For Ontario apartment owners, developers, and investors, MLI Select is the program behind most of the financing in this asset class. Here's how it works today, what's changing this fall, and what the deadline means for your decisions.

At A Glance

• MLI Select is CMHC's multi-unit mortgage loan insurance product for projects that hit specific affordability, energy efficiency, and accessibility thresholds. It is the workhorse behind most Canadian apartment construction and refinancing right now.
• The program scores projects on a points system across three categories. Three tiers (50, 70, and 100 points) unlock progressively better terms: insurance premium discounts of 10%, 20%, and 30%, and amortization periods of up to 45 or 50 years.
• On September 30, 2026, CMHC stops accepting energy efficiency attestations against the older 2015 National Building Code and 2017 National Energy Code. After that date, every new application is scored against the tougher 2020 codes. The practical effect: many projects will score fewer energy points under the same building specifications.
• For projects right at a tier threshold, fewer points could mean dropping from a 50-year amortization to a 45-year one, or losing a premium discount tier altogether. On a meaningful project, this can be a six-figure swing in financing economics.
• Affordability and accessibility scoring isn't changing on September 30. The three tier thresholds (50/70/100) aren't changing either. The change is specifically to the energy efficiency baseline.
• Multifamily is back to the top of Canadian commercial lender appetite rankings for 2026. The 2026 refi window is open, but anyone with a CMHC-insured project on the horizon should factor in the September 30 cutoff.

MLI Select Overview

If you've built a new apartment building in Canada in the last three years, refinanced one, or considered acquiring one, MLI Select has almost certainly been in the conversation.

CMHC's MLI Select is mortgage loan insurance, which means CMHC guarantees the lender against borrower default. That guarantee unlocks more favourable financing terms than a conventional uninsured mortgage offers: higher loan-to-value ratios, longer amortizations, lower interest rate spreads. For multi-unit residential, those terms are large enough to be the difference between a project working and not.

The "Select" qualifier is important. MLI Select is a specific subset of CMHC's multi-unit insurance, designed to reward projects that contribute to policy goals around affordability, energy performance, and accessibility. Standard CMHC insurance is available for apartment buildings that don't meet those criteria, but the terms are less favourable. For most active developers and owners, MLI Select is the version of CMHC insurance that actually moves the needle.

The numbers in 2025 give a sense of scale. Equitable Bank alone funded $4.3 billion of insured multi-unit volume in 2025, the bulk of it through MLI Select. First National (the country's largest CMHC-insured apartment lender), CMLS Financial, the Big 6 banks, and several specialty lenders are all heavily active in the same program. When industry commentary refers to apartments being the #1 sector for commercial lender appetite in 2026, MLI Select is the structural reason that's possible.

How The Program Works Today.  

MLI Select operates on a points-based system. A project earns points across three categories, and the total point score determines what benefits the project qualifies for.

The three categories are:

Affordability.

A project earns points by committing to keep a percentage of units at rents below median market rates, for a specified number of years. The exact thresholds and commitments scale with the points being claimed. Affordability is the largest available point category in absolute terms (up to 100 points).

Energy Efficiency.

Points come from building performance: how much better than the relevant building code the project performs on a measured energy efficiency basis. As of a June 2024 update, the maximum points available through energy efficiency alone is 50 (down from 70 previously), so projects can no longer reach the top tier on energy performance alone.

Accessibility.

Points come from incorporating universal design features and a higher proportion of barrier-free units than the building code requires. Accessibility can contribute up to 50 points.

Once a project totals its points, it falls into one of three tiers.

• The 50-point tier qualifies a project for a 10% reduction in the CMHC insurance premium and access to extended amortization.

• The 70-point tier earns a 20% premium discount and 45-year amortization at higher LTV.

• The 100-point tier earns a 30% premium discount and the maximum 50-year amortization at up to 95% loan-to-construction-cost.

The structural advantages of higher tiers extend well beyond the headline premium discount. Long amortizations dramatically reduce periodic debt service. Higher LTV reduces the equity needed to make a project work. Lower premiums improve the all-in financing cost. For a typical mid-sized purpose-built rental, moving from the 50-point tier to the 100-point tier can be the difference between a deal that pencils and one that doesn't.

**One important caveat from 2025.** In July 2025, CMHC introduced a surcharge of 0.25% per five-year increment of amortization above 25 years. That means a 50-year amortization loan now carries an additional 1.25% in premium surcharges on top of the standard LTV premium. The premium discount earned by hitting a higher tier still meaningfully exceeds the surcharge for most projects, but the math is closer than it was in 2024, and the surcharge changes the calculus on whether to push for the longest amortization or settle for 40 or 45 years.

What's Changing On September 30, 2026

Here's the specific change that has lenders, brokers, and developers publicly flagging the timing.

Effective September 30, 2026, CMHC will stop accepting energy efficiency attestations against the 2015 National Building Code and the 2017 National Energy Code for Buildings. After that date, every new construction file submitted for MLI Select energy efficiency points will be scored against the 2020 NBC and 2020 NECB.

Why does this matter?  Well, the 2020 codes are tougher. It's as simple as that.  They set a higher baseline for what counts as a code-compliant building. To earn the same number of energy efficiency points under the 2020 standards, a building needs to perform better than what would have earned those points under the older codes.

In practice, that means projects designed today to hit, say, 30 energy efficiency points under the 2015 NBC may earn only 20 (or fewer) points under the 2020 NBC, holding building specifications constant. To recover the lost points, the project needs additional energy efficiency upgrades: more efficient HVAC systems, deeper envelope insulation, more sophisticated building automation, lower embodied-carbon assemblies. Those upgrades cost real money up front, even if they reduce operating costs over time.

What isn't changing on September 30:

The three-tier point thresholds (50, 70, 100) stay the same.

• Affordability scoring isn't changing.
• Accessibility scoring isn't changing.
• Premium discounts at each tier aren't changing.

The change is specifically and exclusively about how energy efficiency points are calculated for new construction files filed after the cutoff. Projects that file complete applications before September 30 lock in scoring under the older (easier) energy baseline.

The Financial Impact: Working Example.  

For a project right at a tier threshold, the difference between filing before and after September 30 can be material.

Consider a hypothetical 80-unit purpose-built rental in a mid-sized Ontario market. The project's design is reasonably energy-efficient but not exceptional. Under the 2015 NBC baseline, the building scores 30 energy efficiency points. Combined with 25 affordability points and 20 accessibility points, total is 75. That puts the project in the 70-point tier: 20% premium discount, 45-year amortization, up to 95% LTC.

Now run the same project under the 2020 NBC baseline. The same building performance now scores 20 energy efficiency points. Combined with the same 25 affordability and 20 accessibility points, total is 65. The project falls below the 70-point threshold and lands in the 50-point tier instead: 10% premium discount (half what it was), and a shorter amortization.

That's a six-figure swing in financing economics over the life of the loan, on a single project, driven entirely by the change in baseline. Independent industry analysis has put potential savings for early filers at over $200,000 on representative deals.

For a developer with a building that would clear the 70-point threshold under the current baseline, the practical question becomes whether the application can be submitted before September 30, 2026 (assuming all the supporting documentation is ready), or whether the project either absorbs the points loss or adds additional energy features to maintain the tier.

The Current Lender Environment

The September 30 cutoff is happening against a backdrop of generally favourable lender conditions for apartment owners.

The Bank of Canada's policy rate is holding at 2.25%. Variable-rate financing is stable. Fixed-rate financing is tracking Government of Canada bond yields and has been relatively flat through Q2 2026. Multifamily has moved back to the #1 spot in Canadian commercial lender appetite rankings for 2026, after a defensive period in 2024.

For owners with mortgages originated in 2021 and 2022 at sub-3% rates, the renewal into a 4.25% to 5.00% environment is a real conversation but not a crisis for most stabilized assets. Building values are above 2021 levels, NOI has generally grown, and refinancing typically involves an LTV reduction rather than a recapitalization. For owners whose renewals coincide with an MLI Select takeout, the September 30 timing adds another dimension to the analysis.

First National's commercial leadership has publicly characterized 2026 as a better year than 2024 or 2025, citing rate cuts and pent-up multifamily demand. CMLS Financial's market commentary describes 2026 as a "transition year" with multifamily ranked the top asset class in lender appetite surveys. Equitable Bank has called 2026 a "transition year for the positive." BGO has widened its multifamily allocation. Across the lender community, the message is consistent: the capital is there.

What that means in practice is that lender execution capacity matters. As more applications get filed ahead of the September 30 deadline, lender queues will lengthen and CMHC underwriting will slow. Front-loading the timing is usually a good strategy.

Terry Riddoch

If you would like to talk through how any of this applies to a building you own or one you are considering, I am always happy to walk through the numbers.

Terry Riddoch
Real Estate Broker -- Multifamily and Investment Properties, Ontario

Phone: 519 591 1725
Email: [email protected]
Web: terryriddoch.ca

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