First-Time Home Buyer Programs in Canada: Federal and Provincial

• The credit is 10.5% of the first $15,000 of the purchase, up to $1,575, for homes bought from January 1, 2025 (the base was $10,000 before).
• Neither you nor a spouse or partner buying with you lived in a home you owned in the year of purchase or in any of the previous four years.
• You or your spouse or partner live in the home within one year of buying it.
• The home is a new or existing home in Saskatchewan that qualifies for the federal Home Buyers' Plan, such as a house, townhouse, condominium unit or mobile home.
• You can't claim it if you received a loan through the Graduate Retention Program First Home Plan.
• It is non-refundable, so it only reduces Saskatchewan income tax you owe; a spouse or common-law partner can share it.
• It is claimed on Form SK428 with the Saskatchewan income tax return for the year of purchase.

• The rebate is up to 42% of the PST paid on the home.
• The home is newly built and previously unoccupied: bought from a builder, built by you or for you, or a unit in a new housing co-op.
• It will be your primary place of residence.
• Its total price is under $550,000 before taxes, not counting the land, furniture, furnishings and appliances, with some exceptions; the rebate is reduced between $450,000 and $550,000.
• For a builder-built home, the contract was signed and possession taken on or after April 1, 2023 (or the housing start was completed and possession taken on or after that date).
• The builder can pay the rebate to you or credit it against the price, if you assign the rebate to the builder.
• Applications must be received within 4 years of the possession date.

• It applies to a principal residence only, not to rental properties, cottages or other second homes; renters don't qualify.
• For 2026 it is the lesser of $1,600 and the gross school taxes on the home.
• To get it as an advance on the property tax statement, you declare the home as your principal residence with your municipality.
• An eligible owner who didn't get the advance can claim it on their personal income tax return.
• Owners of individually assessed condominium units get the advance like other homeowners.
• A couple can claim it on only one home, even if they live in separate properties.

• The home is your primary residence.
• The credit covers the home and the first 0.5 hectares of land around it.
• It removes only the provincial rate of $0.5617 per $100 of assessed value; the local government's rate still applies.

• The home is newly built; renovations and rental-to-condo conversions don't qualify.
• The rebate is part of the provincial portion of the HST, up to $3,000.
• You, and any co-owner or relation who will live in the home, haven't owned and lived in a home in Canada in the last five years.
• The new home will be your primary residence (or a qualifying relation's).
• Only the person who paid the tax can apply; the rebate can't be assigned to the builder.

In Prince Edward Island, no real property transfer tax is payable when the buyer is a first-time home buyer who files a declaration at registration and intends to live in the home as their principal residence; the tax becomes payable if they don't live there for at least 183 consecutive days after the deed is registered. A first-time home buyer is a Canadian citizen or permanent resident who has lived in PEI for the six months before registration (or filed PEI returns in two of the last six years), has never held an interest in a principal residence and hasn't used the exemption before. Land transfer tax by province has the full conditions.

• It applies to a non-resident person, a non-resident corporation or a resident corporation.
• Approval is needed for a total land holding over 5 acres or shore frontage over 165 feet.
• A resident is a Canadian citizen or permanent resident who has lived in PEI for at least 365 days in the 24 months before acquiring the land and files their tax return in PEI.
• A decision generally takes 3-4 weeks from the date the application is filed.
• A non-resident who receives land by gift, will or inheritance from a spouse, sibling, descendant or ancestor doesn't have to apply.

• The loan is up to 5% of the purchase price of a new or existing home, scaled to household income and the price, and must be repaid.
• Every person on the mortgage is a first-time home buyer.
• You have been pre-approved for a mortgage by a recognized financial institution, with a lender that accepts the loan as a down payment source.
• Household income is under $85,000 for the full loan; incomes up to $95,000 get a smaller loan on a sliding scale.
• The home costs no more than $350,000 in the St. John's census metropolitan area and Labrador, $300,000 in Clarenville, Gander, Grand Falls-Windsor, Corner Brook, Stephenville and communities within 30 km of them, or $250,000 elsewhere.
• With approval, a home up to 10% above the maximum in the St. John's area, Labrador and the regional centres can qualify, but the help stays capped at 5% of the region's maximum price.
• The legal-cost grant is 50% of legal closing costs up to $1,500, and is paid only with the loan.
• Repayment of the loan can wait 5 years after the purchase, at a rate no higher than prime minus one percent.
• You apply before the purchase closes: homes already bought don't qualify, and an application with a signed purchase agreement needs 15 business days before closing.
• Applications are approved first come, first served until the program's funding runs out, and it can close without notice.