First-time home buyer — Canada 2026

Definitions differ by program. For the FHSA and the RRSP Home Buyers' Plan, you (and your spouse/common-law partner) must not have lived in a home you owned in the current year or any of the four preceding calendar years. For most provincial land-transfer tax rebates, you must never have owned a home anywhere in the world. For the GST/HST new-home rebate, first-time status isn't required — but the home must be new or substantially renovated and used as your primary residence.

Rule of thumb: if you owned a home 5+ years ago and have rented since, you're likely first-time again for tax accounts, but not for provincial LTT rebates.

The First Home Savings Account (launched 2023) is the best of the RRSP and TFSA: contributions are tax-deductible like an RRSP, growth and qualifying withdrawals are tax-free like a TFSA, and you never have to pay it back.

• Annual room: $8,000/year, lifetime cap $40,000.
• Carry-forward: Up to $8,000 of unused room from the year you opened the account.
• Timeline: Must be used within 15 years of opening or by age 71 — otherwise rolls to your RRSP tax-free.
• Couples: Each spouse gets their own — a couple can stack $80,000 of first-home savings, deducted at their marginal rates.

A buyer at a 43% marginal rate contributing the full $8,000 gets a $3,440 refund — and that refund can itself be redirected to the down payment. Open the account the moment you know you'll buy within 15 years; you get contribution room the year you open it, not later.

Withdraw up to $60,000 from your RRSP tax-free for a first home (raised from $35,000 for withdrawals after April 16, 2024). A couple can pull $120,000 combined. Repayment starts in year 2 after the withdrawal and runs over 15 years — miss a year and that instalment gets added to your taxable income.

• Funds must sit in the RRSP for at least 90 days before withdrawal — don't contribute-and-withdraw in the same month.
• The HBP is a loan against your future retirement, not free money. It's a good lever when the alternative is CMHC-insured leverage; a weak lever if it decimates your retirement contributions.
• You can stack the HBP and the FHSA on the same purchase since 2023 — the old "one or the other" rule is gone.

A dual-income couple maxing all three vehicles can arrive at closing with:

• FHSA: $80,000 (both partners, $40k each)
• HBP: $120,000 ($60k each)
• TFSA: whatever you've accumulated — no tax cost, no repayment

That's $200,000+ of down payment before touching a taxable savings account, and every FHSA dollar comes with a matching tax refund. Order of withdrawals matters for cash-flow timing — pull FHSA first (locked-in tax benefit already claimed), HBP second, TFSA last.

Every province except Alberta and Saskatchewan charges a land-transfer tax. Most rebate first-time buyers something back.

• Ontario: Up to $4,000 refund. Toronto adds a municipal LTT on top and refunds up to $4,475 more — total up to ~$8,475 in Toronto.
• British Columbia: Full exemption on homes up to $500K, partial to $525K. First-time buyers can save up to $8,000.
• Prince Edward Island: Exempt from the 1% real property transfer tax if the price is under $200K.
• Quebec: No provincial rebate, but Montreal offers a "Home Ownership Program" grant of $5,000–$15,000 for qualifying buyers.
• Alberta / Saskatchewan: No LTT — modest registration and title fees only.

Run your address through the land-transfer tax calculator to see net LTT after rebate.

Buying a new-build or substantially renovated home under ~$450K? You may recover a portion of the GST/HST embedded in the price. Ontario, Nova Scotia, and a few other HST provinces layer a provincial rebate on top of the federal one. Talk to your solicitor before closing — most builders assign the rebate to themselves in the APS in exchange for a lower base price.

• Under $500K: 5% down.
• $500K – $1.5M: 5% on the first $500K, 10% on the balance. (The insured cap moved from $1M to $1.5M in December 2024.)
• Over $1.5M: 20% minimum — no default insurance available.

Under 20% down means CMHC/Sagen/Canada Guaranty default insurance, which is added to your mortgage (not paid at closing) — but the provincial sales tax on the premium is due at closing in ON, QC, SK, and MB.

1. Month 12+: Open your FHSA even if you can only fund $500. You need the account open to bank contribution room.
2. Month 6–9: Pull credit reports, dispute errors, and stop closing/opening cards. Underwriters look at 12 months of history.
3. Month 3–6: Get a real pre-approval (not a rate hold). Fix any income-documentation gaps found.
4. Month 1–3: Nail the shortlist. Save one full month of confirmed rent/expenses in a separate account — underwriters like to see it.
5. Offer week: Firm financing condition (5–7 business days), full lender approval before waiving.
6. Closing: Fund the FHSA/HBP withdrawal to your solicitor's trust account 5+ business days before closing. Bring the LTT rebate paperwork.