Proposed GST rebate for some first-time homebuyers could reach $27,000, PBO says

Globe and Mail

11-06-2025

The federal government's proposed GST rebate for first-time homebuyers will provide an average subsidy of roughly $27,000 to more than 71,000 buyers, an analysis from the Parliamentary Budget Officer says.
The government is proposing to cut its 5-per-cent GST entirely for first-time buyers that are purchasing a new or substantially renovated home valued at $1-million or less, and to partially cut the GST for new homes valued between $1-million and $1.5-million.
The projections were made for the life of the program, which is expected to start in 2025 and end in 2031. The PBO – which provides independent and non-partisan financial analysis of proposed bills – projected that 4.8 per cent of housing completions would be purchased by buyers benefitting from this rebate.
A calculation by Desjardins this week found that a $50,000 GST subsidy on a $1-million home could save a homebuyer up to $240 a month in mortgage payments.
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The federal government's new proposed GST rebate comes as the original GST rebate for new housing builds largely falls out of relevance.
The original rules provide a 36-per-cent rebate on GST for new construction for any buyer – not just first-time buyers – on homes valued up to $350,000. Smaller rebates are available for homes valued up to $450,000.
The value for this rebate has changed by only a small amount since it was introduced in the 1980s, and as a result numbers from the PBO show that only 4 per cent of housing completions in the largest 17 census metropolitan areas were eligible for the full 36-per-cent rebate in 2024.