First time home buyer in Canada: what you actually qualify for in 2026
The rules changed twice in eighteen months and most advice online is out of date. Here is the current list of what a first-time buyer can claim, what it is worth in dollars, and what you need to have ready.
Up to $50,000 back in GST on a new home — in force since March 12, 2026
30-year insured amortizations for first-time buyers on any property type
One application compared across 30+ lenders, signed digitally
Six questions. A licensed broker reviews it and comes back with real numbers — not a rate teaser.
Placed with Canada's banks, monolines, credit unions and alternative lenders
TD BankScotiabankRBC Royal BankCIBCBMONational BankMCAPFirst NationalMerix FinancialHome TrustEquitable BankCMLS FinancialRFA MortgageCommunity TrustHaventree BankRadius FinancialB2B BankManulife BankServus Credit UnionMeridian Credit UnionFisgard CapitalCWB OptimumDesjardinsVancityCoast Capital SavingsAlterna SavingsBridgewater BankHomeEquity BankWealth One Bank of CanadaCanadian Western BankTangerineICICI Bank CanadaMarathon Mortgage
Lender names shown for reference. Availability, pricing and guidelines vary by province, property and borrower profile.
If you are a first time home buyer in Canada, you are entitled to more than most people realise, and the list changed materially in 2026. The First-Time Home Buyers' GST Rebate became law on March 12, 2026 and can return up to $50,000 on a new home. Thirty-year insured amortizations are now open to every first-time buyer on any property type. The FHSA has been running long enough that you may have real carry-forward room in it.
It also got smaller in one place. The shared-equity First-Time Home Buyer Incentive is gone. CMHC stopped taking new submissions on March 21, 2024. If a page is still telling you the government will take a 5% or 10% stake in your home, that page has not been updated in two years.
The other thing nobody tells you: there is no single definition of "first-time buyer" in Canada. There are four, they disagree with each other, and you can easily qualify for three of them and be refused the fourth. The table below is the part of this page to screenshot.
Signs you are closer to buying than you think
Most first-time buyers we talk to have already done the hard part. What is missing is usually structure, not money.
Your rent is higher than the payment you were quoted
You are paying $2,600 a month for a two-bedroom and a lender quoted you $2,507 on a $565,000 purchase. That gap is not a sign you should wait. It is a sign the numbers already work and something else is blocking you.
You have savings but nobody has told you what counts
FHSA, RRSP under the Home Buyers' Plan, a TFSA, a gift from a parent and 90 days of clean bank statements are all different things to an underwriter. Some are down payment, some are closing costs, one is neither until it is documented.
You are buying a new build and nobody mentioned the GST rebate
Builders and their sales offices do not always volunteer it, and some agreements were signed before the rules were final. On a $620,000 new home, the federal GST rebate is $31,000. That is not a rounding error.
One bank said no and you stopped asking
A single branch decision is one lender's credit policy, not the market. Gifted down payments, probationary employment, commission income and student loan payments are all treated differently by different lenders.
You owned a home years ago and assumed you were disqualified
Three of the four first-time buyer tests in Canada look back four years, not forever. If you have not occupied a home you owned since 2021, you likely qualify for the 30-year amortization, the tax credit and the FHSA.
Your pre-approval number and your comfort number are far apart
A lender qualifies you at the stress test rate on gross income. It does not know about your daycare bill or the car you want to replace. Being approved for $780,000 does not mean you should spend $780,000.
Who qualifies as a first time home buyer in Canada? There are four answers
There is no single legal definition of a first-time home buyer in Canada. Four separate programs each write their own test, and the tests genuinely conflict. The strictest is the Ontario and Toronto land transfer tax rebate: you must never have owned a home, or an interest in one, anywhere in the world, at any point in your life. The most forgiving are the CRA and CMHC tests, which only look back to the current calendar year plus the four preceding years.
The practical effect: someone who sold a condo in 2019 is a first-time buyer for the mortgage, the tax credit, the FHSA and the GST rebate, and is not a first-time buyer for the Ontario land transfer tax rebate. That single line saves people from budgeting for a $4,000 refund they will never receive.
The four competing first-time buyer definitions — and what each one is worth
The four competing first-time buyer definitions — and what each one is worth
Program
The test
Look-back
Worth
CMHC Home Start (30-yr insured amortization)
Never owned in Canada, OR no owned principal residence occupied in the current year + 4 preceding years, OR recent marital/partnership breakdown
4 years
Roughly $250–$350/month of payment relief
Home Buyers' Amount (CRA line 31270)
You or your spouse did not own and occupy a home in the year or the 4 preceding years — including homes outside Canada
4 years
$1,500 non-refundable credit
First-Time Home Buyers' GST Rebate
18+, Canadian citizen or PR, and did not live in a home you or your spouse owned, in or outside Canada, in the year or the 4 preceding years. Once per lifetime.
4 years + lifetime cap
Up to $50,000
Ontario / Toronto land transfer tax rebate
Never owned a home or an interest in a home anywhere in the world, at any time. Spouse must not have owned while you were married.
Lifetime
$4,000 Ontario + $4,475 Toronto
BC property transfer tax FTHB exemption
Never owned a principal residence anywhere in the world, plus 12 months BC residency or 2 BC tax returns in the past 6 years
Lifetime + residency
Up to $8,000
The FHSA has its own wording again: to open one you must not have lived in a qualifying home you or your spouse owned in the current year or the four preceding calendar years. In practice it lines up with the CRA test.
The First-Time Home Buyers' GST Rebate: up to $50,000 on a new home
The First-Time Home Buyers' GST Rebate is a federal rebate of the GST paid on a newly built home, worth up to $50,000. It is not a proposal. Bill C-4 received Royal Assent on March 12, 2026, and the CRA began accepting claims immediately after. A large number of first-time buyer pages still describe it as announced or pending — check the date on anything you read.
The rebate returns 100% of the federal GST on new homes valued up to $1,000,000. Between $1,000,000 and $1,500,000 it phases out in a straight line, and at $1,500,000 it is nil. The purchase agreement must have been entered into on or after March 20, 2025 and before 2031, construction must begin before 2031, and the home must be substantially completed before 2036.
It is once per lifetime, and your spouse or common-law partner must not have claimed it either. You have two years from possession to file. Some builders will credit the rebate at closing where the agreement allows it; otherwise you claim it from the CRA and receive it after you take possession, which matters for how you plan your cash.
Applies to newly built homes only — a resale house carries no GST
Owner-built homes and qualifying co-op shares can also be eligible
You must be 18+ and a Canadian citizen or permanent resident
You must intend to use the home as your primary place of residence
What the GST rebate is worth by new-home price
What the GST rebate is worth by new-home price
New home price (before GST)
Federal GST at 5%
Rebate
Net GST you pay
$500,000
$25,000
$25,000
$0
$620,000
$31,000
$31,000
$0
$1,000,000
$50,000
$50,000
$0
$1,250,000
$62,500
about $25,000
about $37,500
$1,500,000 and above
$75,000+
Nil
Full GST
In Ontario the 13% HST on a new home is 5% federal plus 8% provincial. This rebate touches the federal 5% only. The separate Ontario new housing rebate on the provincial portion has its own rules and its own cap.
How much down payment does a first time home buyer need?
The minimum down payment in Canada is 5% on the first $500,000 of the purchase price, 10% on the portion between $500,000 and $1,500,000, and 20% at $1,500,000 and above. There is no first-time buyer discount on this — the tiers are the same for everyone. What being a first-time buyer changes is the amortization you can stretch that down payment over.
Default insurance is what makes a small down payment possible. Below 20% down, the mortgage must be insured, and the premium is added to your mortgage balance rather than paid in cash. The one part you do pay in cash is the provincial sales tax on the premium: 8% in Ontario, 9% in Quebec, 6% in Saskatchewan. British Columbia and Alberta charge no tax on the premium.
You also need to prove where the money came from. Lenders want 90 days of statements for every account the down payment touched. A gift from an immediate family member needs a signed gift letter plus the statement showing the funds land in your account, and it must be a genuine gift with no repayment expected.
Minimum down payment and default insurance premium
Minimum down payment and default insurance premium
Purchase price
Minimum down payment
Loan-to-value
Premium rate
Premium added to the mortgage
$400,000
$20,000 (5%)
95%
4.00%
$15,200
$565,000
$31,500
94.42%
4.00%
$21,340
$749,000
$49,900
93.34%
4.00%
$27,964
$1,000,000
$75,000
92.5%
4.00%
$37,000
$1,500,000
$300,000 (20%)
80%
None available
$0
The $1.5M cliff is real. At $1,499,999 you can buy with $124,999.90 down. At $1,500,000 you need $300,000, because default insurance stops at that price and the mortgage must be conventional.
30-year amortization for first time buyers: the product is called CMHC Home Start
Since December 15, 2024, a 30-year insured amortization is available to all first-time buyers on any property type, and to all buyers of newly built homes whether or not they are first-time buyers. Almost no consumer page names the actual product: CMHC delivers it as a separately branded program called Home Start. Standard CMHC Purchase is still capped at 25 years.
The extra five years costs you a premium surcharge of 0.20%. On a $606,000 insured loan that is about $1,200 added to the balance, and it buys roughly $311 a month of breathing room. You pay more interest over the life of the loan, so treat it as a cash-flow tool, not a discount — and use your prepayment privileges once your income catches up.
There is a lending value ceiling on Home Start: under $1,000,000 if your loan-to-value is 80% or less, and under $1,500,000 if it is above 80%. "Newly built" means never previously occupied for residential purposes.
The same insured balance at 4.09%, amortized over 25 vs 30 years
The same insured balance at 4.09%, amortized over 25 vs 30 years
Insured mortgage
25-year payment
30-year payment
Monthly difference
$488,092
$2,591.33
$2,345.89
$245.44
$521,665
$2,769.57
$2,507.25
$262.32
$631,452
$3,352.44
$3,034.92
$317.53
$695,209
$3,690.94
$3,341.35
$349.59
FHSA vs the Home Buyers' Plan — and why you should use both
You can use the First Home Savings Account and the Home Buyers' Plan on the same purchase. Together they let one person move up to $100,000 into a down payment, and a couple up to $200,000. Most first-time buyers still treat them as an either/or.
The FHSA is the better instrument if you have the room. Contributions are deductible like an RRSP, and qualifying withdrawals come out tax-free and are never repaid, like a TFSA. The limit is $8,000 a year to a $40,000 lifetime maximum. The detail that gets written wrong constantly: FHSA carry-forward is capped at $8,000. Unused room does not stack indefinitely the way TFSA and RRSP room does, so the most you can ever contribute in a single year is $16,000.
The Home Buyers' Plan lets you withdraw up to $60,000 from your RRSP, tax-free, and repay it over 15 years. If you miss a repayment, that year's share is added to your taxable income. Keep in mind the RRSP contribution must have been in the account for 90 days before you withdraw it.
FHSA and Home Buyers' Plan side by side
FHSA and Home Buyers' Plan side by side
FHSA
Home Buyers' Plan
Annual limit
$8,000
n/a — draws on existing RRSP
Lifetime maximum
$40,000
$60,000 per person
Carry-forward
Capped at $8,000 (max $16,000 in one year)
n/a
Contribution deductible?
Yes
Yes, when contributed to the RRSP
Withdrawal taxed?
No, if qualifying
No, if repaid on schedule
Repayment required?
Never
Over 15 years
Account time limit
Ends at the earliest of the 15th anniversary, age 71, or the year after your first qualifying withdrawal
None
Open an FHSA even if you have nothing to put in it yet. The clock on your contribution room only starts once the account exists — and one year of room is $8,000 you cannot get back later.
Land transfer tax rebates in Ontario, BC and Alberta
Land transfer tax is usually the largest closing cost after the down payment, and it is the one place where first-time buyer relief is paid in real money at the lawyer's office. It is also entirely provincial, so the answer changes the moment you cross a border.
Ontario refunds up to $4,000 of provincial land transfer tax, which covers a purchase up to about $368,000 in full. Buy in the City of Toronto and you pay municipal land transfer tax as well, with its own rebate of $4,475 on top. Both use the strict never-owned-anywhere test, both require you to occupy within nine months, and both must be applied for within 18 months of registration.
British Columbia gives a full property transfer tax exemption up to $500,000, up to $8,000 of relief between $500,000 and $835,000, a linear phase-out to $860,000, and nothing above that. BC also has a separate Newly Built Home Exemption that is not restricted to first-time buyers and runs to $1,100,000 with a phase-out to $1,150,000. Alberta charges no land transfer tax at all — just land titles fees of $50 plus $5 per $5,000 of value, on both the transfer and the mortgage registration, at rates that were raised sharply on October 20, 2024.
Land transfer tax on a real purchase, first-time buyer relief applied
Land transfer tax on a real purchase, first-time buyer relief applied
Purchase
Tax before rebate
First-time buyer rebate
Net payable
$565,000 in Ottawa, ON
$7,775
$4,000
$3,775
$610,000 in Hamilton, ON
$8,675
$4,000
$4,675
$749,000 in Surrey, BC
$12,980
$8,000
$4,980
$651,000 in Calgary, AB
No land transfer tax
n/a
About $1,390 in land titles fees
$800,000 in Toronto, ON
$12,475 Ontario + $12,475 municipal
$4,000 + $4,475
$16,475
What happened to the First-Time Home Buyer Incentive?
The First-Time Home Buyer Incentive is discontinued. CMHC stopped accepting new submissions on March 21, 2024 and issued its final approvals on March 31, 2024. It was a shared-equity program: the government contributed 5% or 10% toward your purchase and took a proportional share of your home's future value. It is not coming back, and any page still listing it as an option is stale.
Two other programs people ask about are also gone: the Canada Secondary Suite Loan Program and the Canada Greener Homes Grant were both cancelled in Budget 2025. Budget 2025 added no new mortgage-qualification measures at all — its housing content was Build Canada Homes, a higher Canada Mortgage Bond issuance cap, and the GST rebate.
What replaced the Incentive, in practice, is the 30-year amortization and the GST rebate. Both are larger for most buyers than the Incentive ever was, and neither takes a share of your equity.
First-Time Home Buyer Incentive — closed March 2024, not available
Canada Secondary Suite Loan Program — cancelled in Budget 2025
Canada Greener Homes Grant — cancelled in Budget 2025
Still live: FHSA, Home Buyers' Plan, Home Buyers' Amount, GST rebate, provincial LTT rebates, 30-year amortization
First time home buyer closing costs: the cash you need that is not the down payment
Budget 1.5% to 4% of the purchase price for closing costs, and more in Ontario than in Alberta. The number swings on land transfer tax more than anything else, which is why the same $600,000 house costs thousands more to close in Toronto than in Calgary.
The item first-time buyers miss most often is the provincial sales tax on the mortgage default insurance premium. In Ontario it is 8% of the premium, it cannot be added to the mortgage, and it must be paid in cash at closing. On a $16,665 premium that is $1,333 you need in the account on closing day.
The second most-missed item is adjustments: the seller's prepaid property taxes, utilities and condo fees for the part of the month you own the home. On a new build, add development levies, Tarion enrolment, and the builder's legal and occupancy fees, which can run into the tens of thousands and are often capped in the agreement — read that cap before you sign.
Land transfer tax, less any first-time buyer rebate
PST on the default insurance premium — 8% in Ontario, cash at closing
Lawyer's fees and disbursements, roughly $1,500 to $2,500
Title insurance, roughly $250 to $500
Home inspection $400 to $700; appraisal $300 to $500 if the lender orders one
Property tax and utility adjustments owed back to the seller
Moving, and the lender's requirement that you have funds left after closing
How Lendmax gets a first-time buyer approved
A brokerage is not a bank. We do not have one credit policy to fit you into — we have a file that goes to whichever of 30+ lenders underwrites your specific situation best, and the comparison is on rate, penalty language, prepayment privileges and amortization, not rate alone.
For a first-time buyer the value is mostly in sequencing. Which account the down payment sits in, when you close your FHSA withdrawal, whether the builder credits the GST rebate or you claim it after possession, and whether the lender will amortize over 30 years all change your cash position on closing day.
AI credit analysis before anyone pulls your bureau — We read your credit file structurally — utilization, the age of each trade line, which balances are dragging your score, which inquiries matter. Often a $900 card paydown 30 days before application moves you into a better pricing tier, and that is worth more than shopping rate.
AVM valuation on the property before you write the offer — An automated valuation model tells us what a lender's system is likely to say the property is worth. If the AVM comes in under your offer, we know before you are committed, and we structure for an appraisal gap instead of scrambling during your financing condition.
One file, compared across 30+ lenders — Insurer choice matters as much as lender choice. CMHC Home Start, Sagen and Canada Guaranty each price and underwrite differently on 30-year amortizations, gifted down payments and probationary employment. We place the file where it actually fits.
Digital signing and a documented close — Commitment, disclosure and consent are signed electronically, and we hand your lawyer the closing figures early: mortgage advance, PST on the premium, land transfer tax net of your rebate, and adjustments. No surprises 48 hours before possession.
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Case scenarios
Four situations, four sets of numbers
Four situations we see every week, with the numbers before and after. Names and figures are illustrative composites built from typical files — your own numbers will differ.
H
Harleen
Calgary, AB
Bought a new build and nobody had told her about the GST rebate
Harleen signed on a $620,000 new build in northeast Calgary in mid-2025, plus $31,000 of GST, for $651,000 all in. Her bank quoted a 25-year amortization at 4.29% and a payment of $3,415 a month, which was about $300 more than she was comfortable with. Nobody at the sales centre had mentioned the First-Time Home Buyers' GST Rebate.
Before
Purchase price including GST
$651,000
Down payment
$45,000 (6.91%)
Amortization and rate
25 years at 4.29%
Total mortgage
$630,240
Monthly payment
$3,415.01
GST recovered
$0
After Lendmax
Purchase price including GST
$651,000
Down payment
$45,000 (6.91%)
Amortization and rate
30 years at 4.09%
Total mortgage
$631,452
Monthly payment
$3,034.92
GST recovered
$31,000
Her agreement was signed after March 20, 2025, so the GST rebate applied. We placed the insured mortgage with a lender offering CMHC Home Start at 4.09% over 30 years — the 0.20% premium surcharge added $1,212 to the balance. Alberta charges no land transfer tax and no PST on the insurance premium, so her only registration cost was about $1,390 in land titles fees.
$380.09/month lower payment and $31,000 of GST back — $35,561 in the first year
É
Émilie
Ottawa, ON
Had the down payment, was told she needed more of it
Émilie had $32,000 in an FHSA and $28,000 available under the Home Buyers' Plan — $60,000 against a $565,000 semi in Alta Vista. Her bank had qualified her at 25 years and $2,821 a month, and had said nothing about the Ontario land transfer tax rebate. She was budgeting $7,775 for land transfer tax she did not fully owe.
Before
Purchase price
$565,000
Down payment
$60,000 (10.62%)
Amortization and rate
25 years at 4.29%
Total mortgage
$520,655
Monthly payment
$2,821.21
Land transfer tax payable
$7,775
After Lendmax
Purchase price
$565,000
Down payment
$60,000 (10.62%)
Amortization and rate
30 years at 4.09%
Total mortgage
$521,665
Monthly payment
$2,507.25
Land transfer tax payable
$3,775
We used the FHSA and the Home Buyers' Plan together rather than choosing between them, documented 90 days on both accounts, and placed the file with an insured lender on a 30-year Home Start amortization. Her lawyer filed the $4,000 Ontario first-time buyer rebate at registration, so it came off the cheque rather than arriving months later.
$313.96/month lower and $4,000 less cash at closing — $7,767 in year one
A
Angelo
Surrey, BC
Thought 20% down was the rule and had spent three years chasing it
Angelo had $76,000 saved toward a $749,000 two-bedroom in Surrey and believed he needed $149,800. At his savings rate that was another three years, in a market where the unit had gone up $60,000 in the two years he had been watching it. He also did not know BC's first-time buyer property transfer tax relief reached above $500,000.
Before
Down payment he thought he needed
$149,800 (20%)
Down payment he had
$76,000
Amortization and rate
25 years at 4.29%
Monthly payment
$3,759.76
Property transfer tax
$12,980
Earliest realistic purchase
2029
After Lendmax
Down payment he thought he needed
$49,900 minimum
Down payment he had
$76,000 (10.15%)
Amortization and rate
30 years at 4.09%
Monthly payment
$3,341.35
Property transfer tax
$4,980
Earliest realistic purchase
This fall
At 10.15% down the mortgage is insured, which put the premium at 3.30% including the 30-year surcharge — $22,209 added to the balance rather than paid in cash. BC charges no sales tax on the premium. His first-time buyer property transfer tax exemption was worth the full $8,000 because the price sat between $500,000 and $835,000.
Bought three years earlier with $73,800 less down payment and $8,000 of PTT relief
D
Denise
Hamilton, ON
Owned a house in 2019, assumed every first-time buyer program was closed to her
Denise co-owned a home with a former partner and sold it in 2019. Buying alone at $610,000 in Hamilton seven years later, she had written off the first-time buyer programs entirely and was budgeting for a 25-year amortization at $3,067 a month plus $8,675 in land transfer tax with no relief.
Before
Believed first-time buyer status
None
Amortization and rate
25 years at 4.29%
Total mortgage
$566,019
Monthly payment
$3,067.02
Home Buyers' Amount claimed
$0
Ontario land transfer tax
$8,675
After Lendmax
Believed first-time buyer status
Qualifies on 3 of 4 tests
Amortization and rate
30 years at 4.09%
Total mortgage
$567,117
Monthly payment
$2,725.71
Home Buyers' Amount claimed
$1,500
Ontario land transfer tax
$8,675
Her last owned home was occupied in 2019, outside the current year plus four preceding years, so she met the CMHC Home Start test, the CRA Home Buyers' Amount test and the FHSA test. She did not meet Ontario's never-owned-anywhere test, so we told her upfront the $4,000 rebate was off the table and to budget the full $8,675. She opened an FHSA for the following year's purchase costs.
$341.31/month lower payment plus a $1,500 tax credit — $5,596 in year one
Scenarios are illustrative composites for the purpose of showing how a solution is structured. They are not testimonials and do not represent specific clients. Figures assume Canadian semi-annual compounding and are rounded. Your rate, approval and savings depend on your credit, income, property and lender.
The brokerage advantage
Why a brokerage beats a single lender
Access to nationwide lenders
A single bank can only offer you the one product it sells. We are licensed across Canada and place files with dozens of lenders — chartered banks, monolines, credit unions, trust companies, alternative lenders and private capital. When one lender says no, that is the start of the conversation, not the end of it.
Specialized programs most borrowers never see
Stated-income and bank-statement programs for the self-employed, newcomer programs that accept international credit, rental-offset policies that make investment properties work, purchase-plus-improvements, extended amortizations, equity-only lending. These are real programs with real guidelines — they are simply not advertised at a branch counter.
Flexibility on how your file is structured
The same borrower can be an approval or a decline depending on which lender sees the file and how the income, debts and property are presented. We know which lender counts child support as income, which one will use a 30-year amortization, and which one will look past a bruised credit year.
Volume leverage on pricing
Lenders price for the brokerages that send them consistent, well-packaged, low-default business. That leverage is why a broker-sourced rate is frequently better than the posted rate — and why an exception request from us gets answered.
Experience with the file that is not straightforward
Power of sale timelines, tax arrears, CRA liens, separation agreements, business-for-self write-offs, construction draws, private-to-A exit plans. The complicated files are the ones where a broker earns their fee — and the ones we handle every week.
One advocate, start to finish
You are not re-explaining your situation to a new person at every stage. One licensed broker owns your file from the first call through to funding, and stays with you through renewal so the plan actually gets executed.
How it works
Our four-step process
1
Understanding the situation
We start with a real conversation, not a form. What is the payment doing to your month? What is the deadline? What has already been declined and why? Everything after this depends on getting this part right.
2
Finding a solution
Your file is matched against our full lender panel — banks, monolines, credit unions, alternative lenders and private capital — and structured to fit the guideline it will actually be approved under, the first time.
3
Negotiating rates
We do not accept the first number. Volume and lender relationships get your file priced as an exception, not as a walk-in. Then we compare the true cost — rate, penalty, prepayment terms and fees — side by side.
4
Stress-free closing
Documents are signed digitally, conditions are cleared by our team, and your lawyer is briefed before funding day. You get one point of contact from approval to keys, and a plan for what happens next.
Reviews
What clients say after closing
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Call to discuss your file
Every file is different. Fifteen minutes on the phone with a licensed broker will tell you more than an hour of reading. No cost, no obligation, no pressure.
First-Time Home Buyer — frequently asked questions
It depends which program you mean, because four different tests exist. For the mortgage itself (CMHC Home Start, 30-year amortization), the CRA Home Buyers' Amount and the FHSA, you generally qualify if you have not occupied a home you or your spouse owned in the current calendar year or the four preceding years. For the Ontario and Toronto land transfer tax rebates and the BC property transfer tax exemption, the test is lifetime: you must never have owned a home anywhere in the world.
Yes. The First-Time Home Buyers' GST Rebate became law on March 12, 2026 and rebates 100% of the federal GST on a new home valued up to $1,000,000, to a maximum of $50,000. Between $1,000,000 and $1,500,000 it phases out on a straight line and above $1,500,000 it is nil. Your purchase agreement must have been signed on or after March 20, 2025, and you can claim it only once in your lifetime.
It is discontinued. CMHC stopped accepting new submissions on March 21, 2024 and made its final approvals on March 31, 2024. The program was shared equity — the government contributed 5% or 10% of the purchase price and took a proportional share of your home's future value. It has not been replaced with an equivalent, but the 30-year amortization and the GST rebate together are worth more to most first-time buyers.
Yes, on the same purchase. The FHSA allows $8,000 a year to a $40,000 lifetime maximum and never has to be repaid. The Home Buyers' Plan allows a $60,000 withdrawal from your RRSP, repaid over 15 years. Used together, one buyer can move up to $100,000 into a down payment and a couple up to $200,000.
A maximum of $8,000. This is the rule most often written incorrectly. Unlike the TFSA and RRSP, FHSA carry-forward is capped at one year's worth of room, so the most you can ever contribute in a single calendar year is $16,000 — this year's $8,000 plus at most $8,000 carried forward. Room only begins accumulating once you open the account.
Yes, on an insured mortgage, on any property type, since December 15, 2024. CMHC delivers it through a separate product called Home Start; standard CMHC Purchase remains capped at 25 years. There is a 0.20% premium surcharge for going past 25 years. Buyers of newly built homes can also use 30 years whether or not they are first-time buyers.
$1,500. You claim the $10,000 Home Buyers' Amount on line 31270 of your tax return, and it produces a 15% non-refundable federal credit worth $1,500. It can be split between spouses but the combined claim cannot exceed $10,000. It is separate from, and stackable with, the GST rebate and any provincial land transfer tax rebate.
For most purposes, yes. The CMHC, CRA and GST rebate tests look back only to the current year plus four preceding years, so a home you sold in 2019 does not disqualify you from the 30-year amortization, the Home Buyers' Amount, the FHSA or the GST rebate. It does disqualify you from the Ontario and Toronto land transfer tax rebates and the BC property transfer tax exemption, which apply a lifetime never-owned test.