When you made your offer to purchase, you gave your Realtor a cash deposit and perhaps a second deposit when you removed your conditions.  In addition, there will be a cash shortfall requested by your lawyer. The cash shortfall is the total required to complete the purchase which will include tax and condo fee adjustments, legal fees, disbursements and GST  less  the net amount of your mortgage and your deposits.  So, you could say that your down payment  equals the deposits plus the  cash shortfall.   A lender often refers to a downpayment as the amount of cash you are using to complete the transaction and will use that information to calculate the terms of your mortgage and whether your mortgage will be a high ratio mortgage and subject to additional fees and premiums or a conventional mortgage, for example.