insured amortization: 25 years insured, 30 only as a first-time buyer or on new construction
Work permit (foreign national)Minimum down: $24,250 at the insurer minimum — lenders commonly overlay moreNon-resident tax: None. No non-resident purchase tax is levied here — the difference shows up as a lender overlay instead.Federal ban: Exempt with 183+ days left on the permit and no more than one property boughtInsured amortization: 25 years insured, on the same two exceptions
Study permit (foreign national)Minimum down: $24,250 on the single-family row at $485,000 — the only local segment under the $500,000 ceilingNon-resident tax: None. No non-resident purchase tax is levied here.Federal ban: Exempt only with 5 years of filed returns, 244 days in Canada in each of them, and a price at or under $500,000Insured amortization: 25 years insured

Down payments are the federal tiered rule applied to this market’s own median, and Quebec levies no non-resident purchase tax to add to it. Individual lenders set higher down-payment requirements than the insurers do on non-permanent-resident files — that overlay is what we shop.

Sources: federal Prohibition on the Purchase of Residential Property by Non-Canadians Act. Which insurer accepts which newcomer file is set out on our new-to-Canada mortgage guide.

Building a Quebec City approval without Canadian credit

A thin or non-existent Canadian credit file doesn't have to stall a Quebec City purchase. Three paths work: an international Equifax or TransUnion report covering 90+ countries; alternative credit built from rent, utilities, telecom, and insurance payment history; and the banks' dedicated newcomer programs — RBC Newcomer Advantage, Scotiabank StartRight, BMO NewStart, TD New to Canada, CIBC Newcomer and National Bank's — none of which require established Canadian credit. We match your specific status — PR, work permit, or in-progress — to the lender most likely to say yes.

How a new-to-Canada mortgage works — the rules, the penalties and the paperwork that are the same in every city — is covered in full on our new-to-canada mortgages guide. This page keeps to what is different in Quebec City.

New-to-Canada mortgages across Quebec City

Does your Quebec City neighbourhood change the file?

Yes. From Sainte-Foy to Limoilou, the usual type of home in each area changes how a newcomer file is underwritten.

What each Quebec City neighbourhood means for a new-to-Canada mortgage5 areas · Sainte-Foy, Sillery, Saint-Roch, Vieux-Québec…

Sainte-Foy, Saint-Roch, Vieux-Québec

Post-war detached and newer condo near the university · Older plex and converted condo in the lower town · Heritage stone buildings, condo and plex

Condominiums are the most common newcomer entry point, and the corporation is assessed alongside a file that may already be relying on international credit — the status certificate review is not a formality here.

Sillery

Established detached on mature lots

The upper band locally, with long owner tenure making refinance and equity take-outs common — every one capped at 80% of the home's value.

Limoilou

Walk-up plex, 1920s–50s

Classic plex territory at an attainable price: two to four units is residential multi-unit lending with a rental offset, and the exterior-staircase stock common here is read conservatively by some lenders.

Regional Quebec lenders we shop, alongside the big banks and national lenders:

Desjardins Laurentian Bank
Quebec City market

What Quebec City’s market means for your new-to-Canada mortgage.

Quebec City recorded 1,031 sales with an average days on market of 14 days (Centris (APCIQ) Q2 2026, Québec City Agglomeration). Affordable provincial capital. Government-employee borrower base.

FAQ

New-to-Canada mortgages in Quebec City — common questions.

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What does a new-to-Canada mortgage work out to on Quebec City's Q2 2026 median price?

Québec City (Agglomeration) median price, single-family homes — Centris (APCIQ) put the Quebec City median at <strong>$485,000</strong> for Q2 2026. For a new-to-Canada mortgage that makes the legal minimum down about <strong>$24,250</strong> (5% to $500,000, 10% above, 20% over $1.5M). The same board counted 1,031 Quebec City sales in Q2 2026, with an average days on market of 14 days. Your own property and balance replace these numbers on the file.

How much does the new-to-Canada mortgage figure change between condominium and plex (2–5 units) in Quebec City?

Quebec City's board publishes each segment separately, and the gap is the point. At the condominium median of $335,000 the legal minimum down is about <strong>$16,750</strong>; at the plex (2–5 units) median of $580,000 it is about <strong>$33,000</strong>. The table on this page carries every row from the same Q2 2026 release.

What transfer tax applies to a $485,000 purchase in Quebec City?

About <strong>$5,386</strong> at the median. It is paid in cash on closing (or, in Quebec, billed by the municipality afterwards) and cannot be added to the mortgage. Our <a href="/land-transfer-tax-calculator">land transfer tax calculator</a> runs your own price.

What's the average newcomer file size in Quebec City?

Quebec City's median single-family home price is approximately $485,000, so the typical newcomer file we see here sits in the $412,250–$557,750 band. Your specific neighbourhood and property type can move that materially.

What does a new-to-Canada mortgage cost on a typical Quebec City home?

On Quebec City's $485,000 median single-family home price, a representative newcomer file at minimum down works out to about $24,250 down and roughly $2,330/mo (principal + interest at 4.19% over a 30-year amortization). Budget about $5,386 for Quebec City’s welcome tax on top, which the city bills months AFTER closing rather than collecting on the day. Your exact numbers depend on the property and your file — we run them precisely before you commit.

Why compare lenders for a new-to-Canada mortgage in Quebec City?

Because the lender decides more than the rate: how Capitale property types are read, how much of your income counts, and what the file costs to move. In Quebec the file is placed by a mortgage professional licensed in Quebec, through our partner network.

Is there a foreign buyer tax on a Quebec City home?

No. Quebec levies no non-resident purchase tax, so a foreign national buying here pays the same $5,386 of land transfer and registration cost on Quebec City's $485,000 median single-family home price that a Canadian citizen pays on the same property. Three jurisdictions in Canada do charge one — Ontario at 25% province-wide, British Columbia at 20% in five specified regional districts, and Nova Scotia at 10% — and none of them reach a purchase here. What still applies is the federal Prohibition on the Purchase of Residential Property by Non-Canadians Act, until it expires on 1 January 2027, and the lender overlays that meet a non-permanent-resident file. Those overlays are the real cost difference on this purchase, and unlike a tax they are shoppable.

Can I buy in Quebec City on a work permit?

Yes, on two conditions. The federal ban applies to residential property inside a census metropolitan area or census agglomeration, so you need 183 or more days of validity left on your permit at the date of purchase and you must not have bought more than one residential property. Financing is available: CMHC, Sagen and Canada Guaranty all insure a valid work permit to 95% loan-to-value, so the legal minimum down payment is the same $24,250 a permanent resident would put down, though individual lenders often require more. There is no non-resident purchase tax in Quebec, so the cash you need at closing is about $34,445 — the same figure a permanent resident brings.

Who regulates a new-to-Canada mortgage in Quebec?

Mortgage brokering in Quebec is regulated by the AMF (Autorité des marchés financiers). Mortgage Squad Advisors is licensed by FSRA in Ontario (Brokerage #13737) and serves clients across Canada: Quebec files are processed by licensed mortgage professionals in your jurisdiction through our partner network, in compliance with AMF requirements. All advisors are FINTRAC-trained. Ask us for the registration details that apply to your file.

Ready to start your new-to-Canada mortgage in Quebec City?

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