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BC Real Estate Glossary

GST New Housing Rebate (BC)

Also known as: GST rebate · New housing rebate · GST190 · GST191 · Federal GST New Housing Rebate

A federal partial rebate of the 5% GST paid on a new owner-occupied home — full 36% rebate up to $350,000, phasing out linearly to zero at $450,000 (the 1991-set thresholds have not been indexed).

New construction in BC is subject to 5% federal GST on the purchase price (BC has no PST on resale homes; PST does apply to certain new-build inputs like appliances). The federal GST New Housing Rebate refunds 36% of the GST paid for owner-occupied new homes priced up to $350,000, with the rebate phasing out linearly to zero at $450,000. New homes priced at or above $450,000 receive ZERO federal rebate — and because the $350,000 / $450,000 thresholds were set in 1991 and never indexed, virtually every new home in Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley sells above $450,000 and therefore qualifies for no rebate.

The trap most BC pre-construction buyers fall into: assuming the developer's "GST inclusive" price already factors in the rebate. Many do — but the rebate is assigned to the developer at closing, and the buyer is on the hook to repay it if they don't actually owner-occupy or rent for at least one year (the federal "intended occupancy" test). Foreign nationals, corporations, and assignors often face the rebate clawback because they don't meet the occupancy test. Always confirm with your real estate lawyer whether the contract price is GST-inclusive or exclusive AND whether the rebate has been assigned. Federal Budget 2025 proposed a much expanded "First-Time Home Buyers' GST Rebate" of up to 100% of GST on new homes up to $1M (phasing to $1.5M), but as of this entry's last verification that measure has NOT yet been enacted — confirm against canada.ca before relying.

Related terms

  • First Time Home Buyers' PTT Exemption — A BC Property Transfer Tax exemption for qualifying first-time home buyers — full exemption to $500,000 fair market value, fixed $8,000 reduction $500,000–$835,000, linear phase-out $835,000–$860,000.
  • Newly Built Home PTT Exemption — A BC Property Transfer Tax exemption for newly constructed homes with FMV at or under $1,100,000, with linear phase-out to $1,150,000.
  • Closing Day (Completion) — The contractually-stipulated date on which the buyer's lawyer registers the title transfer at the BC Land Title Office and the purchase funds are released to the seller — distinct from the possession date (typically completion + 1 day) and the adjustment date (the date utilities/property tax/strata fees are prorated).
  • Presale Condo Assignment Tax Treatment — The federal + BC tax treatment of selling a presale-condo purchase contract before completion — 5% GST on the assignment fee since May 7, 2022, plus CRA's default treatment of the profit as 100%-included business income.

See also

Cite this fact

Use any of these formats. Codex content is licensed under CC BY 4.0 — attribution required.

BibTeX — LaTeX, academic
@misc{bronsonjob-ca_gst_new_housing_rebate,
  author       = {Job, Bronson},
  title        = {{Federal GST New Housing Rebate}},
  howpublished = {BC Real Estate Codex},
  year         = {2026},
  url          = {https://www.bronsonjob.com/codex#ca.gst.new_housing_rebate},
  urldate      = {2026-05-09},
  note         = {Fact ID: ca.gst.new_housing_rebate, version 1.}
}
APA — Press, journalism
Job, B. (2026). Federal GST New Housing Rebate. *BC Real Estate Codex*. Retrieved 2026-05-09, from https://www.bronsonjob.com/codex#ca.gst.new_housing_rebate
Plain link — Slack, email, Twitter
Federal GST New Housing Rebate — Bronson Job PREC, BC Real Estate Codex (2026-05-09). https://www.bronsonjob.com/codex#ca.gst.new_housing_rebate

Fact id: ca.gst.new_housing_rebate · v1 · machine-readable: /api/v1/facts/by-id/ca.gst.new_housing_rebate.json

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Fact ID: ca.gst.new_housing_rebate · v1View in Codex →
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