The price already assumes you qualify
Almost every builder advertises a price with HST included and the rebate assigned to them. If you do not qualify, that assumption unwinds on your closing statement.
Free calculator
The HST rebate hiding inside your pre-construction price.
Worth up to $24,000 — and quietly assumed by every builder's advertised price. Here is what it is worth, and what it costs you if you do not qualify.
Start here
The builder’s price already spent your rebate.
If you are moving in, that is fine and invisible. If a tenant is moving in, it comes back onto your closing statement in cash.
The purchase
How is that price stated?The normal case. The builder's advertised price already contains HST and already assumes they will claim your rebate. Check the agreement for wording like “net of rebate” or “rebate assigned to the vendor”.
Who will live in it?You, or a close relation, must be the first person to occupy it as a primary place of residence. That is the whole test.
Rebate built into your price
$24,000credited by the builder — nothing extra to payThe tax underneath the price
Price before HST$816,814
HST at 13%$106,186
Federal GST rebateNil
Ontario new housing rebate− $24,000
Total rebate$24,000
The federal rebate disappears entirely above $450,000 of pre-tax price, and that threshold has not moved since 1991. At $816,814 you get none of it — the Ontario rebate is the whole story.What you actually pay
Price in the agreement$899,000
Total to the builder$899,000
Before land transfer tax, development levies, Tarion enrolment, utility connections and legal fees — none of which are in this number.How the two rebates work
Ontario portion75% of the 8%, max $24,000
Federal portion36% of the 5%, max $6,300
The Ontario maximum is reached at a pre-tax price of $400,000, and above that it simply stops growing rather than phasing out. The federal one tapers from $350,000 and is gone by $450,000.Estimates for planning only, and not tax advice. HST treatment of new construction depends on facts a calculator cannot see — your intention at the time of signing, who goes on title, who occupies first, and what the agreement actually says. The federal thresholds are long-standing but proposals to change them surface periodically. Confirm your position with an accountant and a real estate lawyer who do new construction, before you sign rather than after.
Four things to know
Where this catches people.
Investors pay it, then claim it back
Up to $24,000 goes back on at closing in cash. You recover it afterwards through the rental rebate — but only with a signed one-year lease, and only after you have funded the gap.
The federal rebate is a fossil
Its thresholds have not moved since 1991. Above $450,000 of pre-tax price it is worth exactly nothing, so in Halton the Ontario rebate is the entire story.
Intention counts, and CRA checks
The test is who occupies it first as a primary residence. Closing and immediately listing it for rent is the fact pattern that gets reassessed.
The rest of the closing statement
The rebate is one line of several.
Development charges and levies, Tarion enrolment, utility connections and meters, occupancy fee reconciliation, land transfer tax, and your lawyer. On a Halton pre-construction closing those add up well past the deposit you have already paid, and most of them are not knowable from the price list.
The levy cap is the one worth arguing about before you sign. If the agreement does not state a maximum, ask for one in writing — uncapped, that line alone can move by five figures between signing and closing.
No cost, no obligation
Send me the agreement before you sign it.
I will tell you how the HST is worded, whether the levies are capped, what the deposit schedule really commits you to, and how the terms compare to other Halton builders right now.
- How the HST and rebate clauses are actually written
- Whether you are looking at a rebate clawback at closing
- A referral to an accountant and a lawyer who do new construction
Prefer to talk? Call or text 416-953-9545
Straight answers
Questions people ask about this.
Is the builder's price HST included or not?
Nearly always included, with the rebate assigned to the builder — look in the agreement for wording like “net of rebate” or “the purchaser assigns the rebate to the vendor”. It matters enormously: on an $899,000 advertised price the pre-tax consideration is around $817,000 and the HST inside it is roughly $106,000. If a contract instead says the price is plus HST, you are looking at a very different total. If you cannot tell which applies, that is the first question for your lawyer, not something to assume.
I am buying it as a rental. What actually happens at closing?
The builder cannot credit a rebate you are not entitled to, so the amount — up to $24,000 in Ontario — is added back to your closing statement as cash. It is due the day you close, it cannot be added to your mortgage, and it lands alongside land transfer tax, development levies and Tarion enrolment. Investors who budgeted from the advertised price alone are routinely short by five figures at exactly the wrong moment.
Can I get that money back?
Yes, through the New Residential Rental Property rebate, and it is the same amount. But it comes after closing, not at it. You need a signed lease of at least one year to a tenant who will actually live there, you file within two years of closing, and the property has to be genuinely held as a long-term rental. Budget for the gap between paying and recovering — several months is normal.
What if I intended to live there and my plans changed?
Intention at the time you signed is what matters, and CRA looks at what actually happened. Genuinely changing your mind is different from never intending to move in, but you should expect to be able to evidence it. If you took the rebate and then rented the unit out immediately, expect to be reassessed for the rebate plus interest. Talk to an accountant before closing rather than after — the fix is far cheaper in advance.
What about assigning before closing?
You never occupy the unit, so the new housing rebate is not available to you at all. On top of that, assignment sales of new housing have been treated as taxable since May 2022, so HST generally applies to your assignment profit as well — before the builder's consent fee. Whoever ultimately closes claims the rebate if they qualify. This is genuinely complicated and the amounts are large; get an accountant involved before you list an assignment.
Does any of this apply to a resale home?
No. HST does not apply to the purchase price of a used residential home, which is one of the quieter advantages of buying resale. It applies to new construction and to substantially renovated homes sold by a builder.