Up to $50,000 in GST Relief Now Turns on One Date, and Most Assignments Are on the Wrong Side of It
The new first-time buyers GST rebate keys off the date the original contract was signed with the builder. Assignments inherit that date, and most are on the wrong side of it.
There is a new federal GST rebate for first-time home buyers on new homes, worth up to $50,000. It is real, it is now law, and most presale assignments on the market today cannot use it.
The reason is a single date, and it is not the date most people think it is. If you are selling an assignment, this has quietly shrunk your buyer pool. If you are buying one, it can be a $37,000 difference on the same unit.
What the rebate actually is
The first-time home buyers’ GST/HST rebate came in through Bill C-4, which received royal assent on 13 March 2026. For a qualifying first-time buyer using the home as their primary residence, it rebates:
- 100% of the GST on a new home priced up to $1 million.
- A reducing amount between $1 million and $1.5 million, tapering to nothing at the top of that band.
- Up to $50,000 in total.
On a $900,000 new home that is $45,000 that simply does not have to be paid. It is the largest single change to new-home affordability for first-time buyers in years.
The date that decides it
The rebate is available where the agreement of purchase and sale with the builder was entered into on or after 20 March 2025, and before 2031.
Be careful here, because there are two dates in circulation. The original proposal announced in May 2025 used 27 May 2025. The legislation as enacted moved it earlier, to agreements entered into after 19 March 2025. A great deal of commentary published during 2025 still quotes the May date and still ranks well in search. If you are checking your own eligibility against an article, check when the article was written.
Why assignments are caught
This is the part that matters for anyone trading assignments, and it follows from how an assignment actually works.
When you take an assignment you do not sign a new agreement with the builder. You step into the original buyer’s existing agreement and complete on its terms. That agreement, with its original date, is the one the rebate looks at.
So the contract date travels with the unit. If the first buyer signed with the developer in 2023 or 2024, the agreement predates the cutoff, and an assignee completing in 2026 is buying into a contract that cannot access the rebate. It does not matter that the assignee is a first-time buyer, that it is their principal residence, or that the price is well under $1 million. They meet every personal test and still get nothing.
There is also an anti-avoidance rule, so the obvious workaround does not work either. You cannot tear up a pre-cutoff agreement and sign a fresh one with the builder in order to qualify.
The same unit, two contract dates
Take the Burnaby one-bedroom I use in the presale assignment guide: a $749,900 contract with $149,980 in deposits. GST on the developer’s price is 5%, which is $37,495.
| Original contract signed | First-time buyer assignee | GST they pay |
|---|---|---|
| 2023, before the cutoff | Qualifies personally, but the agreement does not | $37,495 |
| After 20 March 2025 | Qualifies, and so does the agreement | Up to $37,495 rebated |
Same suite, same buyer, same price. The only difference is when someone else signed a contract years earlier.
If you are selling an assignment
Your competition is the developer’s remaining inventory, and that inventory is now signed under post-cutoff contracts. A first-time buyer comparing your 2023-contract assignment against a similar new release is comparing a unit with GST payable against one where the GST may come back.
That is a real gap on a sub-$1 million unit, and it lands on exactly the buyer segment most likely to be looking at an entry-level presale. Price accordingly, and do not be surprised when a first-time buyer walks.
If you are buying an assignment
Ask for the date on the original contract of purchase and sale before you negotiate, not after. It is a one-line question and it can move your true cost by tens of thousands of dollars.
If the contract predates 20 March 2025 and you are a first-time buyer, price the lost rebate into your offer, or look at the builder’s own remaining stock instead. Assignments have real advantages, including sold-out buildings and shorter waits to completion, but on this specific point a new contract from the developer can be worth materially more to you.
What to confirm, and with whom
I am a licensed real estate advisor, not an accountant, and this is general information about how the rule works rather than advice about your situation. The rebate has personal eligibility tests, including the definition of a first-time buyer and the primary residence requirement, and the treatment of any particular assignment turns on the wording of the contract in front of you.
Confirm your own position with a qualified accountant, and check the current parameters directly with the Canada Revenue Agency. The 20 March 2025 date and the effective date of the legislation are confirmed by the Canadian Home Builders’ Association.
If you are weighing an assignment either way and want the contract date checked before you commit, send it to me. It takes a minute to look at and it is the cheapest question you will ask in the whole transaction.
Verified August 2026. Tax rules change, sometimes mid-year. Nothing here is tax advice.
