AMP
/A/Approved Mortgage Professional — designation from Mortgage Professionals Canada signalling completed continuing education.
Example: See your broker’s credentials before signing anything.
Related: Mortgage broker
Glossary
Canadian real-estate, explained.
Every acronym and confusing term, written like a human wrote it.
A
AVM
/A/Automated Valuation Model — a statistical model that estimates a home’s value from public data.
Example: Hously’s AVM blends comparable sales with hedonic adjustments. Median absolute error 5.8% in our 2025 backtest.
Related: Comparable sales · CMA
C
CMHC
/C/Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation — federal Crown corporation that insures mortgages with less than 20% down.
Example: Premium ranges from 2.80% (15–19.99% down) to 4.00% (5–9.99% down). Added to the loan, not paid up front.
Related: Default insurance · LTV
Cap rate
/C/Capitalization rate — net operating income ÷ purchase price, expressed as a percent.
Example: A duplex generating $36,000 NOI at $720,000 has a 5% cap rate.
Related: NOI · Investment property
Closing costs
/C/One-time fees paid on possession day, separate from the down payment.
Example: Budget 3–5% of the purchase price. Includes LTT, legal, title insurance, adjustments. See our calculator.
Related: LTT · Title insurance
Condo fees
/C/Monthly contribution to a condo corporation’s operating budget and reserve fund.
Example: Usually $0.55–$0.90 per square foot per month for newer Toronto buildings.
Related: Reserve fund · Status certificate
D
DDF
/D/Data Distribution Facility — CREA’s real-time listing feed used by member sites.
Example: Hously is a DDF Member and refreshes inventory every 15 minutes.
Related: CREA · MLS
DOM
/D/Days on market — how long a listing has been active since first posting.
Example: Median 18 days nationally in January 2026.
F
FSA
/F/Forward Sortation Area — the first three characters of a Canadian postal code.
Example: M5R covers Yorkville. Hously publishes a market report for every populated FSA.
Related: Postal code
FSBO
/F/For Sale By Owner — selling without representation.
Example: Saves 2.5% on the seller side but adds disclosure, marketing, and negotiation risk.
Related: Listing agent
G
GDS
/G/Gross Debt Service ratio — housing costs ÷ gross income, must be ≤ 32% to qualify.
Example: Includes mortgage P&I + property tax + heat + 50% of condo fees.
Related: TDS · Stress test
I
IDX
/I/Internet Data Exchange — bilateral feed of listings between MLS members for display.
Example: Most agent sites use IDX. Hously uses CREA DDF instead, which is more current and standardized.
L
Land Transfer Tax
/L/Provincial (and sometimes municipal) tax on the property purchase price.
Example: Toronto buyer of an $850k home pays roughly $26,675. See LTT calculator.
Related: MLTT · Closing costs
M
MLS
/M/Multiple Listing Service — REALTOR®-only system for sharing listings.
Example: MLS data flows through CREA DDF to consumer sites like Hously.
Related: DDF · IDX
MLTT
/M/Municipal Land Transfer Tax — only the City of Toronto charges one (so far).
Example: Mirrors Ontario’s provincial LTT brackets. Together they roughly double the LTT bill.
Related: LTT
MPAC
/M/Municipal Property Assessment Corporation — sets assessed values in Ontario.
Example: Assessments are updated every 4 years and used for property-tax billing. Often well below market.
Related: Property tax
N
NRST
/N/Non-Resident Speculation Tax — Ontario’s 25% tax on non-residents buying residential property.
Example: BC has the similar Foreign Buyer Tax (FBPTT) at 20% in Metro Vancouver.
Related: Foreign buyer ban
O
OREA
/O/Ontario Real Estate Association — industry body, publisher of the standard Agreement of Purchase and Sale.
Example: Most Ontario offers use the OREA form, which has 25+ pages of conditions and clauses.
Related: TRESA
P
PIPEDA
/P/Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act — federal privacy law.
Example: Gives Canadians the right to access, correct, and delete personal data. See our Privacy Policy.
Related: Privacy
R
RECO
/R/Real Estate Council of Ontario — regulator that licenses brokerages and salespersons.
Example: In 2023 RECO was succeeded by the TRESA regime, which strengthened consumer protections.
Related: TRESA
Reserve fund
/R/Pool of money a condo corporation builds for major future repairs (roofs, elevators).
Example: A poorly-funded reserve fund is the leading cause of special assessments.
Related: Status certificate
S
Stress test
/S/Federal requirement that you qualify at the greater of (contract rate + 2%) or 5.25%.
Example: Introduced 2018, expanded 2021. Reduces your borrowing capacity by ~20%.
Related: OSFI · Qualifying rate
Status certificate
/S/A condo corporation’s 90-day financial and legal snapshot.
Example: Costs $100, takes ~10 days. Reviewing one is the most-skipped step that bites buyers later.
Related: Reserve fund · Condo fees
T
TDS
/T/Total Debt Service ratio — all debts ÷ gross income, must be ≤ 40%.
Example: Includes GDS plus car loans, credit cards (3% of balance), student loans.
Related: GDS
TRESA
/T/Trust in Real Estate Services Act, 2002 — Ontario’s 2023 regulatory overhaul.
Example: Replaces REBBA. Introduces "designated representation" and stricter conflict-of-interest rules.
Related: RECO · OREA
TRREB
/T/Toronto Regional Real Estate Board — North America’s largest real-estate board.
Example: Source of GTA sold history and Days-on-Market statistics on Hously.
Related: MLS
V
Variable rate
/V/Mortgage rate that moves with the lender’s prime rate, which moves with the Bank of Canada.
Example: Adjustable variable changes payment; fixed-payment variable extends amortization instead.
Related: Fixed rate