Porting your mortgage vs. starting fresh when you move

What porting actually means

Porting transfers your existing mortgage, rate, and remaining term to a new property when you sell one home and buy another. It exists specifically so people with a good rate locked in don't have to break their mortgage (and pay a penalty) just because they're moving mid-term.

When it's clearly worth doing

If your current rate is meaningfully better than what's available today, porting is usually the right call, since it lets you keep that rate rather than starting over at current market pricing. It also avoids the penalty entirely, which on a fixed mortgage broken early can be a genuinely large number.

When starting fresh actually makes more sense

If today's rates are lower than your current one, or if the new home requires a significantly larger mortgage than porting rules comfortably allow, breaking and starting a new mortgage can work out better despite the penalty. It's a real math comparison, not an automatic answer either way.

What can complicate a port

Timing gaps between selling and buying, needing a larger loan amount than your current lender's port rules blend cleanly, or a new property that doesn't meet the same lender's criteria can all make porting messier than it sounds on paper. This is very much a "run the actual numbers before deciding" situation rather than a default choice.