Subsidies and incentives for first-time home buyers in Quebec in 2025

Are you finally ready to embark on your project to buy your first home in Quebec? Before you go any further, make sure you’re aware of all the tools the federal and provincial governments have at your disposal to ease the burden of this expense on your personal finances.

Let’s take a closer look at what you can get from the various public bodies. This information will come in handy, especially if you’re in the process of buying your first home.

Subsidies for a first-time buyer

There are a number of incentives and programs that can help you become a homeowner. Some of these are of particular interest to first-time homebuyers.

Certain provinces, territories, and municipalities in Canada continue to offer subsidies for first-time home buyers. In 2025, several Quebec cities, including Montreal and Quebec City, still have assistance programs available for first-time buyers.

These are essentially very useful tools, and it’s important to check whether you’re eligible, as these subsidies could significantly reduce the cost of your first property.

What’s more, even if you owned a home in the past, some of these programs may still be available to you, depending on your circumstances.

End of the CMHC First-Time Home Buyer Incentive

The First-Time Home Buyer Incentive, previously offered by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), stopped accepting new applications in March 2024.

This program provided a shared-equity mortgage equivalent to 5% or 10% of the value of a property, with repayment required after 25 years or when the property was sold, based on its market value at the time.

If you benefited from this program before its end, it’s important to remember that you’ll need to repay the percentage granted (5% or 10%) of your property’s market value upon sale or after 25 years.

 The Home Buyers’ Plan (HBP)

The HBP remains a popular tool for first-time buyers in 2025. This program allows you to withdraw funds from your RRSP to make a down payment on your first home.

Key benefits include:

• Funds withdrawn are tax-free;
• You can withdraw up to $35,000 per individual, or $70,000 per couple;
• Repayment is spread over 15 years, interest-free.

Since 2020, divorced or separated individuals are eligible to use the HBP again, even if they’ve used it before, as long as their previous withdrawal has been fully repaid.

Federal and provincial tax credits

Both the Quebec and Canadian governments offer tax credits for first-time buyers.

Like the HBP, if you haven’t lived in a home you or your spouse owned in the past four years, you may be able to reduce your taxes in the year of purchase.

In Quebec, the maximum amount of this tax credit is $1,500, which is shared among eligible buyers who have purchased a first home.

At the federal level, the First-Time Homebuyers’ Tax Credit is essentially designed to offset the costs (closing costs) inherent in the purchase of a first home. 

Since you are a first-time homebuyer, this subsidy allows you to deduct up to $10,000 from your income tax return, resulting in a refund of $1,500. You claim this credit in the same year you purchased your property. The first-time homebuyers’ tax credit pays off for homebuyers.

What’s more, several provinces, including Quebec, offer a total or partial refund, depending on certain criteria, of taxes on the purchase of a new home or major renovations of an existing home.

It is yet another excellent reason to shop for a new home in Quebec’s real estate market.

The FHSA: A powerful savings tool for 2025

If you’re planning to buy a home in the next few years, a new savings plan came into being in 2023 to help you save for that important purchase.

For 2025, the First Home Savings Account, or FHSA, is a new savings account that allows you to save up to $40,000 toward the purchase of your first home.

For example, “if you contribute $8,000 a year to your FHSA for five years, you’ll reach the maximum contribution” of $40,000. This tax grant is good for 15 years.

Like the RRSP, it allows you to contribute while reducing your taxable income, and like the TFSA, the profits generated by your investments are not taxable.

If you use the funds to buy your first home, withdrawals from this account will be tax-free.

Finally, it can be combined with the Home Buyers’ Plan (maximum $35,000) and other home ownership grants and incentives.

If you’re interested in this savings plan, it’s currently available at any financial institution that offers TFSA registration.

So whether you’re looking for a home in Brossard, in the heart of Montreal or anywhere else in the province, you’ll find what you’re looking for with Vistoo: contact us today, and a team of experts will answer all your questions.