The First-Time Home Buyer Incentive has ended: what it was and what replaced it

Is the First-Time Home Buyer Incentive still available?

No. The First-Time Home Buyer Incentive (FTHBI) stopped accepting new applications on March 21, 2024, and no new incentives were approved after March 31, 2024. You can no longer apply for it.

If you already received the incentive, nothing about your agreement changed: you still repay it on the original terms, explained below. If you are buying your first home now, the programs that are still open are worth considerably more than the incentive was for most buyers.

What the First-Time Home Buyer Incentive was

The FTHBI was a federal program run by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) from September 2019 to March 2024. It was a shared-equity mortgage: the government paid part of the purchase price, which lowered the amount the buyer had to borrow and therefore the monthly mortgage payment.

• 5% or 10% of the purchase price of a newly built home

• 5% of the price of a resale home, or of a new or resale mobile or manufactured home

There was no interest and no monthly payment on the incentive. In exchange, the government shared in the change in the home's value when it was repaid. Few buyers used it: household income was capped at $120,000 ($150,000 in Toronto, Vancouver and Victoria), and many buyers were wary of giving up part of their home's future gain.

If you have the incentive: how repayment works

You must repay the incentive after 25 years, or when you sell the home, whichever comes first. You can also repay it in full at any time before that, with no prepayment penalty.

The amount you repay depends on what the home is worth at that time, not on the original amount. You repay the same percentage of the home's market value that the incentive was of the purchase price: a 5% incentive means repaying 5% of the home's value when you repay. The gain or loss on the incentive is capped at 8% a year, not compounded, from the date the incentive was advanced.

Some changes to your mortgage can make the incentive due early:

• Buying out a co-borrower after a separation, if you need additional insured financing to do it.

• Porting your mortgage to another property.

• A partial release of the property as security, which is treated as a sale.

CMHC administers existing agreements. Its First-Time Home Buyer Incentive page explains how to request a repayment statement and get the home appraised.

What first-time buyers can use now

These federal programs are open in 2026, and most of them can be combined:

• First Home Savings Account (FHSA): save up to $8,000 a year, to a lifetime limit of $40,000. Contributions are tax-deductible and a qualifying withdrawal for a first home is tax-free. See our FHSA guide and the FHSA contribution planner.

• Home Buyers' Plan (HBP): withdraw up to $60,000 from your RRSP toward a first home (the limit rose from $35,000 in April 2024), and repay it into the RRSP over 15 years.

• First-Time Home Buyers' Tax Credit: a non-refundable federal credit on a $10,000 amount in the year you buy, worth up to $1,400 for a 2026 purchase (the credit rate is 14% from 2026, down from 15% before 2025).

• First-Time Home Buyers' GST rebate: on a newly built home, the full 5% GST is rebated up to a price of $1 million, and the rebate phases out between $1 million and $1.5 million. It became law in March 2026; the Canada Revenue Agency sets out who qualifies.

• 30-year insured mortgages: since December 15, 2024, first-time buyers can take a 30-year amortization on an insured mortgage (under 20% down), which lowers the monthly payment, and insured mortgages are available on homes up to $1.5 million.

• Land transfer tax rebates: several provinces, and Toronto, reduce or waive land transfer tax for first-time buyers. See land transfer tax by province or work out your own with the land transfer tax calculator.

For eligibility details and how the programs stack, read government programs for home buyers, and for the whole process, the first-time home buyer's guide.