What is it?
The Home Buyers’ Plan (HBP) is a federal program that lets you use money saved in your RRSP (retirement savings plan) to buy your first home. Normally, money taken out of an RRSP is added to your income and taxed. Under the HBP, a withdrawal that meets the rules is tax-free.
It is a loan from yourself. You must put the money back into your RRSP over 15 years, one fifteenth each year. If you skip a year, that year’s share is added to your income and taxed.
One person can withdraw up to $60,000 in a calendar year. An earlier version of the law said $35,000; a 2024 amendment raised it to $60,000. A couple who each withdraw from their own RRSPs can take out up to $120,000 together.
Who can use it?
These are the conditions for a "regular eligible amount" in s. 146.01(1) of the Income Tax Act. You must meet all of them for the withdrawal to be tax-free.
- Before you withdraw, you must have a written agreement to buy or build the home.
- The home must be in Canada, and you must intend to live in it as your principal residence within one year of getting it.
- The "first home" test: from January 1 of the fourth year before the withdrawal until 31 days before it, you must not have had an "owner-occupied home" (a home you owned and lived in). A home owned by your spouse or common-law partner that you lived in during the relationship also counts against you.
- You cannot use it for a home you already got more than 30 days before the withdrawal.
- You must be a resident of Canada from the withdrawal until you get the home.
- Your HBP balance (money from an earlier HBP you have not repaid) must be zero on January 1 of that year.
"First home" here is not once in a lifetime. If you owned a home before but have not lived in your own home for more than four years, you can use the HBP again. There is a separate exception for people who separate or divorce (living apart for at least 90 days, s. 146.01(2.1)). The Ontario land transfer tax refund is different: it is once in a lifetime.
How much, and how do you withdraw?
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Limit | Up to $60,000 per person per calendar year. Withdrawals from several RRSPs are added together. |
| How to apply | File the prescribed CRA form with the bank that holds your RRSP. You write the address of the home on it. |
| Deadline to get the home | Before October 1 of the year after the withdrawal (the "completion date" in the Act). |
| The 90-day rule | If you withdraw money that was put into the RRSP less than 90 days earlier, that amount cannot be deducted for the year (s. 146(5)(a)(iv.1)). Contributing right before you buy, then withdrawing, does not work. |
| Tax | If the conditions are met, the withdrawal is not added to your income. Ask your bank, and check the CRA’s guidance, about whether any tax is held back from the withdrawal (withholding tax). |
How do you pay it back?
- You contribute to your RRSP as usual and, on your tax return for that year, designate the contribution as an HBP repayment. A repayment does not give you a tax deduction.
- The minimum you must repay in a year is the remaining balance divided by the years left (15 at the start). For example, if you took out $45,000, that is $3,000 a year.
- You can repay more. Then the minimum for later years goes down.
- If you do not repay a year’s share, that amount is added to your income for the year and taxed. Your balance goes down by the same amount.
- If you leave Canada and become a non-resident, the whole remaining balance is added to your income (s. 146.01(5)).
When does repayment start? (Temporarily delayed)
Under the normal rule, repayment starts in the second year after the withdrawal. For example, if you withdraw in 2026, your first repayment is for 2028.
The Act now contains temporary relief (s. 146.01(4.1) and (4.2)). If your "completion date" (October 1 of the year after the withdrawal) falls in 2023 to 2029, the start of repayment is pushed back three more years, to the fifth year after the withdrawal. That covers withdrawals made from 2022 to 2028.
| Year of withdrawal | Completion date | First repayment year (with relief) |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | October 1, 2025 | 2029 |
| 2025 | October 1, 2026 | 2030 |
| 2026 | October 1, 2027 | 2031 |
This table is my reading of the Act as of October 30, 2026. Confirm your first repayment year and the minimum amount each year on the Notice of Assessment the CRA sends you and in the CRA’s guidance.
What to watch out for
- If you miss any condition (for example, you do not get the home by the deadline), the whole withdrawal becomes income for that year and is taxed. There is a rule that lets you undo this by putting the money back into your RRSP by the end of the following year (s. 146.01(1), "excluded withdrawal"). Talk to an accountant.
- Money moved from an FHSA (First Home Savings Account) into an RRSP does not count as an HBP repayment (s. 146.01(1), "excluded premium", paragraph (b)).
- Selling the investments inside your RRSP to raise cash can take time. Apply well before your closing date.
- The money comes out of your retirement savings. Count the growth you give up over the 15 years as part of the cost.
Pre-construction condos are different
When you buy a condo that is still being built, the question is when you "got" the home. The Act treats a condo as acquired on the day you are entitled to immediate vacant possession (s. 146.01(2)(b)). The occupancy date usually comes before the title transfer, so the timing of your withdrawal and the deadline are measured from that day.
If construction runs late and you do not get the home by October 1 of the following year, you are still on time if your written agreement is still in force on that day and you get the home within one year after it (s. 146.01(2)(c)). Because a pre-construction deposit is paid in several instalments, plan with an accountant when to withdraw and which deposit the HBP money will cover.
Example
A couple in Richmond Hill sign an agreement for an $850,000 townhouse in March 2026 (closing in June). Neither has lived in a home they owned in the last four years. The husband withdraws $60,000 from his RRSP and the wife $40,000 from hers under the HBP, $100,000 in total, and they put it toward the down payment. The withdrawals are not added to their income.
His minimum repayment is $4,000 a year ($60,000 ÷ 15); hers is $2,666.67 ($40,000 ÷ 15). Because they withdrew in 2026, the completion date is October 1, 2027, and under the temporary relief their repayments start with the 2031 tax year. If the husband does not put $4,000 into his RRSP for 2031, that $4,000 is added to his 2031 income.
This is an illustration only. Check your first repayment year and amounts on your CRA notices.
What the law and official sources say
Quotes are copied word for word. The "In plain words" lines are our explanation, not an official translation.
(e) the individual did not have an owner-occupied home in the period (i) that began at the beginning of the fourth preceding calendar year that ended before the particular time, and (ii) that ended on the 31st day before the particular time,In plain wordsFrom January 1 of the fourth year before the withdrawal until 31 days before it, you must not have owned a home that you lived in.
Source: laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/I-3.3/section-146.01.html · checked Oct 30, 2026
(h) the total of the amount and all other eligible amounts received by the individual in the calendar year that includes the particular time does not exceed $60,000, and (i) the individual’s HBP balance at the beginning of the calendar year that includes the particular time is nil;In plain wordsAll HBP withdrawals in one calendar year cannot add up to more than $60,000, and you must have no unpaid HBP balance on January 1 of that year.
Source: laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/I-3.3/section-146.01.html · checked Oct 30, 2026
(c) in any other case, October 1 of the calendar year following the calendar year in which the amount was received; (date de clôture)In plain wordsThe "completion date" is October 1 of the year after the withdrawal. You must get the home before that day.
Source: laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/I-3.3/section-146.01.html · checked Oct 30, 2026
Subject to subsection (4.1), there shall be included in computing an individual’s income for a particular taxation year included in a particular participation period of the individual the amount determined by the formula [(A - B - C) / (15 - D)] - EIn plain wordsEach year, the unpaid HBP balance divided by the years left (up to 15), minus what you repaid that year, is added to your income.
Source: laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/I-3.3/section-146.01.html · checked Oct 30, 2026
(4.1) If the completion date in respect of an eligible amount received by an individual is after 2022 and before 2030 … (c) the reference to “first calendar year” in paragraph (b) of the description of D in subsection (4) is to be read as a reference to “fourth calendar year”; andIn plain wordsIf the completion date is in 2023 to 2029, the count of repayment years starts in the "fourth" calendar year after the completion date instead of the "first", so repayment starts three years later.
Source: laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/I-3.3/section-146.01.html · checked Oct 30, 2026
(iv.1) that would be considered to be withdrawn by the taxpayer as an eligible amount (as defined in subsection 146.01(1) or 146.02(1)) less than 90 days after it was paid, if earnings in respect of a registered retirement savings plan were considered to be withdrawn before premiums paid under that plan and premiums were considered to be withdrawn in the order in which they were paidIn plain wordsA contribution that is treated as withdrawn under the HBP less than 90 days after it was made cannot be deducted. Older contributions are treated as withdrawn first.
Source: laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/I-3.3/section-146.html · checked Oct 30, 2026
Common questions
Can I use the HBP if I owned a home before?
Yes, if you did not live in a home owned by you or your spouse during the last four years (counted from January 1 of the fourth year before the withdrawal). Any earlier HBP balance must be zero on January 1 of the year you withdraw.
Can my spouse and I each withdraw $60,000?
Yes. The limit is per person. If you both qualify, each of you can withdraw up to $60,000 from your own RRSP, $120,000 together.
Can I put money into my RRSP right before buying and take it straight out?
You can withdraw it, but money contributed less than 90 days before cannot be deducted for that year. The tax benefit disappears, so a contribution only helps if it was made at least 90 days earlier.
What if I skip a year of repayment?
That year’s minimum repayment is added to your income and taxed. Your balance goes down by that amount, and from the next year the minimum is recalculated from the remaining balance and the years left.
Should I use the FHSA or the HBP first?
Money from an FHSA never has to be repaid; HBP money must be repaid over 15 years. If you qualify for both, ask the CRA and an accountant whether and in what order you can use them together. Nothing in the sections quoted here prevents using both.
Guides that use this term
Sources checked
- Income Tax Act, s. 146.01 — Home Buyers’ Plan (laws-lois.justice.gc.ca) · checked Oct 30, 2026
- Income Tax Act, s. 146.01 — previous version (2023-06-22 to 2024-06-19, $35,000 limit) · checked Oct 30, 2026
- Income Tax Act, s. 146 — RRSPs, s. 146(5)(a)(iv.1) 90-day rule (laws-lois.justice.gc.ca) · checked Oct 30, 2026