Ontario Home Buyer Programs: Rebates for First-Time and Repeat Buyers

This article is part of our guide to buying a home in Ontario. It goes deeper on Ontario home buyer programs: every rebate, savings plan, and tax credit, and who qualifies for each one.

Which Ontario Home Buyer Programs Should You Check First?

Short answer: Start with your situation, not the full program list. A first-time buyer of a resale home has four programs to check, and a new build adds HST rebates. A current owner buying new should look at the enhanced HST relief, and anyone returning to ownership or buying after a separation should check each program’s own history test.

Each of these Ontario home buyer programs has its own section below, with the rules that decide whether it applies to you.

What Does Each Program Offer?

Short answer: Ontario home buyer programs fall into three groups: HST rebates on newly built homes, tax relief such as land transfer tax refunds and the Home Buyers’ Amount, and savings plans (the FHSA and the RRSP Home Buyers’ Plan) that shelter your own money from tax. Which ones apply depends on your ownership history, the property, and your signing date.

CMHC’s First-Time Home Buyer Incentive stopped accepting applications on March 21, 2024, so older lists of Ontario home buyer programs that include it are out of date.

For how these programs fit with deposits and closing costs, see the buyer programs section of our Ontario buying guide.

How Much Is the HST Rebate on a New Home in Ontario?

Short answer: For an agreement signed between April 1, 2026 and March 31, 2027, any eligible buyer of a new Ontario home can receive up to $130,000, covering the full 13% HST up to $1 million. The maximum holds to $1.5 million and shrinks below $1.85 million, where only the existing Ontario rebate of up to $24,000 applies.

This HST rebate on new homes is the largest of the Ontario home buyer programs. The CRA-administered Ontario Enhanced New Housing Rebate brings provincial relief to $80,000 in total, including the existing Ontario rebate. The Ontario New Home Affordability Payment adds up to $50,000 for the federal 5%, less any federal rebate you’re entitled to.

Who qualifies

You don’t need to be a first-time buyer, but the home must be your or a relation’s primary residence. From a builder, construction must start by December 31, 2028 and finish by December 31, 2031. The HST must be payable by December 31, 2032. Owner-built homes must start between April 1, 2026 and March 31, 2027 and finish before 2030.

How the money reaches you

Builders can credit the rebate at closing; otherwise, you file Form GST190 with Schedule RC7190-ON (see the CRA’s Notice 346). Without consent on that form, you or your builder must send Ontario the information directly.

Is There a First-Time Home Buyer Rebate on New Homes?

Short answer: Yes. The federal First-Time Home Buyers’ GST/HST Rebate covers up to $50,000, and Ontario’s matching first-time buyer rebate covers up to $80,000. Together they relieve the full 13% HST on a new home valued up to $1 million, for agreements signed from March 20, 2025 to the end of 2030.

The federal first-time home buyer rebate received Royal Assent on March 13, 2026. It phases out between $1 million and $1.5 million, and homes at $1.5 million or more get none. Ontario’s version follows the same eligibility rules.

You must be at least 18 and a Canadian citizen or permanent resident. On the day ownership transfers, you can’t have lived in a home you or your spouse or common-law partner owned in that calendar year or the four before it. The rebate is once per lifetime, and not available if your spouse has received it. For a builder purchase, construction must start before 2031, and completion and the ownership transfer must both happen before 2036. You must also buy the home as your primary residence and be its first occupant.

Signing inside the enhanced window

Signing in that window never yields more than the full 13%. The Ontario rebates together are capped at $80,000, and the federal first-time rebate comes first, with the Ontario payment filling any gap.

We are not tax professionals, and nothing here is tax advice. This describes how the rebates affect the real estate side of a purchase. For how they apply to you, speak with your real estate lawyer or an accountant.

Can I Use the FHSA and the Home Buyers’ Plan Together?

Short answer: Yes. An eligible first-time buyer can use both for the same home. Both put your own savings toward the purchase rather than giving you new money. FHSA withdrawals are tax-free and never repaid, while up to $60,000 taken from an RRSP under the Home Buyers’ Plan must be repaid over 15 years.

Unlike most Ontario home buyer programs, the FHSA works years before you buy: opening an eligible account starts your contribution room. It also starts a maximum participation period that opening another FHSA doesn’t restart. That period ends with the earliest of the year after your first qualifying withdrawal, the year of your first FHSA’s 15th anniversary, or the year you turn 71.

The first-time test also differs by stage. To open an FHSA, neither you nor your current spouse or common-law partner can have owned a home you lived in during the current year or the four before. At withdrawal, only your own ownership counts.

FHSA contributions are tax-deductible, and you can save the deduction for a later year. Before making a qualifying withdrawal, you must have a written agreement to buy or build a qualifying home, with acquisition or construction completion scheduled before October 1 of the year following the withdrawal. You can still withdraw for up to 30 days after you take ownership, and you must plan to live in the home within a year.

How Do the Home Buyers’ Plan and Home Buyers’ Amount Work?

Short answer: The RRSP Home Buyers’ Plan lets each eligible buyer withdraw up to $60,000 tax-free to buy or build a qualifying home, then repay it over 15 years; a missed repayment is added to taxable income. The Home Buyers’ Amount is a separate tax credit worth up to $1,400 for a 2026 purchase.

The Home Buyers’ Plan

Under the Home Buyers’ Plan, repayment normally starts the second year after the withdrawal. However, it starts in the fifth year for withdrawals made from 2022 to 2025 and for first withdrawals made from 2026 to 2028, so a first withdrawal in 2026 is first repaid in 2031.

Two timing rules matter. RRSP contributions made in the 89 days before a withdrawal may not be fully deductible, and you must buy or build before October 1 of the following year. Our guide to mortgage financing for Ontario home buyers covers the borrowing side.

The Home Buyers’ Amount

The Home Buyers’ Amount is a tax credit, not a payment. A $10,000 claim on your tax return cuts federal tax by up to $1,400 for a 2026 purchase. You don’t need to be a first-time buyer if you qualify for the disability tax credit, or buy for a related person who does, and the purchase allows that person to live in a home that is more accessible or better suited to their needs.

Do First-Time Buyers Pay Land Transfer Tax in Ontario?

Short answer: Most pay a reduced amount. Ontario refunds up to $4,000 of provincial land transfer tax to buyers who have never owned a home anywhere in the world, which covers the full tax on homes up to $368,333. Toronto adds a rebate of up to $4,475 on its separate municipal land transfer tax.

Under Ontario’s refund rules, you must be at least 18, a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, and move in within nine months. Your lawyer usually claims it at registration; otherwise you have 18 months to apply. Toronto is the only Ontario city with its own land transfer tax, and its first-time buyer rebate uses the same never-owned test.

Your lawyer usually claims these refunds for you at closing. The worked example below uses fixed illustrative prices and the published 2026 rates. It isn’t a quote; your lawyer confirms the final figure.

The spouse rule

Your spouse’s history counts too. If your spouse owned a home anywhere in the world while they were your spouse, neither of you gets the refund. If they owned one only before you became spouses, you can still claim the refund. That includes their share of the new home, as long as they’re a Canadian citizen or permanent resident.

Can Repeat Buyers Use Ontario Home Buyer Programs?

Short answer: Yes, for some. Repeat buyers can use the enhanced HST relief on new homes, and some former homeowners qualify again for the Home Buyers’ Plan, Home Buyers’ Amount, FHSA, and first-time HST rebates under each program’s own test. Dates and spouse rules differ by program. Ontario’s land transfer tax refund never reopens.

How the four-year clock works

The look-backs generally run by calendar year and ask whether you lived in a home you or your current spouse owned. A Home Buyers’ Plan withdrawal on July 31, 2026 looks back from June 30, 2026 to January 1, 2022. So a buyer who moved out in 2021 can qualify in 2026, while one who moved out in early 2022 waits until 2027.

However, the first-time HST rebates are once per lifetime, and an FHSA works only while its participation period is open. To use the Home Buyers’ Plan again, your earlier HBP balance must be zero on January 1 of the withdrawal year.

Separated and divorced buyers

Under the Home Buyers’ Plan, if you’ve lived separate and apart from your spouse for at least 90 days because the relationship broke down, you can use it again, subject to conditions on the home you owned. The separation must have begun in the withdrawal year or the four years before. See buying after divorce in Ontario and the Ontario divorce real estate guide.

Mortgage rules that differ

Since December 15, 2024, 30-year insured amortizations are open to first-time buyers and new-build buyers. The insurance definition includes someone who hasn’t lived in a home they or their spouse owned in four years, or who recently separated. Other resale buyers with a high-ratio insured mortgage are generally limited to 25 years. With 20% or more down, your lender sets the limit, so ask.

Why Do Buyers Lose Rebates They Expected?

Short answer: With Ontario home buyer programs, eligibility problems can arise from signing dates, ownership history, withdrawal timing, and assumptions about builder rebate credits. Ontario’s land transfer tax refund uses a lifetime test while federal programs use a four-year test. Confirming eligibility with your lawyer before the offer lets you catch problems while you can still adjust.

• Signing a day outside the window. A new-build agreement signed on March 31, 2026 or April 1, 2027 misses the enhanced HST relief.
• Your spouse’s past ownership. If your spouse owned a home anywhere in the world while they were your spouse, both land transfer tax refunds are off the table.
• Late RRSP top-ups. Money contributed in the 89 days before a Home Buyers’ Plan withdrawal may lose some or all of its deduction.
• Expecting a cash refund from the Home Buyers’ Amount. The credit is non-refundable, so it reduces tax owing but won’t pay you beyond that.
• Treating the maximum as extra savings. If the builder’s price already includes the rebates, they aren’t an extra discount. See the HST section.
• Buying an assignment. Both the original builder agreement and the assignment must be signed between April 1, 2026 and March 31, 2027 for the enhanced HST relief.

Our printable first-time home buyer checklist for Ontario tracks these dates, and our article on closing day in the GTA explains the closing.

How We Help Buyers Confirm Program Eligibility

We review which Ontario home buyer programs fit your ownership history, your spouse’s history, the property type, and your signing date before you make an offer. Your lawyer, lender, or accountant then confirms each program, so your closing budget is built on confirmed rebates rather than hoped-for ones.

• We check every Ontario home buyer program against your situation at the first meeting, not the week before closing.
• On new builds, we review the agreement’s signing date and the builder’s rebate credit terms with you and your lawyer.
• For repeat and separated buyers, we help you gather the ownership dates your lawyer or accountant needs to confirm the four-year test.
• For current prices in both markets, we point you to our monthly GTA vs Niagara home prices update.

See our buyer services across the GTA and Niagara for how we work with you from search to closing.

We are not lawyers, accountants, or mortgage professionals, and this article is not legal, tax, or financial advice. Amounts, eligibility rules, and dates for Ontario home buyer programs come from the Canada Revenue Agency, the Ontario Ministry of Finance, the City of Toronto, and CMHC, and they can change. Confirm your eligibility for every program with your real estate lawyer, an accountant, and your lender before relying on it in an offer or closing budget. Rules and programs current as of October 2026.