Below 20 percent down, a buyer must carry mortgage default insurance through CMHC, Sagen or Canada Guaranty, added to the mortgage, plus provincial sales tax on that premium payable in cash at closing in Saskatchewan. That insurance protects the lender, not the buyer, and its cost falls as the down payment rises toward 20 percent.
The tradeoff is straightforward: a smaller down payment gets you into a Saskatoon home sooner but carries a higher monthly payment and an insurance cost on top of it, while 20 percent down avoids that cost but takes longer to save. Neither is wrong; it depends on your timeline and what waiting actually costs you in a market where the benchmark price is $444,700.
Joel Dyck helps buyers weigh that tradeoff against real numbers for a specific home, not a rule of thumb. Get your hand-reviewed valuation from Joel Dyck.