The biggest cash items on a first-time purchase are the down payment plus CMHC premium (tiered by CMHC's own rule), and provincial/municipal land transfer tax net of first-time buyer rebates — up to C$4,000 in Ontario, a further up to C$4,475 in Toronto, or up to C$8,000 in British Columbia. A separate GST/HST rebate applies only to newly built homes, not resale. FHSA and HBP withdrawals reduce the cash you need from other sources, and the Home Buyers' Amount tax credit is a smaller, unrelated one-time credit claimed at tax time.
Down payment and CMHC premium — worked from a C$750,000 Ontario home
Using CMHC's tiered rule (general requirements page): 5% on the first C$500,000 plus 10% on the remaining C$250,000 gives a minimum down payment of C$25,000 + C$25,000 = C$50,000, a 93.3% loan-to-value insured loan of C$700,000. CMHC's own premium table (mortgage loan insurance cost page) prices the 90.01-95% LTV band at 4.00% of the loan: C$700,000 × 4.00% = C$28,000 added to the mortgage balance, not paid in cash. Model your own numbers with the CMHC insurance calculator.
Ontario land transfer tax and the Toronto municipal tax — both with first-time buyer rebates
On the same C$750,000 home, Ontario's LTT brackets (0.5% to C$55,000; 1.0% to C$250,000; 1.5% to C$400,000; 2.0% above C$400,000) produce C$11,475 in provincial tax before any rebate. Ontario's first-time buyer refund caps at C$4,000, bringing the net provincial tax to C$7,475.
Toronto adds its own Municipal Land Transfer Tax on top, using near-identical brackets below C$2,000,000 (Toronto's MLTT rate schedule), so the same home owes another C$11,475 before rebate. Toronto's own first-time buyer MLTT rebate caps at C$4,475, for a net municipal tax of C$7,000.
| Tax | Before rebate | Rebate | Net |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ontario provincial LTT | C$11,475 | C$4,000 | C$7,475 |
| Toronto municipal LTT | C$11,475 | C$4,475 | C$7,000 |
| Combined | C$22,950 | C$8,475 | C$14,475 |
Brackets and rebate caps per Ontario and City of Toronto, retrieved 2026-09-21. Outside Toronto, only the provincial LTT applies. Run your own address with the land transfer tax calculator.
See the exact breakdown for your own price and municipality with the land transfer tax calculator.
British Columbia: a different tax, and a larger first-time buyer exemption
The same C$750,000 purchase in BC faces Property Transfer Tax instead of LTT: BC's PTT brackets (1% to C$200,000; 2% from C$200,000 to C$2,000,000) work out to C$13,000. BC's first-time home buyers' program gives a full C$8,000 exemption on purchases with a fair market value up to C$835,000 (the exemption phases out between C$835,000 and C$860,000) — at C$750,000, the full C$8,000 applies, netting BC's tax to C$5,000, lower than the Toronto combined net of C$7,000 above despite BC's higher headline rate.
A separate rebate exists for new construction, not resale
Most first-time buyers purchase a resale home, where no GST/HST applies to the sale price at all. But for a newly built home, CRA's FTHB GST/HST rebate provides a full 100% rebate of the GST (or the federal part of the HST) on a new home valued up to C$1,000,000, with a reduced, phased rebate between C$1,000,000 and C$1,500,000. In Ontario, buyers of a new home may also qualify for a separate provincial HST rebate of up to C$80,000. This rebate only applies where the purchase agreement with the builder was entered into on or after March 20, 2025 — check that date against your own agreement before assuming it applies.
FHSA and HBP reduce how much you need from other sources
Registered accounts can supply a meaningful share of the C$50,000+ down payment above. The FHSA gives up to C$8,000 a year and C$40,000 over a lifetime of tax-deductible, tax-free-on-withdrawal contribution room, and the RRSP Home Buyers' Plan lets a buyer withdraw up to C$60,000 from an existing RRSP, repayable over 15 years. CRA confirms both can be used on the same home purchase. Work out how much of your own down payment these accounts cover with the FHSA calculator and the RRSP HBP calculator.
The Home Buyers' Amount tax credit doesn't reduce your cash-needed total
A separate, much smaller benefit is often lumped in with the down payment math but shouldn't be: CRA's line 31270 Home Buyers' Amount lets an eligible first-time buyer claim up to C$10,000 on their tax return — a non-refundable credit whose dollar value depends on the federal tax rate for that year. It arrives as a lower tax bill months after closing, not cash available at closing, so it should not be subtracted from your total-cash-needed number the way an FHSA or HBP withdrawal is.
A 30-year amortization is available on this purchase — for a premium surcharge
The C$750,000 example above assumes the standard maximum insured amortization. First-time buyers (and buyers of any newly constructed home) with less than 20% down can instead choose a 30-year amortization instead of 25, per FCAC's mortgage term and amortization page — lowering the monthly payment by stretching it over five extra years. CMHC's own premium schedule adds a 0.20% surcharge for choosing it, effective since August 1, 2024.
Methodology
The down payment and CMHC premium example applies CMHC's published tier rules (general requirements page, premium table) to a C$750,000 example, arithmetic shown step by step. The Ontario/Toronto and BC land transfer tax examples apply the published bracket schedules and rebate caps from Ontario, Ontario's FTHB refund page, Toronto's MLTT schedule, Toronto's MLTT rebate page, BC's PTT page, and BC's first-time buyers' program page to the same C$750,000 price, computed bracket by bracket. FHSA, HBP, GST/HST rebate, and Home Buyers' Amount figures are read directly from CRA's FHSA overview, CRA's HBP page, CRA's FTHB GST/HST rebate page, and CRA's line 31270 page.
Sources
- CMHC — What are the general requirements to qualify for homeowner mortgage loan insurance — accessed 2026-09-21
- CMHC — CMHC mortgage loan insurance cost — accessed 2026-09-21
- Canada Revenue Agency — What is the Home Buyers' Plan (HBP) — accessed 2026-09-21
- Canada Revenue Agency — First Home Savings Account (FHSA) overview — accessed 2026-09-21
- Canada Revenue Agency — Line 31270, Home buyers' amount — accessed 2026-09-21
- Government of Ontario — Calculating land transfer tax — accessed 2026-09-21
- Government of Ontario — Land transfer tax refunds for first-time homebuyers — accessed 2026-09-21
- City of Toronto — Municipal Land Transfer Tax (MLTT) Rates and Fees — accessed 2026-09-21
- City of Toronto — Municipal Land Transfer Tax (MLTT) Rebate Opportunities — accessed 2026-09-21
- Government of British Columbia — Property Transfer Tax — accessed 2026-09-21
- Government of British Columbia — First time home buyers' program — accessed 2026-09-21
- Canada Revenue Agency — First-time home buyers' GST/HST rebate — accessed 2026-09-21
- FCAC — Mortgage term and amortization — accessed 2026-09-21
- CMHC — CMHC revises homeowner mortgage loan insurance premiums — accessed 2026-09-21