Every Ontario First-Home Program, Stacked
A first-time buyer in Ontario can combine a tax-free savings account, an RRSP withdrawal, two land transfer tax refunds, GST relief on a new build and a longer mortgage — but each program has its own clock, and they reward buyers who open accounts early.
The stack, piece by piece
No single program transforms a first purchase. The stack does. Here's every major piece available to an Ontario first-time buyer as of writing, what each one is worth, and how they fit on the same purchase.
1. First Home Savings Account (FHSA)
The FHSA lets you contribute up to $8,000 a year, $40,000 over your lifetime, and gives you both ends of the tax deal: contributions are tax-deductible like an RRSP, and withdrawals are tax-free like a TFSA when used to buy a qualifying first home. Two rules drive the strategy. First, your annual room starts accumulating only from the year you open the account — a buyer who opens one today begins building room; a buyer who waits until the year of purchase leaves years of room unclaimed, because unused room carries forward only once the account exists. Second, the account has a lifespan: it must generally be closed by the end of the year after your first qualifying withdrawal, or 15 years after opening, whichever comes first. Unused FHSA money can be transferred into your RRSP without affecting RRSP room, so opening one is close to a free option.
2. Home Buyers' Plan (HBP)
The HBP lets each buyer withdraw up to $60,000 from their RRSP, tax-free, to buy or build a qualifying home — so a couple can draw up to $120,000 between them. The money must have been in the RRSP for at least 90 days before withdrawal, and you repay it over 15 years, starting the second year after the year you withdrew, by re-contributing to your RRSP. Miss a scheduled repayment and that portion is simply added to your taxable income for the year — a shrug from the taxman, not a catastrophe, but a cost worth avoiding. The HBP and FHSA can be used on the same home, which is where the stack gets serious: FHSA savings for the tax deduction and tax-free growth, RRSP savings behind it for the HBP.
3. Land transfer tax refunds
On closing day, first-time buyers get relief from the tax everyone else pays in full: up to $4,000 back from Ontario and, on Toronto purchases, up to $4,475 back from the city — over $8,400 of combined relief on a Toronto home, claimed through your lawyer at closing so it reduces what you owe that day. Eligibility requires that you (and your spouse) have never owned a home anywhere, and you must move in within nine months. Buy with a partner who has owned before, and the refund shrinks to your first-time share of the ownership.
4. GST relief on a new build
Newly built homes carry HST — 13% in Ontario — which resale homes don't. A 2025 federal measure for first-time buyers removes the 5% GST portion entirely on new homes priced up to $1 million, with the relief phasing out between $1 million and $1.5 million, as of writing. Combined with the longstanding GST/HST new housing rebates, a qualifying first-time buyer of a new build can recover a meaningful slice of the tax that makes new construction look expensive next to resale. This piece of the stack is new, has its own definition of "first-time buyer," and only applies to new housing — resale buyers skip this section entirely.
5. The 30-year amortization
Since late 2024, first-time buyers (and buyers of new builds) can take an insured mortgage with a 30-year amortization instead of the standard 25. The longer term lowers the monthly payment and can raise the price you qualify for under the stress test. It also means more total interest over the life of the mortgage — it's a cash-flow and qualifying tool, not free money. Related: the insured mortgage cap now reaches $1.5 million, so homes in that range no longer require a 20% down payment to be purchasable with a high-ratio mortgage.
How the stack lands on one purchase
Picture a couple buying their first home together. Both opened FHSAs a few years ago and have been contributing, so their down payment starts with tax-deducted, tax-free FHSA withdrawals. Both also draw on the HBP for the balance of the down payment they built inside their RRSPs. At closing, the Ontario land transfer tax refund reduces their biggest closing cost, and the Toronto refund too if that's where they bought. If the home is newly built and priced under the thresholds, GST relief softens the HST hit. Their insured mortgage runs over 30 years because they're first-time buyers, keeping the monthly payment workable. Every one of those benefits was available to every first-time buyer — the couple's only edge was opening accounts early and knowing the pieces existed before they found the house.
The order of operations
- Years out: open an FHSA the moment you think a first home is in your future. Room only accrues once the account exists.
- Before the search: get RRSP money into place at least 90 days before any HBP withdrawal, and get pre-approved.
- At purchase: confirm which GST/HST relief applies if it's a new build; assignment and claim paperwork happens around closing.
- At closing: land transfer tax refunds are claimed through your lawyer.
- After: calendar the HBP repayment start and the FHSA closure deadline. Both are easy to meet and annoying to miss.
🧮 Rebate math by gstrebate.ca — our sister site stacks all of these programs at once: see what they add up to for your price.
Next step
Programs reward buyers who are ready when the right home appears — describe yours and see live matches at HomesFound AI Search. If part of your stack is family help rather than a program, the rules for gifted down payments decide how lenders treat it.