A reverse mortgage allows seniors to access the equity invested 🅷in their homes. With a reverse mortgage, a homeowner who is age 62 or older with significant home equity can borrow against the equity portion of their home. Funds are distributed as a lump sum, fixed monthly payments, or a credit line.

You can get a reverse mortgage in the United States or Canada for more than 30 years. In most respects, reverse mortgages are the same no matter which side of the border you are on. However, there are subtle differences, including the lending sta🎀ndards, eligibility, and the amount that you can borrow.

Lending Standards

There is a broad consensus that lending standards in Canada are stricter than in𒅌 the U.S. However, it is difficult to coওmpare foreclosure rates between the two markets.

This is due, in part, to the different ways in which the secondary mortgage market operates in each country. In the U.S., thanks to the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act in the 1990s, retail banks are allowed to sell their mortgages to third parties as investments. This acts as an incentive to issue large numbers of reverse mortgages and was one of the causes of the 2008 housing (and then broader) crisis.

Canada, on the other hand, has no market for private 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:mortgage-backed securities (MBSs). Instead, there are just two financial institutions that offer reverse mortgages in Canada, and these institutions have no incentive to issue loans that cannot be paid back. HomeEquity Bank offers CHIP (previously known as the Canadian Home Income Plan), which is available across Canada either directly from HomeEquity Bank or through mortgage brokers, and Equitable Bank offers a reverse mortgage in some major urban centers.

Eligibility

The second big difference between reverse mortgages in Canada and the U.S. is when it comes to eligibility. The primary difference here has to do with the age requirement for reverse mortgages. In the U.S., you must be at least 62 years old to take out a reverse mortgage. In Canada, that age is lower—you can get a reverse mortgage at 55. 

There are also some differences about who can be a borrower on the reverse mortgage. In Canada, if you want to take out a reverse mortgage on a property, everyone listed on the title of the property must be age 55 or older. This means that if a couple lives together, they will have to wait until both partners are 55 before they can take out a reverse mortgage.

How Much You Can Borrow

The final key difference betweღen reverse mortgages in Canada and the U.S. is how much you can borrow.

In Canada, a reverse mortgage can represent 55% of the home’s current value. In the U.S., the situation is a little more complicated. How much you can borrow is based on what’s called the initial principal limit. For 2025, the 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Fede🌺ral Housing Administration (FHA) HECM maximum claim amount, or maximum initial principal limit, is $1,209,750. The general rule in the U.S. is that you must have at least 50% equity in your home.

In principle, this means that you can borrow more of the value of your home in the U.S. than in Canada. But in practice, your age will have 𒊎more of an effect on this amount than moving countries will.

The Bottom Line

It’s possible to get a reverse mortgage in either the U.S. or Canada. There are some small differences between the way that these work in the two countries. In Canada, the age limit for a reverse mortgage is 55, whereas it’s 62 in the U.S. In Canada, you can borrow up to 55% of your home’s value, whereas in the U.S., the maximum amount that you can borrow depends on your age.

These differences are unlikely to make 🔴a big impact on the average homeowner. While it’s possible to sell your exist🦋ing home, pay back your reverse mortgage, and take out another in Canada (or vice versa), take this route and you are likely to lose money on origination costs.