CMHC MLI Select Explained: Requirements, Points and Benefits

MLI Select is a CMHC mortgage loan insurance product for rental buildings of 5 or more units that offers higher loan-to-value, longer amortizations, a lower debt coverage requirement and cheaper premiums in exchange for social commitments. Those commitments are scored with points in three categories: affordability, energy efficiency and accessibility.

CMHC launched MLI Select on March 7, 2022, replacing the earlier MLI Flex product. It sits alongside standard multi-unit insurance (often called MLI Standard or market MLI), which has no social criteria but lower leverage and shorter amortizations. Because CMHC insures the lender against default, insured multi-unit loans usually carry lower interest rates than conventional ones.

The rules have changed several times since launch, most recently with a new premium schedule in July 2025 and program updates announced in late 2025. This guide describes the program as of October 2026. Always confirm current terms with a CMHC-approved lender before you make an offer.

MLI Select is open to new and existing standard rental buildings of at least 5 self-contained units, as well as single room occupancy, supportive housing and retirement homes (50+ units or beds). It covers construction, purchase and refinance loans. Student housing can qualify only through energy efficiency and accessibility points.

• Non-residential space (such as ground-floor retail) cannot exceed 30% of gross floor area or 30% of total lending value.
• Experience: the borrower, or an affiliated company, needs at least five years of experience managing similar multi-unit buildings, or a contract with a professional property manager.
• Net worth: at least 25% of the loan amount, with a minimum of $100,000. CMHC may allow flexibility for projects scoring 100 points or more.

Buildings with 1–4 units are financed as residential mortgages and are not eligible. If you are weighing a fourplex against a sixplex, MLI Select is one of the biggest differences between them. See rental property down payments in Canada for how the smaller-building rules compare.

A project needs at least 50 points, earned from any combination of affordability, energy efficiency and accessibility commitments. The thresholds are much harder for existing buildings on affordability, and are measured differently on energy:

An “affordable” unit rents at or below 30% of the median renter household income for the market, as published by CMHC. Accessibility points also require every unit to be visitable and common areas to be barrier-free. Energy and accessibility only need to be proven once; affordability must be maintained for at least 10 years.

More points unlock longer amortizations, larger premium discounts and, at 100 points, limited recourse; every tier gets a minimum debt coverage ratio of 1.10 on standard rental housing.

For comparison, CMHC’s standard multi-unit insurance on existing buildings tops out at 85% loan-to-value, and its minimum coverage ratios run from 1.10 to 1.30 depending on building size and term. Conventional bank loans usually require 1.20 to 1.30. Replacement reserves are discretionary under MLI Select, which also helps cash flow. The amortization can never exceed the building’s remaining economic life, so an old building may not get the full 50 years even at 100 points.

Since July 14, 2025, MLI Select premiums start from the same risk-based grid as other CMHC multi-unit insurance, plus surcharges, minus a discount of 10%, 20% or 30% based on points. The premium is a one-time charge, usually added to the loan.

Premium = (Base rate + surcharges) × (1 − points discount) × Loan

For standard rental purchases and refinances, base rates run from 2.60% at 65% loan-to-value up to 5.35% at 85%, 5.90% at 90% and 6.15% above 90%. Construction loans cost more. The most common surcharge is for amortization: 0.25% for every five years beyond 25, so 40 years adds 0.75% and 50 years adds 1.25%.

Example: an 83.5% loan over 40 years at 50 points costs (5.35% + 0.75%) × 0.90 = 5.49% of the loan. On a $1.63 million loan that is about $89,300, financed into the mortgage. Premiums were noticeably lower before July 2025, so check any older pro forma against the current grid.

Take the 8-unit building from our other guides: $1,950,000 price and $107,040 of NOI. We hold the rate at 4.9% (semi-annual compounding) in every column to isolate the effect of leverage and amortization; insured rates are usually lower in practice. Each MLI Select loan is sized to the 1.10 minimum coverage, including the premium.

Even at 100 points, coverage, not the 95% ceiling, sets the loan. Compared with conventional financing, the 50-point loan cuts the down payment roughly in half. But annual cash flow falls from $17,840 to $9,731, because the building now carries more debt. And this table assumes the points are free, which for an existing building they rarely are.

MLI Select’s leverage is paid for with lower rents on committed units, compliance work and a loan that pays down slowly.

• Rent restrictions. An existing 8-unit building needs 4 affordable units for 50 affordability points. If 30% of median renter income in your market is $1,560 a month and those units rent for $1,750, NOI falls to about $98,600. The maximum 40-year loan drops to about $1,511,300 (78%), and the down payment rises to about $438,700. Rents on committed units can only rise by the provincial guideline, or by CPI where there is none, for at least 10 years.
• Reporting. Affordability needs an annual certificate of compliance for the whole commitment period. Energy points need a qualified professional’s modelling and attestation.
• Slower paydown. At 4.9%, a 25-year loan repays $116,300 of every $1 million in five years. Over 40 years it repays $46,200, and over 50 years only $26,700.
• Rule changes. Since September 30, 2026, new-construction energy points have been scored against the 2020 editions of the national codes, which makes them harder to earn than under the older 2015 and 2017 codes.

Before you commit to affordability or retrofit work, run the deal both ways. In PropStack you can line up a conventional scenario and an insured one side by side, changing the down payment, rate and amortization, and see cap rate, cash flow, DSCR and a 10-year projection for each, with Canadian semi-annual compounding. Remember that the premium is financed, so it raises the payment too.

If an affordability commitment lowers rents, enter those rents and check whether the extra leverage still beats the conventional case. For the vacancy and expense inputs lenders will use, see our guide to underwriting assumptions. Try it on a listing, no account needed.