If you owned a home years ago and now you are renting, you may be surprised: for several programs, you can count as a first-time buyer again. But "first-time buyer" is not one definition, it is a different test for every program. Some reset after four years, some are once in a lifetime, and the rules about your spouse can change the answer entirely. Here is each one, in a single comparison, plus a short screener to point you in the right direction.
The myth is that "first-time home buyer" means one thing, and that once you have owned a home, you are out for good. The real answer is that each program writes its own test. Some use a four-year lookback, so you can qualify again after enough time has passed. Some are lifetime, so once you have owned anywhere in the world, you are done. And a few are once per lifetime even if you otherwise qualify again. Knowing which is which is the whole game.
Most federal programs ask a version of the same question: in this calendar year, or the four calendar years before it, did you live in a home as your principal residence that you owned? For some programs, a home your spouse or common-law partner owned and that you lived in counts too. If the answer is no for that whole window, you generally pass the four-year test.
A quick example: someone who sold their home and moved out in 2021, and has rented ever since, generally passes a four-year test again starting in 2026, because 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, and the part of 2026 before the purchase all clear. The exact timing depends on the specific program, so treat this as the shape of the rule, not a ruling on your situation.
To open an FHSA you must be a Canadian resident, at least 18 (19 where that is the age of majority), and not older than 71 at year end. The first-time test at opening is the four-year lookback, and it includes a home your current spouse or common-law partner (the one you have when you open the account) owned or jointly owned and that you lived in. You can contribute $8,000 a year up to $40,000 lifetime, carrying forward up to $8,000 of room. Room only starts building once you open your first FHSA; nothing accrues for the years before you open it, so many people open one early even with zero dollars in it. Transfers in from an RRSP use room but are not deductible.
Your participation period ends at the earliest of 15 years after opening, the year you turn 71, or the end of the year after your first qualifying withdrawal. At the moment of withdrawal, a spouse's ownership no longer matters, and ownership in the 30 days before the withdrawal is ignored.
To make a qualifying withdrawal you must already have a written agreement to buy or build the home, and the closing or completion date in that agreement must be before October 1 of the year after the withdrawal. You cannot have closed more than 30 days before you withdraw, you must be a resident of Canada, and you must intend to live in the home as your principal residence within one year. You file Form RC725 with your FHSA issuer. You can use the FHSA and the Home Buyers' Plan for the same home. After a qualifying withdrawal, the account must be emptied or closed by December 31 of the following year; money still in an FHSA when the period ends loses its FHSA status and is taxed as income, though a transfer to an RRSP or RRIF before then is tax deferred.
Can it come back? Yes, more often than people think. If you owned a home years ago, you count as a first-time buyer again for the FHSA once you have not lived in a home you (or your current spouse or common-law partner) owned in this calendar year or the previous four. You can then open an FHSA even if you had one before, as long as your maximum participation period has not ended. That period started the day you opened your first FHSA and ends on December 31 of the earliest of: the year of the 15th anniversary of opening your first FHSA, the year you turn 71, or the year after your first qualifying withdrawal. Once it ends, you can never open another FHSA. Your $40,000 lifetime limit and any room you already used carry over from the first account; opening a new account does not reset them. CRA, opening your FHSA.
The HBP lets you withdraw up to $60,000 from your RRSP (raised from $35,000 for withdrawals after April 16, 2024) to put toward a home. It uses the four-year lookback, and a home your current spouse or common-law partner (at the time of the withdrawal) owned, and that you lived in, counts. CRA's wording refers to any home you owned and lived in as your principal residence; it does not say the home had to be in Canada, so do not assume a home you owned abroad is ignored. The home you buy with HBP money must be in Canada. You also need a written agreement to buy or build at the time you withdraw; a mortgage pre-approval does not count. You can use the HBP again only if your HBP balance is zero on January 1 of the year of the new withdrawal and you meet all the HBP conditions again, including the first-time buyer test.
You have up to 15 years to repay. For first withdrawals made from January 1, 2022 to December 31, 2028, repayments start in the fifth year after the year of your first withdrawal, so a 2026 withdrawal means your first repayment year is 2031. For first withdrawals made before 2022, and under current law from 2029 onward, repayments start in the second year after the withdrawal.
Two exceptions waive the first-time test. One is for a person who qualifies for the disability tax credit, or a related person buying for them, where the home is more accessible or better suited to their needs. The other is for someone who is living separate and apart from their spouse or common-law partner because the relationship broke down, where the separation began in the year of the withdrawal or the four years before it; in that case you generally have to sell the old home within two years after the year of withdrawal unless you buy out your former partner's share, and the exception does not apply if you now live in a home a new partner owns.
A few timing rules to keep straight: any later withdrawals for the same home must be made in the same calendar year as your first, or in January of the next; you must be a resident of Canada when you withdraw; and the home must be bought or built before October 1 of the year after your first withdrawal. If you contribute to your RRSP within 89 days before an HBP withdrawal, that contribution may not be deductible, so leave money in the account long enough before you withdraw it. CRA, participate in the HBP.
This is a $10,000 non-refundable tax credit, worth up to $1,500 federally (the $10,000 figure is for the 2025 tax year; check CRA for 2026). You qualify if you did not live in another home, inside or outside Canada, that you or your spouse or common-law partner owned in the year you bought and in any of the four years before it. The home you buy must be in Canada and registered in your name or your spouse's or partner's name, and you must intend to live in it within a year. Two spouses, or any co-buyers, can split the claim as long as each of them qualifies and the total does not exceed $10,000. If only one of you qualifies, only that person claims. There is also a disability exception that waives the first-time test. Because it is on the rolling four-year window, it comes back once you pass the test again. CRA, line 31270.
This removes the 5% federal GST on a new home for a first-time buyer, up to $50,000. Relief is full on homes up to $1 million, then shrinks in a straight line to zero at $1.5 million. In Ontario it covers only the federal 5% of the 13% HST; the provincial side is handled separately (next card).
It applies to purchase agreements signed with a builder on or after March 20, 2025 and before 2031. Parliament moved the start date back from May 27, 2025 before passing the law, so some early summaries still show the later date. Construction must begin before 2031, the home must be substantially completed before 2036, and you must take ownership before 2036. Homes you build yourself and shares in a new housing co-op also qualify, on the same timelines.
First-time here means: you are at least 18, a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, and you did not live in a home you or your spouse or common-law partner owned as your primary residence in the calendar year you take ownership or the four years before it. The test is applied on the day ownership transfers, not the day you sign. You must buy the home as your primary residence and be the first person to live in it. With co-buyers, at least one of you must meet the first-time test.
It is once per lifetime, and it is not available if your spouse or common-law partner has already received it.
One trap: if the original agreement with the builder was signed before March 20, 2025, buying it by assignment does not make you eligible, even if your assignment is dated later. Cancelling and re-signing an old agreement to get around this is blocked too.
It became law on March 12, 2026 and the CRA is accepting claims. Usually the builder credits it at closing. If the builder does not, you apply to the CRA within two years of taking ownership. Department of Finance, GST relief for first-time buyers; CRA, who can apply.
Ontario now has two layers of HST relief on new homes, and the rules changed several times in 2025 and 2026, so read this as a map and confirm the details with your real estate lawyer and the builder's statement of adjustments.
Layer one: the Ontario first-time home buyers' rebate. Ontario rebates the full 8% provincial part of the HST for first-time buyers on new homes up to $1 million. The maximum is $80,000, which includes the standard $24,000 Ontario new housing rebate that every buyer already gets. Between $1 million and $1.5 million the rebate shrinks, but never below the standard $24,000, and from $1.5 million up only the standard $24,000 applies. Eligibility is the same as the federal rebate above, and so is the window: agreements signed on or after March 20, 2025 and before 2031. It is in force, and the CRA processes it on Form RC7190-ON alongside the federal claim.
Layer two: the one-year enhancement for almost everyone. For agreements signed from April 1, 2026 to March 31, 2027, Ontario is covering the full 13% HST on a new home that you or a close relative will live in, up to $130,000. It comes in two pieces: the CRA pays an enhanced Ontario rebate of up to $80,000 (the 8% provincial part), and Ontario pays a New Home Affordability Payment of up to $50,000 covering the 5% federal part. Relief is full on homes up to $1 million, holds at $130,000 from $1 million to $1.5 million, shrinks between $1.5 million and $1.85 million, and from $1.85 million only the standard $24,000 remains. Construction must start by December 31, 2028 and be substantially completed by December 31, 2031. Investors buying to rent long term use a parallel rental version. You claim through the builder at closing or on the CRA forms; the Ontario payment comes automatically if you tick the consent box on the form, and Ontario expects payments to begin in early 2027. An assigned agreement qualifies only if both the original agreement and the assignment are dated inside the window.
How the layers combine. The pieces never add up to more than the tax actually charged. All Ontario rebates on the 8% part are capped together at $80,000 and never exceed the provincial HST you paid. On the 5% part, a first-time buyer gets the federal rebate from the CRA, and Ontario's payment fills only whatever federal tax that rebate did not cover. The result: a first-time buyer and a repeat buyer inside the one-year window both reach the same $130,000 ceiling on a home up to $1 million. Nobody gets paid twice for the same tax.
Coming change. Ontario's October 2026 Fall Economic Statement says the standard $24,000 rebate ends for new deals starting April 1, 2027. If your agreement is signed on or before March 31, 2027 and the home closes by the end of 2035, you keep it. This is announced policy and still needs the federal regulation to follow, so treat it as expected rather than final. CRA Notice 346; Ontario, New Home Affordability Payment; Ontario 2026 Fall Economic Statement.
Worth up to $4,000. To qualify you must never have owned a home, or an interest in a home, anywhere in the world, at any time.
The spouse rule is strict and often misread. If your spouse owned a home, or any share of one, at any time while you were spouses, neither of you gets the refund, even if you never lived in that home. If your spouse owned a home before you became spouses and sold it before then, you still qualify, and you can claim the refund on your spouse's share as well as your own, up to the full $4,000, as long as your spouse is a Canadian citizen or permanent resident or becomes one within 18 months of closing. If your spouse still owns a home they bought before you became spouses, that counts as owning while a spouse, and neither of you qualifies.
You must be at least 18, a Canadian citizen or permanent resident (if you are not yet, you have 18 months after closing to become one, and the application must be in within that same 18 months), and you must move in as your principal residence within nine months. In practice your lawyer claims the refund at registration so you never pay the tax; the 18-month application route is the fallback when tax was paid. It does not matter how you came to own a past home, whether you bought it, were gifted it or inherited it, and it applies to resale homes as well as new ones.
With co-buyers, the refund is proportionate to the share owned by the people who qualify: a parent and child on title 50/50 where only the child qualifies get half the maximum. If a parent is on title only because the bank required it, Ontario treats the parent as holding in trust for the child, and the child can get the full refund with a bank letter or trust agreement; tax is paid at registration and refunded on application.
Refunds can be audited, and claiming one by a false statement carries a penalty. Ontario's October 2026 Fall Statement proposes raising that penalty to $10,000. This one is lifetime, so it never comes back. Ontario, land transfer tax refund.
Worth up to $4,475, with the same lifetime, never-owned-anywhere rule, the same spouse rule, the same age, citizenship and nine-month occupancy conditions as the Ontario refund, and a $4,475 cap that exactly equals the Toronto tax on the first $400,000. It applies only to homes in the City of Toronto, and like the provincial refund, it never comes back. If you apply after closing instead of at registration, Toronto charges a processing fee, and proof of occupancy cannot be a utility or property tax bill. City of Toronto, MLTT rebate.
Here, first-time buyer means you have never purchased a home, or you did not live in a home owned by you or your current spouse in the last four years, or you have been separated from your spouse or common-law partner for at least 90 days because the relationship broke down, and the separation began within the current or previous four calendar years. It is also available to anyone buying a new build, regardless of whether they have owned before. Department of Finance, mortgage reforms.
| Program | Who counts as first-time | Lookback | Spouse's home counts? | Can it come back? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FHSA (opening) | Pass the four-year test when you open | 4 years | Yes, a home they owned that you lived in | Yes, if you pass the four-year test and your participation period (from your first FHSA) has not ended |
| FHSA (withdrawal) | Buying a qualifying first home | 4 years (last 30 days ignored) | No, at withdrawal it does not matter | No, once your FHSA lifecycle ends |
| Home Buyers' Plan | Pass the four-year test | 4 years | Yes | Yes, if your HBP balance is zero on Jan 1 and you pass all tests again |
| Home Buyers' Amount | Pass the four-year test | 4 years | Yes | Yes, on the rolling window |
| 30-year insured amortization | Four-year test, or any new build | 4 years | Yes | Yes, on the window or via a new build |
| Federal GST rebate (and Ontario 8%) | Pass the four-year test at closing, 18+, citizen or PR, new homes | 4 years | Yes | No, once per lifetime |
| Ontario LTT refund | Never owned a home anywhere | Lifetime | Yes. Owned while your spouse: no refund for either of you. Owned and sold before: you can claim their share | No, never |
| Toronto MLTT rebate | Never owned a home anywhere | Lifetime | Same as Ontario | No, never |
Spouse means the CRA definition for the first six rows (12 months living together, or a child together) and the Family Law Act definition for the last two (married, three years living together, or a child together).
The second thing is that "spouse" itself means two different things.
For CRA programs, you are common-law once you live together in a conjugal relationship and any one of these is true: you have lived together for at least 12 continuous months (a split of under 90 days does not reset the clock), or your partner is the parent of your child by birth or adoption, or your partner has custody and control of your child and your child is wholly dependent on them. Having a child together makes you common-law right away.
For Ontario and Toronto land transfer tax, "spouse" follows Ontario's Family Law Act: you are married, or you have lived together continuously for at least three years, or you live together in a relationship of some permanence and you are the parents of a child together.
So a couple who moved in together two years ago is common-law for CRA but not spouses for land transfer tax, and a home one partner sold during those two years was not owned "while a spouse." Because your partner's history can change your eligibility under both sets of rules, confirm your situation rather than assuming.
These are illustrations to show how the tests play out, not advice about any real person.
A permanent resident is not a foreign national, so Ontario's Non-Resident Speculation Tax and Toronto's 10% Municipal Non-Resident Speculation Tax, in place since January 1, 2025, do not apply to you. Your real estate lawyer can confirm your status before closing.
Answer the questions below for a rough sense of which programs are worth looking into. This is general screening only, not a determination, and it never tells you a dollar amount or that you qualify. Your accountant and real estate lawyer make the real call.
Two spouse questions appear because CRA and Ontario land transfer tax define spouse differently. The guide explains why above.
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