The Ontario HST Rebate on New Homes in 2026: Up to $130,000

For years the answer to "how much HST comes back on a new build?" was easy in the GTA: $24,000, flat, on anything over $450,000. In 2026 that stopped being the whole answer. Two separate measures now sit on top of the old rebate, one of them worth up to $130,000, and one of them running on a window that closes in March 2027. If you are quoting new construction from memory, the number in your memory is out of date.

This guide separates the three regimes that now coexist, gives the figures for each, and is blunt about the one thing most coverage leaves out: for the biggest of the new rebates, the application does not exist yet. It is written for licensed realtors and it is not tax advice. Verify against the CRA's first-time home buyers' rebate pages and TRREB's own fact sheet before a number of yours ends up in someone's budget.

What changed in 2026

Two things, and they are commonly mashed together into one wrong sentence.

1. The first-time home buyers' GST/HST rebate

Bill C-4 received Royal Assent on March 12, 2026, and the CRA is processing claims now. A qualifying first-time buyer gets back the full 13% HST on a new home priced up to $1 million - that is up to $130,000, being $50,000 of federal GST plus $80,000 of the Ontario portion. Between $1 million and $1.5 million it reduces; at or above $1.5 million it is nothing.

The window is generous: agreements of purchase and sale signed on or after March 20, 2025 and before January 1, 2031. Construction has to start before 2031 and be substantially complete before 2036. Note the start date is in the past - a buyer who signed in mid-2025 and assumed nothing applied may be sitting on a claim.

2. Ontario's expanded rebate for all buyers

Separately, Ontario and Ottawa expanded the rebate beyond first-time buyers. Same headline cap - $130,000, which is simply the 13% HST on a $1 million home - and unlike the first-time version, the full $130,000 stays available on homes valued from $1 million up to $1.5 million. From $1.5 million to $1.85 million it tapers down to a floor of $24,000.

The catch is the window. Agreements must be signed between April 1, 2026 and March 31, 2027. Construction must begin by December 31, 2028 and be substantially complete by December 31, 2031. That is a one-year signing window, and roughly half of it is already gone.

The part almost nobody mentions

You cannot claim the expanded all-buyers rebate yet. TRREB says so directly in its fact sheet: the federal application portal "does not yet include application details for the expanded Ontario HST rebate," and TRREB is waiting on revised regulations before applications open.

This matters more than it sounds. A buyer signing a $1.2 million pre-construction agreement this month is inside the window, and the money is legislated - but there is no form to file, no builder credit mechanism confirmed, and no processing timeline. The correct thing to tell that client is: you appear to qualify, keep every document, and we will file when the CRA opens it. The incorrect thing - and the tempting one - is to quote a net-after-rebate price as though the rebate is banked. Builders credit the old rebate at closing precisely because the rules for it are settled. These are not, yet.

For the same reason, our Ontario HST rebate calculator computes the long-standing rebate and treats the expanded figures as a note rather than an automatic number. A calculator that confidently outputs a number the government cannot yet pay is worse than no calculator.

Why HST applies at all

A resale home in Ontario does not attract HST on the purchase price. A brand-new home from a builder does, because the sale is treated as the supply of a newly produced good. Ontario's HST is 13%: a 5% federal (GST) portion and an 8% provincial portion. On a $700,000 new condo that is $91,000 of tax - a number that would make any first-time buyer walk. Every rebate on this page exists to soften that, and all of them require the home to be a primary place of residence.

The long-standing rebate, which still governs everything outside those windows

Nothing above replaces the original GST/HST New Housing Rebate. If your buyer is not a first-time buyer and signed outside the April 2026 to March 2027 window, this is still their rebate, and it is two rebates stacked on one purchase:

The federal (GST) piece. 36% of the 5% federal portion, to a maximum of $6,300, and only on homes priced at $350,000 or less. It phases out between $350,000 and $450,000 and is zero above that. Because almost every GTA new build clears $450,000, most Toronto-area buyers on this regime get no federal rebate at all. That ceiling has not moved in decades and is the single most common source of "but I thought there was a rebate."

The Ontario piece. 75% of the 8% provincial portion, capped at $24,000. The cap is reached at $400,000, so any home at or above that gets the full $24,000 and it does not phase out. A $500,000 condo and a $1.2 million townhouse receive the same $24,000.

What the numbers actually look like

Same $1.1 million new build, three different buyers:

The spread between the top and bottom rows is over a hundred thousand dollars, decided by who the buyer is and what month they sign. That is the whole reason this is worth ten minutes of your attention rather than a shrug and "ask your lawyer."

Who qualifies as a first-time buyer

For the first-time rebate the test is stricter than most people assume. The buyer must be at least 18, a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, and must not have lived in a home they or their spouse or common-law partner owned - anywhere in the world - in the current calendar year or the four preceding ones. A buyer who owned a condo in 2023 and sold it is not first-time. A buyer whose spouse owned abroad is not first-time.

Eligibility for the expanded all-buyers rebate is exactly what is still being written into regulation, and TRREB's own fact sheet is not crisp about it. Do not resolve that ambiguity for your client. Point them at their accountant and at the CRA page, and say the regulations are pending - because they are.

Three buyer situations that behave differently

Owner-occupied, bought from a builder. The standard case. On the long-standing rebate the builder credits it at closing and the buyer pays the net price, which is why advertised pre-construction prices already assume the buyer qualifies. If the buyer turns out not to qualify - an investment unit, say - the builder claws it back at closing and the buyer owes it. That is one of the worst conversations in pre-construction, and it is entirely avoidable by raising it early.

Investment or rental. A buyer renting the unit out does not get the owner rebate. They may claim the New Residential Rental Property rebate instead - similar amounts, but they pay full HST at closing and file afterward with a signed lease as proof. Cash-flow-wise that is a very different closing, and the buyer needs to know before they budget the deposit.

Owner-built or substantially renovated. Filed directly with the CRA rather than through a builder, on Form GST191 rather than the builder-side GST190. Different forms, different timelines, and a filing deadline the buyer owns personally.

The assignment trap

Assignment sales - where a buyer sells their pre-construction contract before closing - are where HST and the rebate get genuinely complicated. HST can apply to the assignment fee, and rebate eligibility for the end buyer hinges on intent and timing. The new first-time rebate adds a fresh wrinkle: it attaches to the original agreement date, so who signed what and when now matters in a way it did not before. If you are working an assignment, the safe script has not changed: "the tax treatment depends on intent and timing, let's get your accountant on this before we firm up." Never quote a rebate number on an assignment from memory.

What to actually say to a client

Ask when they signed, before you quote anything. The signing date now determines which of three regimes applies. It is the first question, not a detail.

Ask whether they have owned anywhere in the last four years. Including outside Canada, including their spouse. Most people answer this wrong on instinct because they think "first-time buyer" means "first time buying here."

Separate what is settled from what is pending. "The $24,000 is credited by the builder at closing. The larger rebate you qualify for is law, but the CRA has not opened applications, so we file later and keep every document." Clients handle "not yet" fine. They do not handle finding out at the lawyer's office.

Put it in writing. Net price, deposit structure, which rebate regime you think applies and why, and what is still pending. Buyers make confident decisions when the whole picture is in one place instead of scattered across texts. Keeping that organised per client is exactly what a real estate platform is for, so nothing important lives only in your head.

When the buyer is ready, the same clarity carries into the offer - see our walkthrough of drafting an Ontario offer and never missing a condition deadline once it is signed.

Frequently asked questions

Does the HST rebate apply to resale homes? No. Resale residential homes are exempt from HST on the purchase price, so there is no HST and nothing to rebate. All of this applies only to new or substantially renovated homes.

Is the rebate still the same for a $600,000 condo and a $1.5 million house? Not any more, and this is the answer that changed in 2026. On the long-standing rebate, yes - both got $24,000. Under the expanded rebate, a $1.5 million home signed inside the April 2026 to March 2027 window can carry the full $130,000. Price and signing date now both matter.

My client signed in 2025 and was told nothing applied. Is that still true? Possibly not. The first-time rebate reaches back to agreements signed on or after March 20, 2025. If they are a first-time buyer by the four-year test, it is worth a conversation with their accountant.

Can the buyer claim the expanded rebate today? Not yet. The legislation is in place; the federal application portal does not accept these claims as of this writing. Keep documentation and watch for the CRA to open it.

Is there a deadline to file? Yes, and it is unforgiving. There is generally a two-year limit from taking ownership or finishing construction. Miss it and the rebate is gone, no appeal on the basis of not knowing.

Should a realtor calculate the exact rebate for a client? Explain the structure, ask the two questions above, and quote the $24,000 with confidence when it clearly applies. The precise filed number - especially on assignments, owner-built homes, or anything inside the new windows - belongs to the client's accountant. Your job is to make sure the buyer is not blindsided, not to file their taxes.