How Many Presales Can an Investor Carry? The Debt-Ratio Ceiling (BC, 2026)

How many presales can you carry? It is not set by your deposits. It is set by the day each one completes: lenders re-run your debt ratios at the 44% total-debt limit, stress-tested at 2% above your contract rate, and how much of your rent they count can swing the answer from three units to one. The Test Every Completing Unit Has to Pass Deposits are the easy part. Each unit's mortgage is approved near completion, and every lender looks at your whole picture, including the presales that are still in the pipeline or already closed. Three numbers decide it: Stress-test rate: the higher of 5.25% or your contract rate + 2% . At a 4.5% contract rate you are tested at 6.5%. GDS housing costs ÷ gross income : 39% maximum on insured files. It counts the mortgage at the stress rate, property tax, heat, and 50% of condo fees. TDS all debts ÷ gross income : 44% maximum on insured files. Many conventional lenders use similar limits, but policy varies, so confirm with your broker. The renewal exemption Canada introduced in November 2024 does not help you here. It applies to existing mortgages at renewal, not to a new mortgage on a completing presale. The Variable Nobody Mentions: How Your Rent Is Counted Lenders do not count rent at 100%. Most apply a haircut or an "offset" to a share of expected rent, commonly somewhere between 50% and 80% depending on the lender and the file. The rest of the payment lands on your ratios. Two lenders can look at the same unit and the same rent and give you different answers, which is why the lender you pick for unit one matters for units two and three. Worked Example: Two Presales on a $180,000 Income This is an illustration, not a quote. Assume gross income of $180,000 $15,000 a month , a primary home with qualifying housing costs of $2,800 a month, and two identical Fraser Valley presale condos at $560,000 each. Each has an 80% mortgage of $448,000, a 25-year amortization, a 4.5% contract rate tested at 6.5% , property tax of $1,900 a year and strata fees of $400 a month. Expected rent is $2,400 per unit. Line item per unit Monthly Mortgage payment at…

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