Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation has announced that the Government of Canada has expanded the eligibility criteria for the First Time Home Buyer Incentive (FTHBI) in the higher priced markets of Toronto, Vancouver and Victoria, effective as of today May 3rd, 2021.
Start preparing today:
Find out now if the home you are looking to buy is located in the Census Metropolitan Areas (CMAs) for Toronto, Vancouver and Victoria.
Use this calculator to review different scenarios and help inform your decision.
The FTHBI makes it easier for you to buy a home and lower your monthly mortgage payments. While the program originally had uniform eligibility requirements across Canada, expanding eligibility requirements in higher priced markets will support more first time homebuyers.
For eligible applicants in Toronto, Vancouver and Victoria, the key changes include:
Raising the annual household income threshold from $120,000 up to $150,000.
Increasing the borrowing amount for eligible applicants from 4.0 to 4.5 times their annual household income.
The original parameters will remain the same in all other housing markets.
Should you have any questions about the FTHBI program expansion, please contact the FTHBI Team at FTHBI@cmhc.ca
My Personal View:
While it’s great that the maximum income limit was raised to $150,000 annually, and it’s now 4.5 times your income as opposed to 4 times, it still does not make since in the GTA and GVA market. For instance, Someone making $80,000 annually can qualify for a maximum purchase price of around $460,000 as opposed to $360,000 using the incentive program. That’s a huge stretch, and potential homebuyers need all the purchasing power that they can get in this market. So this program still proves to be useful only in other non-hot markets.