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The First Time Home Buyers GST Rebate in Edmonton: who qualifies and how much

First-time buyers can get back up to $50,000 of the GST on a new home under $1 million. Who qualifies, how the amount is worked out and how to claim it.

Erik Eisen

Erik Eisen

Co-Founder / Owner, October 13, 2026

A first-time buyer purchasing a newly built home in Edmonton can get back all of the GST, up to $50,000, through the federal First Time Home Buyers GST Rebate Program, as long as the home is priced at $1 million or less. Between $1 million and $1.5 million the rebate shrinks, and at $1.5 million it is gone. The rebate became law with Royal Assent in March 2026 and applies to purchase agreements signed with a builder on or after March 20, 2025, so many buyers who signed last year are now able to claim it.

In Alberta that matters more than in most provinces. There is no provincial sales tax, so the 5% GST is the whole tax on a new home, and this rebate can take it to zero.

Who qualifies

You count as a first-time home buyer when ownership transfers to you if you:

  • are 18 or older
  • are a Canadian citizen or permanent resident
  • have not lived, as your primary residence, in a home you owned in this calendar year or the four before it, and neither has your spouse or common-law partner in a home they owned
  • are buying the home to live in as your primary residence, and will be the first person to live in it after it is built

It is once in a lifetime. If you, or your spouse or partner, have already received the rebate, you cannot claim it again. When several people buy together, only one of them claims it, and that person has to be the first-time buyer. The others do not have to be.

Which homes are covered

The rebate is for new homes bought from the builder: a new house, townhouse or duplex unit, or a new condominium unit. A home you build yourself on your own lot can qualify too, and so can a home that has been substantially renovated before it is sold to you. Construction has to start before 2031 and finish before 2036.

It does not apply to resale homes. GST is generally not charged when you buy a previously lived-in home, so there is nothing to rebate. If you are a first-time buyer weighing a resale home against a new build, the rebate can tip the numbers toward the new build.

How much you get back

On a home priced at $1 million or less, before GST, the rebate covers the GST that the regular GST new housing rebate has not already covered, to a maximum of $50,000. In practice that means all of it. Two examples:

On a new home priced at $550,000 before GST, the GST is $27,500. The regular new housing rebate is nil at that price, and the First Time Home Buyers rebate returns the full $27,500.

On a new home priced at $1,250,000, the GST is $62,500. The rebate starts from the $50,000 maximum and is reduced in proportion to how far the price is past $1 million: halfway to $1.5 million means half, so $25,000.

Most Edmonton builders advertise prices with the GST already included, net of the regular new housing rebate. Ask the builder for the price before GST, or use our GST rebate calculator, which works it out either way.

How to claim it

There are two routes. Many builders will credit the rebate to you on closing, with your agreement, and claim it back from the Canada Revenue Agency themselves. Otherwise you apply to the CRA directly on Form GST190 after ownership transfers. Either way, the deadline is generally two years from the date ownership transfers to you.

Ask the builder early which route they use, and make sure the purchase contract reflects it. If the builder is crediting the rebate, the price you see in the contract may already assume you qualify, and you would owe the difference if you do not. Confirm your eligibility with an accountant before you rely on the rebate.

What it means if you are shopping now

For a first-time buyer, a new home under $1 million in Edmonton or the surrounding communities can now cost tens of thousands of dollars less than its sticker price with GST. Quick possession homes count too, as long as the agreement is signed on or after March 20, 2025 and you are the first to live in the home.

We spent our careers selling new homes for Edmonton's builders and can walk you through how each builder handles the rebate, what their contract says about it, and which homes in your price range qualify. Talk to us or start with the Home Matchmaker.

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