FIRST TIME HOME BUYER INCENTIVE
WHAT IT IS
The First-Time Home Buyer Incentive helps people across Canada purchase their first home. The program offers 5 or 10% of the home’s purchase price to put toward a down payment. This addition to your down payment lowers your mortgage carrying costs, making homeownership more affordable.
HOW IT WORKS
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If you receive a 5% incentive of the home’s purchase price of $200,000. If your home value increases to $300,000, your payback would be 5% of the current value.
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If you receive a 10% incentive of the home’s purchase price of $200,000. If your home value decreases to $150,000, your repayment value will be 10% of the current value.
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The homebuyer will have to repay the Incentive based on the property’s fair market value at the time of repayment. If a homebuyer received a 5% Incentive, they would repay 5% of the home’s value at repayment. If a homebuyer received a 10% Incentive, they would repay 10% of the home’s value at repayment.
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The homebuyer must repay the Incentive after 25 years, or when the property is sold, whichever comes first.
DO YOU QUALIFY?
​You qualify if:
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You have never purchased a home before.
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You did not occupy a home that you or your current spouse or common-law partner owned in the last 4 years (the 4-year period begins on January 1 of the fourth year before the Incentive is funded, and ends 31 days before the date the Incentive is funded).
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You have recently experienced the breakdown of a marriage or common-law partnership (even if you don’t meet the other first-time home buyer requirements).
See the Government of Canada Website for more details: