First-time buyers usually know the name of one programme and assume it is the whole toolkit. It rarely is, and one programme most agents still mention by habit stopped taking applications in 2024.
Key takeaways
A first-time buyer usually arrives having heard of one of these programmes by name and assumes it is the whole picture. It rarely is, and one programme an agent may still remember recommending is no longer available at all: CMHC’s own First-Time Home Buyer Incentive page confirms, in a dated notice, that “the First-Time Home Buyer Incentive is no longer accepting applications,” that the deadline for new submissions was March 21, 2024, and that no new approvals have been granted since March 31, 2024. If a client mentions it, that page is worth showing them directly rather than letting an out-of-date assumption shape their budget.
Two federal savings and withdrawal tools and one provincial rebate can be used together on the same purchase, and understanding how they stack is more useful to a buyer than knowing any one of them in isolation.
The First Home Savings Account (FHSA). the CRA’s First Home Savings Account page states plainly that an FHSA lets a first-time buyer “save to buy or build a qualifying first home tax-free (up to certain limits),” that contribution room in the first year an account is opened is $8,000, and that contributions are generally tax-deductible — though a transfer from an RRSP into an FHSA is not itself deductible. Unused room carries forward, so a client who opens an account today is building toward a purchase that may be years away, not next month.
The Home Buyers’ Plan (HBP). the CRA’s Home Buyers’ Plan page sets the current RRSP withdrawal limit under the HBP at $60,000, usable to buy or build a qualifying home. A client can use both in the same purchase: the same government page notes a buyer “can withdraw amounts from your RRSP under the HBP and make a qualifying withdrawal from your first home savings account (FHSA) for the same qualifying home,” provided the conditions for each are met at the time of each withdrawal. Repayment matters here, because it is often the part a buyer forgets: HBP withdrawals are normally repaid over 15 years, and a temporary repayment-relief measure — extended to first withdrawals made between January 1, 2026, and December 31, 2028 — defers the start of that 15-year clock by three extra years, so a first withdrawal made in 2026 does not begin its repayment year until 2031.
Ontario’s land transfer tax rebate. Treadstone Law’s Ontario land transfer tax page states the provincial rebate is “worth up to $4,000,” which “erases the tax completely on a purchase of roughly $368,000 and reduces it on anything above,” with Toronto layering on a separate municipal rebate “of up to $4,475” for a purchase inside the city. Both are applied automatically by the buyer’s lawyer at the moment the transfer registers — the client never pays the tax and waits for a refund. Eligibility turns on three questions the client’s lawyer will ask directly: whether the buyer or their spouse has ever owned an eligible home anywhere in the world, whether they will occupy the home as a principal residence within nine months, and whether they hold Canadian citizenship or permanent residency (a buyer who obtains status within 18 months of closing can still apply for the refund directly).
the same land transfer tax page’s rebate eligibility rules is specific about three conditions worth confirming before a client assumes the rebate is automatic: the buyer must be at least 18, must occupy the home as a principal residence within nine months of transfer, and must never have owned an eligible home anywhere in the world. A spouse can undo eligibility even where the buyer’s own history is clean — “if your spouse owned a home while the two of you were spouses, the rebate is gone, even if your name was never on that title.” Where two buyers take title together and only one has never owned, the same source notes the rebate is prorated to that buyer’s share, with an exception where the other buyer’s past ownership ended before the two became spouses. None of these conditions are yours to rule on as an agent, but knowing they exist means flagging a client’s marital and ownership history to their lawyer early, rather than letting a rebate assumption survive all the way to a Statement of Adjustments where it turns out to be wrong.
Two mistakes recur. The first is recommending the First-Time Home Buyer Incentive out of habit — it is dead, with a fetched, dated confirmation from CMHC itself, and repeating it to a client wastes their time researching a programme they cannot use. The second is treating the land transfer tax rebate as something the buyer has to remember to claim: it is applied at registration by the lawyer, not filed for afterward, so the only real risk is a buyer’s lawyer not being told the buyer qualifies. Flagging first-time-buyer status to the client’s lawyer early, in writing, is a small thing that protects a real dollar figure.
A first-time buyer purchasing a $500,000 condo in Toronto opens an FHSA and contributes the maximum $8,000 in the account’s first year, then withdraws it tax-free toward the down payment. They pair that with a $40,000 Home Buyers’ Plan withdrawal from an existing RRSP — well under the $60,000 ceiling — for a combined $48,000 toward the purchase, entirely separate from whatever cash they are contributing directly. On closing, their lawyer applies both the provincial rebate (up to $4,000) and Toronto’s municipal rebate (up to $4,475) against the land transfer tax otherwise owed on a $500,000 purchase, reducing what would be a five-figure tax bill by up to $8,475 before a cheque is even written. None of these figures is invented for the example — each ceiling is the government’s own published number; only the buyer’s choice of how much to contribute and withdraw is a scenario parameter.
Related: the cash a buyer needs that is not the deposit, setting a realistic budget with a buyer, and helping a newcomer understand Canadian property.
No. CMHC’s own page states it stopped accepting new submissions as of March 21, 2024, and stopped issuing new approvals after March 31, 2024. It only continues to administer previously approved files. Do not recommend it to a new buyer.
Yes. The CRA’s own guidance says a buyer can withdraw from an RRSP under the HBP and make a qualifying FHSA withdrawal for the same qualifying home, as long as each programme’s own conditions are met at the time of that withdrawal.
Not normally. It is applied electronically by the buyer’s lawyer at the moment the transfer registers, so an eligible buyer simply pays less — they do not file a claim and wait. A refund application is only needed if the rebate was missed on a closing that already happened, and that window is limited to 18 months after registration.
An AI-assisted intake can walk a new buyer through FHSA, HBP and rebate eligibility before your first call, so the meeting starts at the interesting part.
