Mortgage Broker

Find people the right mortgage from dozens of lenders. A short course to get licensed, then your pay is commission.

Typical pay: $66,000a year
Time to qualify: 1 to 3 yearsafter high school
Demand: Moderate
Licence needed: Dependsneeded in 9 provinces

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Quick answers

How much does a mortgage broker make in Canada?

The median pay is about $66,000 a year. Across everyone in the job it runs from about $44,000 at the lower end to about $112,000 at the upper end. The source is listed under Sources at the end of this page.

How long does it take to become a mortgage broker in Canada?

1 to 3 years after high school, on the usual route.

What does it cost to become a mortgage broker?

$800 to $2,500 all in for tuition, fees, exams and kit. Living costs are not counted.

Do you need a licence to work as a mortgage broker in Canada?

It depends where you work. You need a licence, certificate or registration in Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Quebec and Saskatchewan. Elsewhere there is none to hold, though many employers still ask for training or a certificate.

What is the job outlook for a mortgage broker in Canada?

Moderate demand nationally, from government outlook data. Demand varies by region, so check your area.

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Mortgage Broker salary in Canada

What you earn and what it costs to get there.

What mortgage brokers make

Median

$66,000

Lower end

$44,000

Upper end

$112,000

Job Bank pools this job under Mortgage Officer, which includes salaried mortgage specialists at banks. Its national median is $31.88 an hour, about $66,000 a year at 40 hours a week. The lower end ($21) and upper end ($53.85) are the bottom and top of the wage range for everyone in the group. Independent brokers are paid commission per closed mortgage, so a slow first year can land below this range and a strong year well above it. Many new agents keep another job for the first year.

Where pay is highest

$34.46 an hour

The median in British Columbia, about $72,000 a year

Alberta is next at $32.67, and Nova Scotia has the lowest median, $25.64. Salaried mortgage specialist jobs at banks pay a base salary with targets.

How a deal pays

A share of each mortgage

Paid by the lender when the deal closes

Commission is a percentage of the mortgage amount, paid by the lender, so income depends on how many deals you close. Expensive markets like Toronto and Vancouver pay more per deal, and a slow housing market cuts everyone's income.

What it costs to get there

Licensing course: $399 online or $429 with a class in Ontario through Mortgage Professionals Canada, about 40 hours of study; exam booking $75 online or at no charge in person
Licence fee: A few hundred dollars to the provincial regulator, then renewals
Errors and omissions insurance: Required; often arranged through the brokerage
Level 2 and broker courses later: A few hundred dollars each

Roughly, all in

$800 to $2,500

Tuition, fees, exams and kit. Not rent, food or travel

This is the cheapest licensed financial job on the site. The low end is the provincial licensing course at about 400, the exam written in person at no charge, and the first licence fee to the regulator. The high end adds the online exam booking fee, the later level two and broker courses, and a share of errors and omissions insurance where the brokerage does not cover it. The real cost is not the fees, it is the months of very low income while you build a client base.

The cheapest licensed financial job on this site. The real cost is the months of low income while you find your first clients.

How brokers get paid

Lender commission
A finder's fee from the bank or lender on each mortgage you place.
Brokerage split
Your brokerage keeps a share of each commission, less as you produce more.
Renewals and referrals
Past clients come back every few years and send friends.
Salary plus bonus
Mortgage specialists employed by banks.

How to become a mortgage broker in Canada

The exact path from high school to qualified.

The path to becoming a mortgage broker, step by step

No degree needed. A course, an exam, a brokerage to sponsor you, then years of building a name.

1
High school
Grade 12
Math, business, English and any sales experience. You must be an adult to hold a licence.
2
Licensing course
Weeks to a few months
In Ontario, the Level 1 mortgage agent course: about 40 hours online, a 50-question multiple-choice exam, 60% to pass. Other provinces have their own course.
3
Get sponsored and licensed
Weeks
A licensed brokerage must take you on before the regulator issues your licence. Background and credit checks apply.
4
Work as an agent
2 to 3 years
Find clients, gather documents, submit applications to lenders, get deals closed.
5
Level 2 and broker licence
After about 2 years
More courses plus experience as an agent. A broker can run a brokerage and supervise agents.

High school courses that help you become a mortgage broker

Math
Interest rates, amortization, debt ratios.
Business
Marketing yourself is half the job.
English
Explaining a 30-page mortgage document in plain words.
Any sales job
Retail or phone sales teach you the rejection part early.

Time and money, at a glance

Years after high school: Months to a first licence; about 2 to 3 years to a broker licence
Admission: Open; an adult with a high school diploma or equivalent
Total tuition: $800 to $2,500 to get licensed, all fees in
Paid while training?: Commission starts with your first closed deal

Licensed in nine provinces

Nine provinces license mortgage brokers and agents, each through its own regulator: FSRA (Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario) in Ontario, the BC (British Columbia) Financial Services Authority in BC, RECA (Real Estate Council of Alberta) in Alberta, and the AMF (Autorité des marchés financiers) in Quebec. Prince Edward Island and the three territories have no mortgage broker licence. Licences do not transfer automatically; moving provinces usually means another course. Bank employees who arrange mortgages are exempt because banks are federally regulated, which is why bank mortgage specialists are not called brokers.

Quebec routeIn Quebec? The route is different. 2 more cards.

The path in Quebec

In Quebec mortgage brokers are certified by the AMF (Autorité des marchés financiers, the Quebec financial markets regulator), which took over from the real estate regulator on May 1, 2020, and the training ends with a 12 week probation.

1
Finish Secondary V
Age 16 or 17
Math helps with rates and debt ratios. Collège CEI (a private college) sets no admission conditions for its qualification program.
2
Mortgage brokerage qualification program
6 months to a year
Two required courses: professional ethics and practice (F-116) and mortgage brokerage (F-611). Offered online by private colleges such as the Collège des professions financières and Collège CEI.
3
Pass two AMF exams
After the courses
They cover the same material as the two courses.
4
12 week probation
12 weeks
Supervised work inside a mortgage brokerage firm, at least 28 hours a week.
5
Apply for your certificate
Weeks
Ask the AMF for your mortgage broker certificate while your exam results are still valid.

Time and money in Quebec

Collège des professions financières: $1,550 self-study, $2,050 with an instructor
Collège CEI (a private college): $2,990 for both courses
Time allowed for the courses: 6 months at one school, 360 days at another
Probation: 12 weeks, at least 28 hours a week
AMF (Autorité des marchés financiers) exams: 2

Course prices are from the schools' own pages.

What helps you get ahead as a mortgage broker

Things you don't need, but that help.

Ways to level up

Broker licence
Supervise agents, open your own brokerage, keep the whole commission.
Level 2 in Ontario
Opens up more lender types, including private lenders, and more complex deals.
AMPC (Accredited Mortgage Professional of Canada)
The industry designation from Mortgage Professionals Canada.
Commercial mortgages
Apartment buildings, plazas, farms. Fewer deals, much bigger cheques.

Nice-to-haves

Real estate agent connections
Realtors send most first-time buyers to a broker.
A second language
Newcomer communities are a huge share of first-time buyers.
Social media
Many young brokers build their client base on video.
A driver's licence
You meet clients where they are, often in the evening.

What being a mortgage broker is really like

Day to day, pros and cons, where you'd work.

What a mortgage broker does day to day

Morning: chase documents from three clients (pay stubs, tax returns, bank statements) and push two files through lender approvals. Midday: coffee with a realtor who sends you buyers, or a video call with a young couple who found you online. Afternoon: compare rates across lenders, structure a deal for a self-employed client the bank turned down, and explain the options in plain language. Evenings and weekends: more client meetings, because buyers work during the day.

The honest pros and cons of being a mortgage broker

The good

Licensed in months for about $800 to $2,500
No degree needed; Job Bank's upper end is about $112,000
Be your own boss, set your own hours
Helping people buy their first home is satisfying

The hard parts

Pure commission: no deals, no pay
Income swings with interest rates and the housing market
Evenings and weekends, always on your phone
Heavy compliance and fraud-checking paperwork

Work life

Typical hours: 40 to 55 a week, including evenings and weekends
Remote work: Very common; most work from home and client meetings
Physical demand: Low
Unionized: No

Similar paths

Things nobody tells you about being a mortgage broker

Things people don't tell you.

A young workforce

Job Bank counted about 61,300 mortgage officers and brokers in 2023, and only 26% were aged 50 or over.

The industry has its own association

Mortgage Professionals Canada represents more than 15,000 mortgage professionals and runs the licensing courses in most provinces, plus the AMPC (Accredited Mortgage Professional of Canada) designation.

How a mortgage broker compares

Every list is built from the same numbers shown above, so you can see where this career sits next to the others.

More business and money careers in Canada

Money and finance first, then the rest of the field. See every career in business and money.

Where these numbers come from

Last checked October 2026. Pay figures are typical full-time annual amounts in Canadian dollars, based on Government of Canada Job Bank wage data and published salary grids. They vary by province, employer and experience. Tuition is for domestic students. How every figure on this site is sourced and checked.