HST rebate on a new build in Ontario: what you get back

Buying a new build in Ontario, you can recover part of the HST you pay. A first time buyer can get up to $130,000 back combined, federal and provincial, on a home priced at $1 million or less, but only if the purchase agreement is signed before March 31, 2027.

New construction in Ontario carries HST at 13 per cent, split into a 5 per cent federal part and an 8 per cent provincial part. That tax sits inside the purchase price on any home bought from a builder, and it applies to a home you build yourself too. Two rebates claw part of it back for every buyer, and a temporary Ontario top up adds a great deal more if the paperwork is signed at the right time.

How much can I actually get back?

For a first time buyer closing on a home priced at $1 million or less, with the agreement of purchase and sale signed between April 1, 2026 and March 31, 2027, the two programs can add up to $130,000: up to $50,000 from the federal First Time Home Buyers' GST/HST rebate, and up to $80,000 from Ontario's temporary Enhanced New Housing Rebate. Above $1 million the federal rebate steps down and disappears at $1.5 million. The Ontario top up steps down more slowly and disappears at $1.85 million.

Buyers who already own a home, or who buy outside that window, still qualify for the two rebates that have existed for years: up to $6,300 federally on a home priced at $450,000 or less, and up to $24,000 from Ontario regardless of price.

The builder usually applies the rebate for you and credits it against the price at closing, which is why the number on the agreement can look lower than the sticker price on the sales centre wall. Get the builder's assumption in writing before signing. A rebate the builder assumed and a rebate the CRA actually pays out are not always the same thing, and the gap becomes your bill.

Do I qualify for the $50,000 federal rebate?

You need to be at least 18, a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, and you cannot have lived in a home that you, your spouse or your common law partner owned, anywhere in the world, in the year you take ownership or in the four calendar years before it. Buy in 2026 and the CRA looks back to 2022. Neither you nor your spouse or partner can have claimed this rebate before, and the home has to become your primary residence.

The rebate covers 100 per cent of the federal 5 per cent GST or HST paid, up to $50,000, on a home priced at $1 million or less. Between $1 million and $1.5 million it reduces on a straight line: a home at $1.25 million gets half, or $25,000. It applies to an agreement signed with a builder on or after May 27, 2025 and before 2031, and it became law with Bill C-4, which received royal assent on March 12, 2026. Full eligibility rules, including how the CRA treats a home sold and repurchased inside the four year window, are on the CRA's eligibility page.

What if I already own a home?

You still get the rebate that predates all of this. Federally, that is 36 per cent of the 5 per cent GST or HST paid, up to $6,300, phasing out between $350,000 and $450,000 and gone above that. Provincially, Ontario refunds up to $24,000 regardless of price, which is why a $900,000 purchase and a $1.85 million purchase can carry the identical provincial rebate once the temporary top up below is not in play.

Ontario's 2026 budget also created a payment, the Ontario New Home Affordability Payment, that mirrors the federal 5 per cent relief for buyers who qualify for the Ontario top up but do not qualify for the federal rebate, funded through federal housing legislation that received royal assent on June 18, 2026. It is paid automatically alongside the Ontario rebate rather than applied for on its own.

Does the temporary Ontario top up apply to my purchase?

Only if the agreement of purchase and sale with the builder, or the start of construction on a home you build yourself, falls between April 1, 2026 and March 31, 2027. Inside that window, Ontario refunds 100 per cent of its 8 per cent provincial HST, up to $80,000, on a home priced at $1 million or less. That $80,000 cap holds flat from $1 million to $1.5 million, then tapers down to the ordinary $24,000 rebate by $1.85 million, where the temporary top up runs out entirely.

The date that counts is when the agreement was signed, not when the home closes. A preconstruction agreement signed in 2024 or 2025 does not qualify for the top up even if the building registers in 2027. A builder advertising a price "after the enhanced rebate" on a unit sold before April 1, 2026 is advertising a rebate that agreement cannot legally receive.

How do I actually claim it?

On a home bought from a builder, the builder normally applies for the rebate on your behalf and credits it against the price at closing, using form GST190. Ask for that assumption in writing before you sign anything, for the reason above. If you built the home yourself, you claim directly from the CRA using form GST191 after the home is substantially complete and you have moved in.

None of this changes what is owed in Ontario or Toronto land transfer tax, which is calculated on the full purchase price before any HST rebate is applied. Our cash to close calculator works out the land transfer tax, the HST rebate assumptions and the rest of what a buyer needs at closing together, and the affordability calculator shows what a given rebate actually does to what someone can offer.