For Abdullah Mohiuddin, getting into the housing market involves more than just locating the right home for the right price.

Like many other Muslims, Mohiuddin's religious beliefs include restrictions on paying and receiving interest. Given that a typical Canadian mortgage includes interest charges, this has added an additional challenge to his quest to stop renting and move into a house he owns.

"Even if the interest is very low, even if the interest rate is like 0.1 per cent, if it's more than zero per cent, then we cannot deal with conventional banks," said Mohiuddin.

While he has been searching for months, new options have begun to emerge in the Canadian mortgage market that could suit Mohiuddin's needs.

Financial products that avoid "riba," or interest, are not free of charge just because they are free of finance charges.

Muslims looking for a halal mortgage are still going to be paying carrying costs to a financial institution for a loan to purchase their home.

"When people in Canada, in the United States heard that Islamic finance forbids interest, we in the West automatically assumed that money was for free," explained Walid Hejazi, associate professor of economic analysis and policy at the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management.

That is not the case, says Hejazi, whose research has focused on Islamic finance products.

"People that get Islamic mortgages still pay a comparable amount that you would pay if you got a conventional mortgage. It's just that the structure of these mortgages are different," he said.