Most pages written about the GST rebate on a new home describe one rebate. There are two, they have different limits, and a first-time buyer can claim both. Getting that wrong is the difference between expecting $6,300 and being entitled to $50,000.
This is a summary of published Canada Revenue Agency rules, not tax advice. Every figure below comes from CRA, with sources listed at the end. Confirm your own situation with an accountant before you rely on any of it.
The two rebates
The first is the GST/HST new housing rebate, which has existed for years. The second is the first-time home buyers' GST/HST rebate, which is new and much larger.
CRA is explicit that they are not alternatives:
As a first-time home buyer, you may be eligible for the FTHB GST/HST rebate in addition to the existing GST/HST new housing rebate. Where both rebates apply, the FTHB GST/HST rebate acts as a top up to the existing GST/HST new housing rebate.
The regular GST/HST new housing rebate
This one pays 36 per cent of the GST you paid, to a maximum of $6,300.
| Fair market value | Rebate |
|---|---|
| $350,000 or less | Full rebate, 36 per cent of GST paid, maximum $6,300 |
| $350,001 to $449,999 | Reduced on a sliding scale |
| $450,000 or more | Nothing |
That $450,000 ceiling is the part Alberta readers need to notice. It has not moved in a long time, and it is now below the price of a great many new builds in Calgary and the surrounding towns. For a large share of Alberta new-build buyers, this rebate on its own pays nothing at all.
Which is exactly why the second rebate matters so much here.
The first-time home buyers' GST rebate
This one pays 100 per cent of the GST, to a maximum of $50,000, on a new home valued up to $1 million.
| Home value | Rebate |
|---|---|
| Up to $1 million | 100 per cent of the GST, maximum $50,000 |
| $1 million to $1.5 million | Reduced on a straight line |
| $1.5 million or more | Nothing |
CRA's own example of the phase-out:
A new home valued at $1.25 million is the mid-point between $1 million and $1.5 million, and is eligible for 50% of the maximum rebate of $50,000. The individual is eligible for a rebate of $25,000.
The eligibility conditions on this rebate are strict and are where most claims are actually won or lost. They are covered in detail in our separate piece on who qualifies for the first-time home buyer GST rebate. The short version: the agreement has to have been signed on or after March 20, 2025, a spouse's home ownership counts against you, and you can only claim it once in your life.
Why the Alberta answer is different
Search for this topic and page one is written almost entirely from Ontario. That matters for two reasons, and neither is obvious to a reader who does not already know it.
Ontario has a provincial HST component. Alberta does not. Ontario pages quote combined federal-plus-provincial rebate totals. An Alberta buyer cannot get the provincial half, because there is no provincial half to get. Alberta charges GST at 5 per cent and nothing on top. The federal rebate is the whole of what is available here. Ontario has also added a provincial first-time buyer rebate of up to $80,000 of the provincial part of the HST, which will make the headline figures on those pages diverge from the Alberta reality even further.
Alberta prices sit in the good band. The Ontario coverage is written around the $1 million to $1.5 million phase-out, because that is where Toronto new-build prices sit. A large share of new construction in Calgary, and most of it in Airdrie, Cochrane, Okotoks and Chestermere, sits under $1 million. That is the band where the first-time buyer rebate pays at 100 per cent with no phase-out at all.
So the phase-out arithmetic that dominates the national coverage is, for most Alberta first-time new-build buyers, simply irrelevant. You are either in the full-rebate band or you are not close to it.
Resale homes are usually not in scope
GST generally applies to new and substantially renovated housing, not to ordinary resale homes. If you are buying a previously occupied house from its owner, GST is not normally part of the transaction and neither rebate is in play. This whole topic belongs to new construction, to homes bought from a builder, and to substantial renovations.
Substantially renovated has a specific meaning. CRA applies a 90 per cent test: generally 90 per cent or more of the interior of the existing housing has to be removed or replaced. Only livable areas count, so garages and crawl spaces do not, and partially finishing a basement does not count toward it.
Which form, and the honest answer
There is no single form number that answers this. RC4028 uses Form GST191 with worksheet GST191-WS for owner-built houses, and a different application type applies where the house was purchased from a builder and the builder pays or credits the rebate directly. Which form you file depends on which of those describes your purchase.
Where you bought from a builder, the builder will often credit the rebate against the purchase price rather than you claiming it afterwards. In that case the builder has to satisfy themselves that you meet every condition before they credit it. If they credit you an amount you were not entitled to, CRA can require you to repay it.
Co-operative housing
Shares in a co-operative housing corporation follow the same structure on different thresholds: $472,500 raised to $1,575,000 for the first-time buyer rebate. If that is your situation, the general figures above will mislead you slightly and the co-op provisions in RC4028 are the ones to read.
The short version
Two rebates, and they stack. The regular one pays up to $6,300 but disappears at a $450,000 valuation, which excludes a lot of Alberta new builds. The first-time buyer one pays up to $50,000 and, at Alberta price points, usually pays in full. If you are buying new in Alberta and you have not owned a home recently, the second rebate is very likely the larger number by an order of magnitude, and it is worth checking the conditions carefully rather than assuming the $6,300 figure you saw quoted is the whole story.
This is a summary of published rules, not tax advice. The rebate conditions include hard dates and a once-per-lifetime limit, so confirm your eligibility with an accountant or your lawyer before you count on the money.