How to plan your closing-day cash so the rebate helps instead of surprising you.
You are buying your first home, a new build is on the table, and every headline says the rebates are large. What the headlines skip is when the money actually shows up.
What's going on
New-home buyers in Ontario may be able to draw on several programs. The federal first-time home buyers' GST/HST rebate applies to eligible agreements of purchase and sale signed between March 20, 2025 and the end of 2030, according to the Canada Revenue Agency. Ontario's temporary Enhanced New Housing Rebate applies to agreements signed between April 1, 2026 and March 31, 2027. On September 17, 2026, the province published its New Home Affordability Payment, a top-up paid through the same CRA application, available to buyers who first receive the Ontario enhanced rebate. Ontario has also proposed a first-time buyer rebate of its own, but it depends on federal regulations, so treat it as unconfirmed until your builder or the CRA says otherwise. Price caps and eligibility rules apply to every program.
Why this feels hard
A large number is easy to build a plan around. But a rebate is tax relief, not cash in your account. Depending on how your builder handles it, you may have to bring that money to closing and wait to be repaid, and claims can take months. Most first-time buyers in this position are not sure whether to count on the rebate or not. A decision this size should not rest on a builder's brochure.
How I'd think about it
I've seen this situation many times, and it is almost never as tangled as it feels. As a licensed Ontario mortgage broker, this is what I would do: qualify and budget as if the rebate arrives after closing, and treat it as a cushion until two things are confirmed in writing. The first is how your builder delivers it. Builders are able to credit the federal rebate at closing, but whether yours does is something to confirm. The second is how your lender counts it. Lenders do not all treat these rebates the same way. Some reduce the purchase price instead of counting the rebate toward your down payment, and that changes how much cash you bring. If both answers come back clean, you can plan around the rebate with confidence. If either one is vague, the conservative plan is the safer one.
If you're buying your first new build: this is the situation the rebates were written for. Get the delivery method from the builder before you sign, not at your final walkthrough.
If you're buying a resale home: these rebates are for new or substantially renovated homes. They do not apply to a resale purchase, so a headline should not move your budget.
What to do
1. Before you sign the agreement, ask your builder whether the rebate is credited on closing or claimed afterward, and get the answer in writing.
2. Ask your lender whether the rebate counts toward your down payment or reduces the purchase price, and what it needs to see.
3. Run your closing-day budget twice: once with the rebate credited, and once with it arriving months later. If the second version does not work, adjust the purchase before you sign, not after.
4. Check that you meet each program's rules, including the first-time buyer definition (no home you or your spouse owned and lived in during the current or previous four calendar years), the agreement dates and the price caps, using the CRA's published guidance.
What to avoid
The costly version of this is a closing date that arrives with the rebate still pending and a gap the budget was never built to cover. It is a calm, mechanical risk, not a reason to avoid a new build. It simply means the rebate should not be the thing holding the purchase together. A rebate also does not answer the bigger question of whether the monthly payment fits your life.
What it looks like when it's decided
You sign the agreement knowing what you need to bring on closing day, how the rebate reaches you, and what happens if it is late. The aim is a purchase that works with or without the rebate, so anything that does arrive is a bonus instead of a requirement.
Questions about your mortgage? Book a call and I'll advise you on what to do next: mortgagefernando.com/clarity-call
