How Much Is the First-Time Buyer GST Rebate Worth?
Up to $50,000 on a presale priced at $1 million or less, shrinking to zero by $1.5 million — the exact math at four real price points.
By Newbuild · · How we write this
The federal first-time buyer GST rebate pays back the entire 5% GST on a new home priced at $1 million or less, up to a $50,000 cap. Above $1 million the rebate shrinks on a straight line as the price climbs, and it disappears completely at $1.5 million — a buyer closing at or above that price gets nothing back.
That's the rule. Here's what it actually means in dollars, at four prices a presale buyer in Metro Vancouver is likely to see on a price sheet.
The rebate at four price points
| Presale price | GST at 5% | Rebate | GST you still owe |
|---|---|---|---|
| $600,000 | $30,000 | $30,000 | $0 |
| $1,000,000 | $50,000 | $50,000 | $0 |
| $1,250,000 | $62,500 | $25,000 | $37,500 |
| $1,500,000 | $75,000 | $0 | $75,000 |
Under $1 million, the rebate simply cancels the GST — you owe nothing. At exactly $1 million you still get the full $50,000, because the rule's ceiling for the maximum rebate is "at or below $1 million."
Between $1 million and $1.5 million, the $50,000 cap shrinks on a straight line. At the midpoint, $1.25 million, you're halfway through that band, so you get half the cap: $25,000 back on $62,500 of GST, leaving $37,500 payable. Move the price up another $250,000 to $1.5 million and the rebate has fallen all the way to zero — you pay the full $75,000 in GST, the same as a buyer who already owned a home before.
Why these two prices are the lines that matter
$1 million and $1.5 million aren't rounded for simplicity — they're the actual boundaries written into the rule. A buyer whose unit prices under $1 million gets the simplest outcome: no GST, period. A buyer between $1 million and $1.5 million needs the sliding-scale math above to know what they'll actually owe. A buyer at or above $1.5 million should budget for GST the same way a repeat buyer does — the first-time rebate isn't in the picture at all at that price.
What this looks like in real listings
Most entry-level one-bedroom presales in Metro Vancouver sit under the $1 million line. At Lilibet in Vancouver, homes start at $600,000 — a first-time buyer there owes no GST on that price. At Elisa at Sunnyside Park in Surrey, homes start at $999,000, just under the full-rebate ceiling.
The phase-out band is where most three-bedroom units and townhomes land. The Grove in Coquitlam prices up to $1,249,900 — close enough to our $1.25 million example that the math above applies almost exactly. At Latitude on Cambie in Vancouver, prices run up to $1,500,000, the exact point where the rebate hits zero: a buyer paying that top price gets nothing back, while a buyer lower in the same project's price range, further from $1.5 million, would still see a partial rebate.
Who actually qualifies
The rebate is only for first-time buyers: you can't have lived in a home you or your spouse or common-law partner owned as your main residence this year or in the previous four calendar years, you need to be 18 or older, and you need to be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident. Neither you nor your partner can have claimed this rebate before. The purchase agreement needs to be dated on or after March 20, 2025, and construction needs to be substantially complete before 2036. Full eligibility detail, plus a calculator, is in our first-time buyer GST rebate guide.
What would change the math
$1 million and $1.5 million are fixed amounts in the current rule, not indexed to inflation, so they stay put unless a future federal budget moves them. The other variable is timing: what counts is your home's price and your closing date under the purchase agreement, not the price when you first reserved a unit. We've covered how a later completion date affects eligibility in a separate piece on closing dates. If your presale's final price moves across $1 million or $1.5 million before you close — through upgrades, a price adjustment, or switching units — the rebate moves with it.