Buying your first home in Metro Vancouver is a big step — but you don't have to do it at full price. Between the federal and BC governments, a first-time buyer in 2026 has access to five significant programs. Here's each one, in plain language.
Normally, buyers in BC pay Property Transfer Tax (PTT) when a home changes hands. As a first-time buyer, you can be fully exempt on a resale home valued up to $835,000 — the tax disappears on the first $500,000 entirely, saving you up to $8,000. The benefit phases out gradually and ends at $860,000.
Buying a newly built home? The exemption is even more generous: no PTT on new homes up to $1,100,000, with partial relief up to $1,150,000 — and this one isn't limited to first-time buyers.
New homes carry 5% GST on top of the price. Under the federal First-Time Home Buyers' GST Rebate, first-time buyers get that GST fully rebated on new homes up to $1 million — worth up to $50,000 — with a partial rebate on homes up to $1.5 million.
The FHSA is the best savings tool ever offered to Canadian first-time buyers: contribute up to $8,000 per year (lifetime maximum $40,000), deduct the contributions from your taxable income like an RRSP, and withdraw everything — growth included — completely tax-free when you buy. If you're even thinking about buying in the next few years, opening an FHSA now starts your contribution room growing.
The HBP lets you borrow from your own RRSP: withdraw up to $60,000 tax-free to put toward your first home, then repay it to yourself over 15 years. A couple can withdraw up to $120,000 — and yes, you can combine the HBP with an FHSA for the same purchase.
A smaller but effortless one: claim the $10,000 Home Buyers' Amount on your tax return the year you buy, worth about $1,500 back as a tax credit.
A couple buying their first home — a new $950,000 townhouse, say — could combine the newly built PTT exemption, the GST rebate, two maxed FHSAs, two HBP withdrawals, and two Home Buyers' Amounts. The difference adds up to well over $100,000 in tax savings and tax-advantaged funds. The programs are real; the paperwork has to be right, and timing matters — which is where good guidance pays for itself.
Every buyer and seller is different — I'm happy to walk you through what applies to you.