2026 matters because the stress test qualifying rate is not fixed; it moves with the Bank of Canada's own benchmark, and a rate that looks favourable in one quarter can shift by the next mortgage renewal. A $200,000 income calculation run early in a year can be stale by the fall of the same year.
What stays constant is the ratio, not the dollar figure it produces: 39 percent of gross income on housing and 44 percent on total debt apply the same way regardless of the calendar year, and applying them today to a $200,000 income is only meaningful once you know today's actual qualifying rate from your lender.
Treat the ratio as the permanent rule and the rate as the variable that needs checking every time, not the other way around. Get your hand-reviewed valuation from Joel Dyck.