The 2026 first-time buyer HST rebate, explained with real numbers

If you are buying your first home and it is a new build, the largest single number in the whole transaction is one most buyers have never heard of. Since March 2026, a first-time buyer purchasing a new home from a builder can recover the full 13% HST on the first $1,000,000 of the price before tax. That is up to $130,000.

What changed

Ontario new homes have always carried HST, and there has always been a standard new housing rebate: a federal portion that disappears above a $450,000 price, and an Ontario portion capped at $24,000. Builders assign that rebate to themselves and advertise prices with it already netted out, which is why a $950,000 advertised price feels like there is no HST in it. There is — about $110,000 of it — you just never see the line.

The 2026 measure adds a second rebate on top. The federal government's first-time home buyers' GST/HST rebate received Royal Assent in March 2026 and returns 100% of the federal 5% on homes up to $1,000,000 in consideration, tapering in a straight line to nothing at $1,500,000. Ontario matched it with a provincial first-time buyer rebate of up to $80,000, the 8% provincial part on the same basis, following the same eligibility rules.

Together: 5% + 8% = 13%, on the first million. $130,000.

Why "on the first million" matters

The rebate is calculated on consideration — the price before HST — not on the advertised price. For an ordinary GTA new build, the relationship is:

advertised price = 1.13 × consideration − $24,000

So an advertised price of $1,050,000 is a consideration of about $950,442. That is under $1,000,000, so the buyer is in the full-rebate zone even though the sticker is above it. An advertised $1,150,000 is a consideration of about $1,038,938 — just over the line, so the rebate tapers slightly.

The taper is linear: at $1,250,000 of consideration the factor is 0.5, so the rebate is half of the 13% on $1,250,000, which works out to about $81,250. At $1,500,000 it is nil.

What a first-time buyer actually gains

Because the standard rebate is already in the advertised price, what you gain is the difference between the new rebate and the standard one. On a $1,050,000 advertised home:

Run your own price through the HST rebate tool — it does the consideration math and both rebates in one screen.

Who qualifies

• Every buyer on title must be a first-time buyer: no home owned and lived in this year or the previous four, anywhere in the world.
• At least 18, and a Canadian citizen or permanent resident.
• The home must be your primary residence.
• Agreements signed on or after 20 March 2025 qualify under the federal rules, with construction starting before 2031 and substantial completion before 2036.

Ontario has also announced a temporary expansion to all new-home buyers — not just first-timers — for agreements signed between 1 April 2026 and 31 March 2027, with construction started by the end of 2028 and complete by the end of 2031. Final criteria were still being published at the time of writing. If you signed in that window, ask your lawyer.

How you receive it

Builders can credit the rebate at closing, subject to verifying that you qualify, and then claim it from the CRA themselves. Many do. If yours does not, you pay the full HST at closing and apply to the CRA afterwards, which means financing the gap for a few months. Ask which way your builder handles it before you go firm, and get it in the agreement.

The catch nobody mentions

Adding a parent or sibling to title who has owned a home disqualifies the whole purchase. So does buying as an investment. And if you sell or rent out the home too soon after closing, the CRA can claw it back. It is a rebate for a first home you live in — treat it that way.