The Prop Hound team · 2026-10-01 · Last reviewed 2026-10-01
Can a Canadian Get a US Mortgage or DSCR Loan?
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Yes. A Canadian can borrow to buy a US rental property. It just won't look like the mortgage you'd get at home, and the lender who says yes is probably not the bank where you hold your chequing account.
This page covers what's available, what it costs and what lenders ask for. For the tax and exchange-rate side of buying from Canada, start with the main guide for Canadian investors.
Why a normal US mortgage is hard
A conventional US mortgage is built around a US credit score, US tax returns and a Social Security Number. A Canadian has none of those, and a US lender can't easily read a Canadian T4 or a Notice of Assessment. Most big US banks don't bother with the exception.
That left a gap, and specialty lenders filled it with foreign national loans. The main options are below.
Foreign national DSCR loans
This is what most Canadians end up using. A DSCR loan approves the property on its rent, so the lender looks at what the house earns against the payment and mostly ignores your personal income. That's the reason it works for someone with income in another country.
What to expect, in rough terms:
- Down payment: commonly 25% to 35%. Some lenders go lower for strong deals, and some ask for more on a first purchase.
- Rate: higher than a US resident would pay, often by about a point or more. It moves with the market, so get a current quote.
- DSCR: usually at least 1.0 to 1.25, meaning the rent covers the full payment (principal, interest, tax, insurance) with some room.
- Reserves: often six to twelve months of payments, in a verifiable account.
- Fees: a few points in closing costs, and many of these loans carry a prepayment penalty for the first three to five years.
An example with round numbers: a US$150,000 house rents for US$1,450 a month. You put 25% down (US$37,500) and borrow US$112,500 at 8% for 30 years. Principal and interest comes to about US$825 a month. Add roughly US$137 for property tax and US$44 for insurance and the full payment is about US$1,007.
Rent divided by payment is 1,450 / 1,007, so the DSCR is about 1.44. That clears most lenders' minimum. At 20% down and 7%, the payment would be lower and the ratio higher, but you probably wouldn't get those terms as a foreign national.
You can try your own numbers in the calculator, then compare with what a lender quotes.
What lenders ask for
The paperwork varies, and the lender will give you a list. Common items:
- A valid passport and proof of your address in Canada
- Bank statements showing where the down payment and reserves came from
- A purchase contract and a property appraisal
- A rent estimate or an existing lease
- A US taxpayer number in some cases, though many lenders don't require an ITIN to close
Credit is handled differently from lender to lender. Some pull a Canadian credit report, some use bank reference letters and some skip the credit check altogether. Ask the broker which one the lender uses before you pay for an appraisal.
Cross-border bank programs
A few banks with operations on both sides of the border offer cross-border mortgages to people who already bank with them. The terms can be more familiar, with a longer fixed term and a lower rate. The catch is that you often need a larger down payment, a real banking history with that bank and a purchase in a state the bank lends in. If you already have a long relationship with a Canadian bank that has a US arm, ask. It costs nothing, and the answer is sometimes yes.
Borrowing against Canadian property
Plenty of Canadians use a home equity line on their Canadian house to fund the down payment, or even buy in cash. Rates on a HELOC are usually lower than a foreign national loan's rate, and there's no US underwriting. The downside is that you're putting your home up as security for an investment in another country. Whether the interest is deductible against your US rent depends on how the funds are used and how your accountant sets it up, so ask before you count on it.
Cash
If you can pay cash, the DSCR and down payment questions go away, and a cash offer is stronger with US sellers. It also ties up the most money. Run the cash-on-cash return both ways, since a leveraged deal often looks better on return even when it's riskier.
How to find a lender
Work with a mortgage broker who does foreign national loans regularly, not one who handles them once a year. Ask:
- Which loan programs they place for Canadian buyers, and with how many lenders
- What the minimum down payment and reserves are for your deal
- Whether the lender reports to US credit bureaus, which matters if you want to build US credit
- Whether there's a prepayment penalty, and how it steps down
- How long the loan takes to close, which is often 30 to 45 days
Get at least two quotes. The spread between lenders on rate and fees can be larger than you'd expect.
US rental income tax for Canadians shows what the first year of filing looks like once the loan is closed. Funding the down payment is covered in funding a US rental from Canada, and the full sequence is in the step-by-step buying guide.
The Canadians Investing in US Property Checklist has the lender questions in a list you can print. If you're not a Canadian, the same mechanics apply, and foreign national loans explained covers the general case.
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