GST Rebate on a New Home in BC: The First Time Home Buyer Rebate and the New Housing Rebate

What is the GST on new homes in BC?

GST on a new home in British Columbia is 5% of the price. BC is not an HST province, and PST does not apply to the home itself; builders pay PST on materials inside the price.

GST applies when you buy a newly built home from a builder, including a presale bought before or during construction, and when you buy a substantially renovated home, which generally means 90% or more of the interior was removed or replaced. That covers the presale homes in Willoughby and the presale condos in Surrey City Centre.

Most resale homes carry no GST, because the CRA treats most sales of previously occupied housing as exempt. A resale townhome from the Langley homes for sale listings has no GST to pay and nothing to rebate.

First time home buyer GST rebate: how much is it in 2026?

The First Time Home Buyers’ GST rebate became law when Bill C-4 received Royal Assent on March 12, 2026, and the CRA started taking applications on March 17, 2026. It covers agreements signed on or after March 20, 2025 and before 2031. Articles that give May 27, 2025 quote the original proposal, not the law.

The rebate is 100% of the GST on a new home priced at $1,000,000 or less, to a maximum of $50,000. Between $1,000,000 and $1,500,000 it shrinks in a straight line: the GST, capped at $50,000, times $1,500,000 minus the price, divided by $500,000. At $1,250,000 that is $25,000. At $1,500,000 or more there is none. The price tested is the total before GST, including anything paid for an assignment.

The rebate stacks with other programs in our first time home buyer guide for BC, including the FHSA and the RRSP Home Buyers’ Plan.

GST new housing rebate in BC: the rebate for every buyer

The GST/HST New Housing Rebate is the older federal rebate, and you do not need to be a first time buyer. It returns 36% of the GST, to a maximum of $6,300, on a new home that will be the primary residence of you or a relation, if you or that relation is the first person to live in it.

The full rebate applies up to $350,000, it shrinks in a straight line to $450,000, and at $450,000 or more there is none. On a $400,000 new home it is worth $3,150. Every price in the worked examples below is at or above $450,000, so a buyer who is not a first time buyer pays the full 5%.

How much GST will you pay on a new home? Worked examples

The table shows the GST left to pay after the rebates. $580,000 is close to the October 2026 Abbotsford townhome benchmark of $579,600, and $800,000 is close to the Langley townhome benchmark of $800,600. Use the calculator to run your own price.

Above $1,000,000 the numbers move quickly for a first time buyer. Every extra dollar of price adds 5 cents of GST and removes 10 cents of rebate, so the GST you pay rises 15 cents per dollar. If you are comparing new townhomes and condos in Langley or townhomes and condos in Abbotsford, staying at or under $1,000,000 keeps the whole rebate.

Property transfer tax is the other saving. BC’s newly built home exemption removes it on a new principal residence worth less than $1,100,000, partly up to $1,150,000, and it stacks with the GST rebate. See the property transfer tax guide for BC.

Who is eligible for the first time home buyer GST rebate?

You need every item below. The first time buyer test applies on the day ownership transfers, which for a presale is completion, not signing.

• 18 or older, and a Canadian citizen or permanent resident.
• You have not lived, as your primary residence, in a home owned by you or your spouse or common-law partner in the current calendar year or the 4 before it.
• Neither you nor your spouse or partner has received this rebate before.
• The home is new or substantially renovated and bought from a builder (owner-built homes and new co-op units have their own versions).
• The agreement was signed on or after March 20, 2025 and before 2031.
• Construction began before 2031, and completion and ownership transfer happen before 2036.
• It will be your primary residence and you will be the first person to live in it.
• If you buy with someone else, only one of you claims, and that person meets every item above.

How to claim the GST rebate on a new home

Both rebates go on Form GST190. In BC the HST rebate people search for is this GST rebate.

1. 1

   Let the builder credit it at closing

   You sign Form GST190 in front of the builder or your lawyer, and the builder takes the rebate off your statement of adjustments, then claims it from the CRA. After that you cannot file your own application for the home, unless the builder credited only the New Housing Rebate.

2. 2

   Or pay the GST and apply yourself

   Apply in CRA My Account under More services, File a GST/HST rebate, or mail Form GST190. Worksheet RC7190-WS works out the amount; keep it rather than sending it.

3. 3

   File within 2 years

   You have 2 years from the date ownership transferred to you. The late filing relief for owner-built homes does not apply to a home bought from a builder.

4. 4

   Allow about 120 days

   For applications from May 11, 2026 the CRA says to expect 120 days, and a review can add up to 6 more months. A builder credit takes effect at closing.

5. 5

   Closed before March 12, 2026?

   Builders could not credit this rebate before it became law, so apply to the CRA directly within the 2 year limit.

GST included or plus GST: reading a presale contract

This is common practice, not law, and contracts differ, so read your GST clause with your lawyer or notary before you sign.

“Plus GST” means the price is before tax, and 5% is added at completion on your statement of adjustments. “GST included,” often written as net of the rebate assigned to the vendor, means the builder has priced in a rebate you assign to them at closing. If you turn out not to qualify, the contract normally makes you pay the difference.

A builder may credit a rebate but does not have to, and one that credits a rebate it knows or ought to know you are not entitled to is jointly liable with you, which is why contracts allocate that risk. When you weigh a new project against resale townhomes and condos in Surrey, compare the all in price.

What happens to GST on a presale assignment?

Every assignment of a contract for a new home made after May 6, 2022 is taxable for GST. GST applies to what you pay the original buyer, less any part the assignment agreement identifies in writing as repaying their deposit; if the deposit is not separated, GST applies to the whole amount. The buyer taking over pays it, and the original buyer generally collects it and sends it to the CRA.

What you pay for the assignment is added to the price tested against the $450,000, $1,000,000 and $1,500,000 lines, so a contract just under $1,000,000 can land in the reduced band. The CRA notes an assignee may want to apply directly so the GST paid to both the builder and the original buyer is counted.

If the original agreement was signed before March 20, 2025, the buyer taking it over cannot get the first time buyer rebate. For agreements signed later, the CRA has not published a direct answer for assignees, so get your lawyer’s or accountant’s view first. If you are assigning a contract within 365 days, BC’s home flipping tax takes 20% of the net taxable income, falling to zero at 730 days.

Buying a new home to rent out: the rebates are for owner occupiers

Both rebates require the home to be a primary residence: yours for the first time buyer rebate, yours or a relation’s for the New Housing Rebate. An investor buying a new condo or townhome to rent out pays the full 5%, which is $40,000 on an $800,000 home. Ask your accountant whether the separate New Residential Rental Property Rebate (Form GST524) fits; the 100% purpose-built rental rebate is for rental buildings, not single condos, homes or duplexes.

If you own and live in a home now, you are not a first time buyer, so the GST belongs in your budget for a new build. A Langley home value estimate or Surrey home value estimate shows what your current home could put toward it, and selling your home in Langley covers the sale side.

Frequently asked questions