Rooofread tools · How Far Away Am I?
You’re saving. The target can move.
See your purchase funds alongside the home’s required cash, and the buffer you want left over.
Your next step, on your own terms
Five Years From Now
Keep exploring your path to buying alongside cash, flexibility and the life you want along the way.
Take it with you →Free Excel workbook. Includes a Start here guide. Enter your own numbers in the downloaded file.
What your purchase timeline calculates
Your savings can grow while the price of the home you want changes too. How Far Away Am I? puts your purchase funds beside the cash required for that moving target, with a separate milestone for the reserve you want to keep.
What it includes
Purchase-designated cash, TFSA funds, eligible FHSA balances, eligible capped Home Buyers’ Plan withdrawals, gifts available now and monthly savings. The target includes a minimum or chosen down payment, entered purchase costs and your selected reserve. Home-price growth and savings returns are editable assumptions.
How to read your result
The down-payment milestone means you have the modelled down payment alone. The buffered milestone also includes closing costs and your chosen reserve. Neither is mortgage approval: income, debt, credit and lender requirements still matter. If the target is never reached within the modelled horizon, change an assumption to understand the gap rather than treating the result as a prediction.
How the calculation works
Each month the tool projects purchase funds and recalculates the down payment for the modelled home price. It compares funds with the down-payment target and then with down payment plus closing costs and reserve. Returns apply to the non-RRSP savings pool; HBP funds are held flat. FHSA room is informational and is not added to your balance. Future tax refunds, benefit eligibility and future changes in program rules are not projected.
Read the full methodology, coverage and dated sources →
Illustrative scenario · Canadian dollars
Worked example: the down payment is not the whole cash target
Casey has $30,000 set aside and can add $2,000 a month toward a hypothetical $500,000 home. The chosen down payment is 20%, or $100,000. Casey also allows $10,000 for closing and moving and wants $20,000 left afterward.
Sample inputs: set the home price to $500,000, chosen down payment to 20%, cash to $30,000, monthly saving to $2,000 and reserve to $20,000. Enter $7,000 manual purchase tax, $2,000 legal, $500 inspection and $500 moving; all other purchase costs are zero. Use 0% home-price growth, 0% savings return and no growth in monthly contributions. TFSA, FHSA, HBP withdrawals, partner savings and family gifts are all zero. This is an illustrative purchase-cost allowance, not a tax quote.
- Down payment alone
- $100,000, reached after 35 monthly contributions
- Down payment + costs + reserve
- $130,000, reached after 50 monthly contributions
- Difference
- 15 more months to fund closing and keep the chosen buffer
At month 35, Casey has the chosen down payment but is still $10,000 short of closing costs and has no reserve. At month 50, the full target is funded. That is four years and two months under these fixed assumptions.
Limits: this is a cash milestone, not mortgage approval. Income, credit and debt still matter. Rising home prices, a changed savings contribution or different closing costs can move the target. No tax refunds, program benefits or investment returns are assumed.
Sources and date: Rooofread hypothetical scenario, calculated September 26, 2026. Background: FCAC, Buying a home and FCAC, Mortgage terms and amortization, consulted September 26, 2026. See our calculation methodology and rule sources. These sources explain the concepts; the sample prices, rates and expenses in this example are assumptions, not market quotes.
Questions this tool can help answer
- When would I have enough for closing without emptying my savings?
- What if the home price rises faster than I can save?
- How much difference would another monthly contribution make?