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First-Time Home Buyer Incentive Update – Starting September 2, 2019

General Simon Wong 9 Aug

About the First-Time Home Buyer Incentive

There are a few qualifiers to apply for this incentive:

  • you need to have the minimum down payment to be eligible
  • your maximum qualifying income is no more than $120,000
  • your total borrowing is limited to 4 times the qualifying income

If you meet these criteria, you can then apply for a 5% or 10% shared equity mortgage with the Government of Canada. A shared equity mortgage is where the government shares in the upside and downside of the property value.

How does it work? 

The Incentive enables first-time homebuyers to reduce their monthly mortgage payment without increasing their down payment. The Incentive is not interest bearing and does not require ongoing repayments.

Through the First-Time Home Buyer Incentive, the Government of Canada will offer:

  • 5% for a first-time buyer’s purchase of a re-sale home
  • 5% or 10% for a first-time buyer’s purchase of a new construction

How do I know how much I have to pay back? 

You can repay the Incentive at any time in full without a pre-payment penalty. You have to repay the Incentive after 25 years or if the property is sold, whichever happens first. The repayment of the Incentive is based on the property’s fair market value.

  • You receive a 5% incentive of the home’s purchase price of $200,000, or $10,000. If your home value increases to $300,000 your payback would be 5% of the current value or $15,000.
  • You receive a 10% incentive of the home’s purchase price of $200,000, or $20,000 and your home value decreases to $150,000, your repayment value will be 10% of the current value or $15,000.

NOTE: If your property value goes down, you are still responsible for repaying the shared equity mortgage based on the current home value at time of repayment.

How do I apply?

Complete and sign the application documents (coming soon) and take them to your lender or mortgage broker, who will submit them on your behalf.

NOTE: Once processed and accepted, you MUST call 1.833.974.0963 to activate the FTHBI payment and provide the name of the lawyer/notary you have chosen to close your deal. You must provide your lawyer/notary information as soon as you have chosen one and no less than 2 weeks prior to your closing.

How much funding is available? 

The total amount of funding will be $1.25 billion over 3 years.

NOTE: The program is expected to be ready to receive Incentive applications starting September 2, 2019. If approved for the Incentive, the purchase transaction must close on or after November 1, 2019.

For More Information:

Please feel free to contact me for more information on eligible properties, maximum purchase price calculators, mortgage details, associated costs, and application process.

Let’s Take a Look at Two Examples
Anita wants to buy a new home for $400,000 and has saved the minimum required down payment of $20,000 (5% of the purchase price).

Under the First-Time Home Buyer Incentive, Anita can apply to receive $40,000 in a shared equity mortgage (10% of the cost of a new home) through the program.

This lowers the amount Anita needs to borrow and reduces the monthly expenses.

As a result, Anita’s mortgage is $228 less a month or $2,736 a year.

Ten years later, Anita sells the home for $420,000. The Incentive will need to be repaid as a percentage of the home’s current value.

This would result in Anita repaying 10%, or $42,000 at the time of selling the house.
John has an annual qualifying income of $83,125.

To be eligible for Canada’s First-Time Home Buyer Incentive, John can purchase condominium unit up to $350,000. John has the required minimum down payment of 5% of the purchase price, $17,500 from savings.

John can receive $35,000 in a shared equity mortgage – 10% of a newly constructed home.

This would reduce John’s mortgage payments by $200 a month or $2,401 a year.

Years later, John has decided to sell the condominium unit, but it is now worth $320,000. When the condominium unit is sold at the price of $320,000, John will have to repay the incentive as a percentage of the home’s current value. This would result in John repaying 10%, or $32,000 at the time of selling the house.