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HomeFirst-time home buyerFederal programs

Federal programs for first-time home buyers

The FHSA, the Home Buyers’ Plan and the home buyers’ amount apply in every province and territory. Each item shows the sentence we read on canada.ca and a link to it. Check your own FHSA room with the FHSA calculator.

Published . Last checked .

Deadlines and time limits

The three programs

OpenRegistered account Time limits

First Home Savings Account (FHSA)

  • $8,000

    participation room in the year you open your first FHSA

  • $40,000

    lifetime limit on what you can deduct

The FHSA is a registered plan for a first-time home buyer to save for a qualifying home. Contributions are generally deductible, and a qualifying withdrawal is tax-free.

Deadlines
  • You must be 71 or younger on December 31 of the year you open the account
  • Qualifying withdrawal: the home must be bought or built before October 1 of the year after the withdrawal
  • Qualifying withdrawal: you cannot have acquired the home more than 30 days before the withdrawal
  • Live in the home within one year after buying or building it
  • The account stops on December 31 of the earliest of: 15 years after you open it, the year you turn 71, or the year after your first qualifying withdrawal
Source

“Your FHSA participation room in the year you open your first FHSA is $8,000.”

CRA: Participating in your FHSAs

Amount in full

Participation room in the year you open your first FHSA: $8,000.

Lifetime limit: the most you can deduct from your income as an FHSA deduction is $40,000.

Each year after the year you open your first FHSA, the annual participation room is $8,000 plus any carryforward, and the carryforward is the lesser of $8,000 and a calculated amount, so no more than $8,000 carries forward at a time.

Transfers from your RRSPs to your FHSAs are not deductible.

Who qualifies (9)
  • To open an FHSA you must be 18 years of age or older (or the legal age in your province if it is 19) and 71 years or younger as of December 31 of the year you open it
  • You must be a resident of Canada
  • You must be a first-time home buyer for the purpose of opening an FHSA: you did not live in a qualifying home as your principal place of residence that you owned or jointly owned, or that your spouse or common-law partner (at the time the account is opened) owned or jointly owned, in the current calendar year before the account is opened or in the preceding four calendar years
  • Qualifying withdrawal: you must be a first-time home buyer for the purpose of making a withdrawal, meaning you did not live in a qualifying home that you owned or jointly owned as your principal place of residence at any time in the current calendar year before the withdrawal (except the 30 days immediately before the withdrawal) or in the previous four calendar years
  • Qualifying withdrawal: you must have a written agreement to buy or build a qualifying home, with the acquisition or construction completion date before October 1 of the year following the date of the withdrawal
  • Qualifying withdrawal: you must not have acquired the qualifying home more than 30 days before making the withdrawal
  • Qualifying withdrawal: you must be a resident of Canada from your first qualifying withdrawal until the earlier of the acquisition of the home or your death
  • Qualifying withdrawal: you must occupy or intend to occupy the qualifying home as your principal place of residence within one year after buying or building it
  • Maximum participation period: it ends on December 31 of the year of the earliest of the 15th anniversary of opening your first FHSA, the year you turn 71, or the year following your first qualifying withdrawal
How to claim or apply

Open an FHSA through an issuer such as a bank, credit union, or a trust or insurance company, and fill out Schedule 15 with your income tax and benefit return for the year you open your first FHSA.

For a qualifying withdrawal, fill out Form RC725 and give it to your FHSA issuer.

Your FHSA participation room statement is on your latest notice of assessment, notice of reassessment or Form T1028, and in your CRA account under the Savings and pension plans tab.

Combining with other programs

The CRA says you can withdraw amounts from your RRSPs under the Home Buyers' Plan and make a qualifying withdrawal from your FHSAs for the same qualifying home, as long as you meet all of the conditions at the time of each withdrawal.

OpenProgram Time limits

The Home Buyers' Plan

  • $60,000

    total you can withdraw from your RRSPs

  • 15 years

    at most to repay

The Home Buyers' Plan lets a person withdraw from their RRSPs to buy or build a qualifying home. The amount withdrawn is paid back to the RRSP over 15 years.

Deadlines
  • Buy or build the home before October 1 of the year after your first withdrawal
  • Live in the home within one year after buying or building it
  • Repay over up to 15 years. For first withdrawals from January 1, 2026 to December 31, 2028, repayment starts in the fifth year after the year of the first withdrawal
Source

“You cannot withdraw more than $60,000 in total from your RRSPs under the HBP (in each participation period).”

CRA: How to participate in the Home Buyers' Plan

Amount in full

Withdrawal limit: currently $60,000 in total from your RRSPs under the HBP (in each participation period).

Repayment: up to 15 years.

For first withdrawals made between January 1, 2026, and December 31, 2028, the 15-year repayment period starts in the fifth year following the year of the first withdrawal (for a first withdrawal in 2026, the first repayment year is 2031).

Under the previous rules, repayment starts in the second year.

Who qualifies (9)
  • You must be considered a first-time home buyer, unless the participation is for a specified disabled person or one of the other exceptions on the page applies
  • You must have a written agreement to buy or build a qualifying home. A pre-approved mortgage does not count.
  • You must be a resident of Canada at the time of the withdrawal. If you have not acquired the qualifying home before your first withdrawal, you must be a resident of Canada throughout the period from your first withdrawal until the home is acquired
  • You must intend to occupy the qualifying home as your principal place of residence within one year after buying or building it
  • The qualifying home must be acquired or built before October 1 of the year after the year of the first withdrawal
  • If you took part in the HBP before, your HBP balance must be zero on January 1 of the year of the withdrawal
  • You can only withdraw from RRSPs under the HBP. Locked-in and group RRSPs normally do not allow it.
  • First-time home buyer, as the page defines it: you did not live in a qualifying home that you or your current spouse or common-law partner owned or jointly owned, as your principal place of residence, at any time in the current calendar year before the withdrawal (except the 30 days immediately before the withdrawal) or in the preceding four calendar years
  • The qualifying home must be a housing unit located in Canada
How to claim or apply

Fill out Form T1036, Home Buyers' Plan (HBP) Request to Withdraw Funds from an RRSP, for each withdrawal and give it to your RRSP issuer.

Withdrawals are allowed in the calendar year of the first withdrawal and in January of the following calendar year.

Combining with other programs

The CRA says you can withdraw amounts from your RRSP under the HBP and make a qualifying withdrawal from your FHSA for the same qualifying home, as long as you meet all of the conditions at the time of each withdrawal.

OpenTax credit Time limits

Home buyers' amount

  • $10,000

    you can claim on line 31270

The home buyers' amount is a non-refundable federal tax credit for first-time home buyers. It reduces federal income tax you may owe, and there is no refund of the credit if you have no tax payable.

Deadlines
  • Intend to live in the home no later than one year after you acquire it
Source

“You can claim up to $10,000 for the purchase of a qualifying home in 2025.”

CRA: Line 31270, Home buyers' amount

Amount in full

You can claim up to $10,000 for the purchase of a qualifying home in 2025 (line 31270).

A CRA tax tip states a non-refundable tax credit of up to $1,500 on that amount, but the line 31270 page itself gives only the $10,000 claim.

If more than one eligible person acquires the same home, the total claimed by all of them cannot be more than the maximum for the year.

Who qualifies (4)
  • You (or your spouse or common-law partner) acquired a qualifying home
  • You did not live in another home, inside or outside Canada, that you (or your spouse or common-law partner) owned in the year of acquisition or in any of the four preceding years, unless you are a person with a disability
  • You must intend that you, or a related person with a disability, will occupy the home as a principal place of residence no later than one year after it is acquired
  • If only one spouse or common-law partner meets the conditions, only that person can claim the full amount
How to claim or apply

Enter up to $10,000 on line 31270 of your tax return if you are not splitting the credit.

Do not send supporting documents with the return.

Keep them in case the CRA asks to see them.

Good to know

The CRA says a person can use the RRSP Home Buyers' Plan and an FHSA qualifying withdrawal for the same qualifying home, if all conditions are met at the time of each withdrawal.

“You can withdraw amounts from your RRSP under the HBP and make a qualifying withdrawal from your first home savings account (FHSA) for the same qualifying home”

CRA: The Home Buyers' Plan

The CRA page for the home buyers' amount lists the provincial or territorial line as not applicable. The credit is a federal one.

“Provincial or territorial: Not applicable”

CRA: Line 31270, Home buyers' amount

The CRA defines first-time home buyer separately for opening an FHSA and for making a qualifying withdrawal. The difference is that opening an FHSA also looks at a home owned by a spouse or common-law partner at the time the account is opened, and a withdrawal excludes the 30 days immediately before the withdrawal.

“A "first-time home buyer" for the purpose of opening an FHSA is different from a "first-time home buyer" for the purpose of making a qualifying withdrawal.”

CRA: Definitions for FHSAs

What we looked for and did not find

Not listed in the pages we checked:

  • the dollar value of the credit on the line 31270 page itself. That page states the $10,000 claim amount only. The $1,500 credit figure appears on a CRA tax tip.
  • a single combined statement of how the HBP, FHSA and home buyers' amount interact beyond the HBP and FHSA same-home sentence

Provincial programs

Each province and territory has its own page, with its transfer tax and what its government lists for first-time buyers.

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Sources we read

This page is information, not advice. We read these pages on October 14, 2026. Programs, amounts and deadlines change, so confirm with the source before you act.