When I presented on this at my Smart Wealth Seminar this spring, Bill 114 was still a bill — I told the room, honestly, “it’s not law yet.” That changed fast. Bill 114, the HST Relief Implementation Act (Residential Property Rebates), 2026, passed second and third reading on May 12, 2026 and received Royal Assent the same day. It’s now enacted as S.O. 2026, c. 5. The enhanced HST relief on new homes is the law of Ontario.
Here’s what that actually means in dollars, who qualifies, and the two catches — a hard deadline and a cash-flow wrinkle at closing — that will decide whether you actually collect.
The stack, in plain numbers
- Ontario’s Temporary Enhanced New Housing Rebate removes up to $80,000— the full 8% provincial portion of HST on a $1M new home. It is not limited to first-time buyers: the home must be new construction and used as the primary residence of the buyer or a direct relation.
- The federal First-Time Home Buyer GST Rebate(Bill C-4, Royal Assent March 12, 2026) removes the full 5% GST — up to $50,000— on new homes under $1M for eligible first-time buyers, phasing out between $1M and $1.5M.
- Combined: up to $130,000on a $1M new home for an eligible first-time buyer — the full 13% HST, gone.
The deadline that matters
The Ontario enhancement applies to agreements of purchase and sale signed with a builder on or after April 1, 2026 and on or before March 31, 2027, with construction substantially complete by December 31, 2031. As of today, roughly seven months remainin the signing window. If a new build is anywhere in your plans, the date on the APS is what decides eligibility — not your closing date, not occupancy.
The cash-flow catch at closing
This is the part I’m flagging to every client: the CRA has said it will begin processing Ontario enhanced-rebate applications only after its system changes land in fall 2026. Practically, that means one of two things at your closing:
- Your builder credits the rebateon the statement of adjustments — the clean path. Whether they will is a negotiation point that belongs IN your offer, not an assumption.
- You fund the HST at closingand get rebated later. On a $1M home, that can mean bridging up to $80,000 of provincial HST for a period — which changes your closing-cash math and, for some buyers, the financing itself.
This is exactly where holding both licences earns its keep: the realtor half of my job is negotiating the builder credit; the mortgage half is structuring the file so a bridged rebate doesn’t break your closing. If you’re signing with a builder this fall, have both conversations before you sign.
Worth knowing
- A $535K new condo — the current GTA apartment benchmark territory — sits comfortably under the federal $1M threshold, which is why the condo segment is where this stack hits hardest for first-time buyers.
- Resale homes don’t qualify — there’s no HST on resale in the first place.
- Investors buying qualifying new long-term rentals have their own rebate stream (the enhanced rental property rebate) — a separate conversation worth having if that’s your lane.
Want the eligibility math run on a specific project or floor plan? Call 647-649-1282 — bring the APS draft before you sign it.