What Happened to the First-Time Home Buyer Incentive? (Discontinued 2024)

We still get buyers asking how to apply for the First-Time Home Buyer Incentive. The short answer is you can't. The program is closed. It stopped accepting new and updated applications on March 21, 2024, and it is not available to anyone buying in 2026.

This comes up because the incentive was promoted heavily when it launched, and older articles and calculators still mention it as if it's live. If you've been told to factor it into your plan, this page explains what it was, why it ended, and the programs that actually exist now for a Fraser Valley first-time buyer.

The program is closed

CMHC, the federal housing agency, announced in early 2024 that it would wind down the First-Time Home Buyer Incentive. The deadline for new or updated submissions was March 21, 2024, at midnight Eastern Time (CBC News). After that, no new applications were accepted.

If you never used it, there is nothing to apply for. If you did receive it before the deadline, your original agreement stands, more on that below.

What the First-Time Home Buyer Incentive actually was

The incentive, launched in 2019, was a shared-equity program. That's a specific structure worth understanding, because it's different from every program that replaced it.

Under the incentive, the government contributed 5% or 10% of a qualifying home's purchase price toward a first-time buyer's down payment. In exchange, the government took an equity share in the home. You didn't pay interest on it, but you had to repay the government's share within 25 years or when you sold, whichever came first, and the repayment amount rose or fell with your home's value. If your home went up, you repaid more than you received. If it went down, you repaid less.

That last part is the key difference from the programs available today. The FHSA, the Home Buyers' Plan, and the PTT exemptions never take a piece of your home. The incentive did.

Why it was discontinued

The plain reason is that not many people used it. Uptake stayed low relative to what the government projected.

A few things worked against it in a market like the Fraser Valley. The program came with price and mortgage-size caps that made it hard to use on the kinds of homes local first-time buyers were actually buying. And giving up a share of future appreciation is a real cost in a region where home values have generally risen over time. For many buyers we talked to, the math of handing the government a slice of their future equity didn't beat simply saving a larger down payment. When a program is optional and the trade-off feels lopsided, people opt out, and that's roughly what happened here.

The incentive versus what exists now

The clearest way to see why the change matters is side by side. The incentive was a shared-equity arrangement. The tools that followed are savings accounts and tax breaks. That difference decides who ends up owning the gain when your home rises in value.

Feature	First-Time Home Buyer Incentive (closed)	FHSA / HBP / PTT exemption / GST rebate (open)
Type	Shared equity	Savings and tax programs
Government takes a share of your home	Yes	No
Repayment	Repay within 25 years or on sale	FHSA and PTT: none. HBP: repay into your RRSP
Tied to your home's future value	Yes, you repay more if it rises	No
Available to new buyers in 2026	No	Yes

For a first-time buyer in a market where home values have generally climbed, the "government takes a share" row is the one that mattered most. Repaying more than you received, just because your home did what you hoped it would, was a hard trade to accept. The current programs don't ask for that.

If you already have the incentive, your terms still apply

Closing the program to new applicants did not cancel existing agreements. If you received the incentive before March 21, 2024, the original terms still hold. You repay the government's share within 25 years or when you sell, and the repayment is tied to your home's value at that point.

This is a question for your lender and, ideally, a lawyer or accountant when you get close to selling or refinancing, because the repayment calculation depends on a current valuation. It's not something to guess at.

What to use instead in 2026

No single program replaced the incentive. Instead, the government expanded a set of tools that, for most Fraser Valley first-time buyers, add up to more usable help, and none of them take an equity stake in your home.

The FHSA. The First Home Savings Account lets you save up to $40,000 for a down payment with contributions that are tax-deductible and withdrawals that are tax-free for a qualifying home. See our FHSA guide.

A bigger Home Buyers' Plan. The RRSP Home Buyers' Plan withdrawal limit rose to $60,000 for withdrawals after April 16, 2024 (Canada Revenue Agency). You borrow from your own RRSP tax-free and pay it back over time.

30-year amortizations. Since December 15, 2024, 30-year amortizations on insured mortgages are open to all first-time buyers and all buyers of new builds, which lowers the monthly payment (Department of Finance Canada).

The GST rebate on new homes. The new federal First-Time Home Buyers' GST rebate can eliminate GST on a qualifying new build, worth tens of thousands on a new Fraser Valley townhouse or condo.

The PTT exemptions. The first-time-buyer PTT exemption and the Newly Built Home exemption remove the Property Transfer Tax on qualifying purchases.

For the full map of what exists and how it stacks, see our guide to whether there's a first-time home buyer grant in BC.

The practical takeaway

If your plan still has "apply for the First-Time Home Buyer Incentive" on it, cross it off and replace it with the FHSA and the Home Buyers' Plan as the two down-payment tools to look at first. Those two, used together, can do more for most Fraser Valley first-time buyers than the incentive did, without the government holding a share of your home.

The one number that still gates everything is your down payment, so that's usually where we start.

Work through the current options with us

The programs that replaced the incentive each have their own eligibility rules, and a couple of them turn on tax questions worth confirming with your accountant. Book a 20-minute chat with the FRIVE team and we'll walk through which of the current tools fit your situation, or browse current Fraser Valley listings across Surrey, Langley, Abbotsford, Mission, Maple Ridge, and Chilliwack.