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November 6, 2025 · The Couple Estates

Ontario Matches the Federal HST Rebate: First-Time Home Buyers Can Now Save Up to $130,000 on a New Build

Ontario's 2025 Fall Economic Statement adds an 8% provincial HST rebate on new homes for first-time buyers, stacking with the federal GST rebate for a combined saving of up to $130,000. Full eligibility, dates, and math explained.

Ontario Matches the Federal HST Rebate: First-Time Home Buyers Can Now Save Up to $130,000 on a New Build

Ontario just pulled the trigger on one of the biggest tax breaks for new-home buyers in a decade.

Buried in Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy's 2025 Fall Economic Statement — tabled this afternoon at Queen's Park — is a commitment to rebate the full 8% provincial portion of the HST on newly built homes valued up to $1 million for first-time home buyers. Stacked on top of the federal First-Time Home Buyers' GST/HST Rebate that Ottawa introduced in May, the combined relief reaches up to $130,000 on a qualifying new-construction home.

For buyers shopping a pre-construction townhouse in Brampton, a new build in Milton, or a freshly completed freehold in Oakville, this changes the affordability math in a meaningful way. Here's what was announced, who qualifies, and what you need to know before you sign.

The bottom line — The numbers that matter

  • Up to $50,000 rebate on the federal 5% GST portion of HST (federal program, in effect since May 27, 2025).
  • Up to $80,000 rebate on the Ontario 8% provincial portion of HST (new, announced Nov 6, 2025).
  • Combined: up to $130,000 in HST relief on a qualifying new home valued up to $1 million.
  • Phased out for homes priced $1M to $1.5M; no rebate above $1.5M.
  • Applies to agreements of purchase and sale signed on or after March 20, 2025 and before 2031.
  • The home must be substantially completed before 2036 and used as your primary place of residence.
  • One-time, lifetime rebate — neither you nor your spouse can have claimed it before.

What Ontario announced today

The provincial commitment mirrors Ottawa's FTHB GST/HST Rebate almost one-for-one. Where the federal government eliminated the 5% GST on qualifying new homes under $1M for first-time buyers, Ontario is now doing the same with the 8% provincial HST component.

Before today, the existing Ontario New Housing Rebate capped the provincial portion at roughly $24,000 for most new homes — a number set in 2010 that has not kept pace with GTA pricing. The new first-time buyer enhancement effectively rebates the entire provincial HST on qualifying homes up to $1M, a savings of up to $80,000 per buyer.

Translated into a real purchase:

New home purchase priceFederal GST rebateOntario provincial rebateTotal HST saving
$750,000$37,500$60,000$97,500
$900,000$45,000$72,000$117,000
$1,000,000$50,000$80,000$130,000
$1,250,000$25,000 (phased)$40,000 (phased)$65,000
$1,500,000$0$0$0

The phase-out between $1M and $1.5M is linear — for every dollar of price over $1M, your rebate drops proportionally.

Who qualifies as a "first-time home buyer"?

To claim the combined federal + Ontario rebate, all of the following have to be true:

  1. You are at least 18 years old and a Canadian citizen or permanent resident.
  2. You (and your spouse or common-law partner, if applicable) have not owned a home — in Canada or abroad — that you occupied as your principal residence in the current calendar year or any of the four preceding calendar years.
  3. Neither you nor your spouse has previously claimed the FTHB GST/HST Rebate.
  4. The new home is your primary place of residence — not a secondary home, not an investment property.
  5. You take possession and occupy the home as your primary residence.

The "four preceding years" clause is the one that trips people up. If you owned a home in 2020 and sold in 2021, you are not considered a first-time buyer until 2026 under this program.

Which homes qualify?

  • New construction or substantially renovated homes purchased from a builder.
  • Includes detached, semi-detached, townhouse, and condominium units.
  • Also includes new build purchases on leased land and co-operative housing shares in new buildings.
  • Shares in a rental building, assignment purchases from another buyer, and resale homes do not qualify.

Critical dates to get right

This is a where-most-mistakes-happen section. The timing rules are strict:

  • Agreement of Purchase and Sale must be signed on or after March 20, 2025 and before 2031. Agreements signed earlier than March 20, 2025 are not eligible, even if closing happens later.
  • Construction must be substantially completed before 2036 — which is almost certainly a non-issue for anything you're buying today, but worth noting for long-horizon pre-construction.
  • You must take possession and move in as your principal residence. Flipping an assignment before closing wipes out your eligibility.

If you're shopping pre-construction right now and your APS was signed before March 20, 2025, this rebate does not help you retroactively. Talk to your lawyer about whether your builder can restructure the deal — some are willing, most aren't.

How this stacks with other programs

The FTHB HST rebate does not replace or conflict with:

  • The Ontario Land Transfer Tax first-time buyer rebate (up to $4,000).
  • The City of Toronto Municipal Land Transfer Tax first-time buyer rebate (up to $4,475).
  • The Home Buyers' Plan (withdraw up to $60,000 from your RRSP tax-free).
  • The First Home Savings Account (up to $40,000 in lifetime tax-deductible contributions).

A first-time buyer of a $950,000 new-build in Brampton, using every program available, can stack:

  • $117,000 in combined HST rebate
  • $4,000 Ontario LTT rebate
  • Up to $60,000 withdrawn tax-free from RRSP via HBP
  • Up to $40,000 in FHSA contributions (deducted from income)

That is real, spendable money — and most of it comes off the closing table, not your future tax return.

What this means for the Ontario market

Two things worth saying out loud:

1. Builders will absorb some of the benefit. Anyone who has watched Ontario's new-build market since 2010 knows this playbook — when tax relief is introduced, list prices tend to drift up over 6–12 months as builders price in the buyer's new capacity. If you qualify today, moving sooner rather than later likely captures more of the windfall.

2. Pre-construction inventory gets more competitive. The GTA has been sitting on record-high unsold pre-construction inventory through 2025. Expect builders to reopen stalled projects, sharpen incentives, and push harder on first-time buyer marketing between now and spring 2026. It's a buyer-friendly moment — but selection narrows quickly once activity picks up.

If you are actively shopping, browse our new-construction listings across the GTA or reach out directly and we'll line up a short list that fits the rebate rules.

Frequently asked questions

Does the rebate come off the closing price or do I get it later? In most builder contracts the rebate is assigned to the builder at closing, so the purchase price you finance is already net of the rebate. Some builders price homes inclusive of HST and credit the rebate at closing. Your purchase agreement will specify — read it before you sign.

Can I claim the rebate on an assignment purchase? Generally no — assignments from the original buyer disqualify the rebate because the original buyer's intent was not to occupy as a principal residence. There are narrow exceptions; speak to a real estate lawyer.

What if I'm buying with a spouse and only one of us is a first-time buyer? Both spouses must qualify as first-time buyers. If either spouse has owned (and occupied) a home in the last four calendar years, the rebate is lost.

Does this apply to a resale condo or resale freehold? No. This is a new-construction / substantial-renovation program only. Resale purchases are not subject to HST in the first place.

Is the Ontario portion law yet? As of November 6, 2025, the provincial rebate is a commitment in the Fall Economic Statement. Implementing legislation will follow. The federal portion is already in force.

If you're weighing whether to jump into a new-build this winter or wait for spring, the HST math genuinely changes the answer for a lot of first-time buyers. Drop us a line — we'll work through your specific numbers and point you at builders whose inventory lines up with the rebate rules.

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