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Hands laying a small gold coin down beside a brass key on cream linen by a window — the money and the door, which is what every one of these programs is finally about.
Government Programs

Government Programs for Home Buyers

Plain-language explanations of the federal, Ontario and municipal programs a first-time home buyer can use — what each one actually does, who qualifies, how you apply, and how it interacts with the others. Written by Robin Patel, a Gujarati- and Hindi-speaking REALTOR® with The Agency Toronto, and linked to the government page that administers it.

Federal

Run by the federal government — the Canada Revenue Agency, CMHC and the Department of Finance. These apply anywhere in Canada.

13 programs

Ontario

Run by the Province of Ontario. These apply to a purchase anywhere in the province, on top of anything federal.

4 programs

Municipal

Run by an individual city. These apply only inside that municipality’s boundary, and they stack with the provincial and federal ones.

1 program

Confirm any figure here against the government page that publishes it before you rely on it.

The rest of the process

A program is one line item in a much larger purchase.

Knowing what you qualify for is useful only once you know where it lands in the process — what a deposit is, when your down payment actually moves, and which costs arrive on closing day. That is what the buyer guides are for.

Read the buyer guides
Where Robin works

Federal and provincial rules travel. Municipal ones do not.

A federal program works the same in Brampton as it does in Kitchener. A municipal one stops at the city boundary — so which city you buy in changes what is on the table.

Next step

Find out which of these you actually qualify for.

Eligibility is where these programs get complicated — what counts as a first-time buyer differs between them, and some cannot be combined. Robin will go through your situation in Gujarati, Hindi or English, with nothing owed either way.