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First-Time Home Buyer Guide Canada: Programs, Rules and Province Guides

Updated

This guide covers what a first-time buyer in Canada can use and where to find the details: the federal programs, who counts as a first-time buyer, and a guide to buying in each province. The steps of the purchase itself (pre-approval, the offer, conditions and closing) are in how the home buying process works.

Federal programs for first-time buyers

  • First Home Savings Account (FHSA): contributions of up to $8,000 a year, $40,000 in total, are tax-deductible, and a qualifying withdrawal for a first home is tax-free. See the FHSA guide.
  • Home Buyers’ Plan (HBP): withdraw up to $60,000 from your RRSPs, repaid over 15 years. See the Home Buyers’ Plan guide and the HBP calculator.
  • Home buyers’ amount: a $10,000 claim on line 31270 of your tax return; the first-time home buyers’ tax credit page shows what it’s worth.
  • First-Time Home Buyers’ GST/HST rebate: relief on the GST (or federal part of the HST) on a new home; see the GST/HST new housing rebate guide.

You can use the FHSA and the HBP for the same home; using both explains how they combine, and how to save for a down payment covers the order to save in.

Who counts as a first-time buyer

For the FHSA, the HBP and the home buyers’ amount, you generally qualify if you didn’t live in a home you owned in the current year or the previous 4 calendar years; each program adds its own rules about spouses and partners. Provincial land transfer tax relief often uses a stricter test (Ontario’s refund, for example, requires never having owned a home anywhere). The first-time home buyer programs page compares the definitions.

Buying in your province

Land transfer tax, first-time rebates and the way a purchase closes differ by province:

Before you buy

Check whether you’re ready, the credit score lenders look for, how much down payment you need and what you can afford under the stress test, and read the mistakes first-time buyers make.

First-time home buyer articles

FHSA guides

Home Buyers’ Plan (RRSP)

Down payment

Buying process & programs

Tax credits & incentives

Province-specific guides

Buying decisions and readiness

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Sources

The figures and rules on this page come from these sources, last checked against them between August 29, 2026 and September 28, 2026. How we check facts.