On this page

First-time home buyers in Newfoundland and Labrador have access to one of the more generous provincial down payment programs in Atlantic Canada, paired with some of the lowest closing costs in the country. The province charges a registration of deeds fee rather than a land transfer tax, which alone saves buyers here thousands of dollars compared with Ontario or British Columbia.

The catch is that the provincial program has rules most guides skip over. Assistance is capped by region, reduced on a sliding scale once your household income exceeds $85,000, and funded on a first-come, first-served basis until the money runs out. This guide sets out exactly how much you can receive, where the limits sit, and how the federal programs stack on top.

---

Key Takeaways

• The First-Time Homebuyers Program combines a grant of up to $1,500 toward legal closing costs with a repayable loan of up to 5% of the purchase price, for a total of up to $19,000 in the St. John’s area.
• Assistance is capped by region and reduced by $500 for every $1,000 of household income above $85,000, ending entirely above $95,000.
• Applications are approved on a first-come, first-served basis until program funding runs out, and the program can close to new applications without notice.

---

Newfoundland and Labrador First-Time Home Buyer Incentives

Newfoundland and Labrador runs a single provincial program for first-time buyers, the First-Time Homebuyers Program (FHP), delivered by Newfoundland and Labrador Housing. It pairs a grant toward legal closing costs with a repayable loan toward the down payment on a new or existing home.

Everything else available to first-time buyers here is federal. There is no provincial rebate on the provincial portion of the HST for new construction, and there is no land transfer tax rebate because the province does not charge a land transfer tax in the first place. Our first-time home buyer mortgage guide covers the financing side once you know which programs you qualify for.

Millennials now make up roughly 50% of mortgage applicants across Canada as of 2026, compared with a national millennial share of about 44% reported by CMHC. In a province where the FHP income ceiling sits at $95,000, that concentration matters, because the sliding scale bites hardest at exactly the income band most first-time buyers occupy.

First-Time Homebuyers Program (FHP)

The FHP helps first-time buyers from any region of the province who meet the program requirements and have been pre-approved for a mortgage by a recognised financial institution. Before you get attached to it, note the funding warning on the program itself. Applications are approved on a first-come, first-served basis until all program funding is exhausted, and the program may close to new applications without notice at that point.

Who Qualifies for the FHP

• You must be a first-time home buyer from any region of Newfoundland and Labrador.
• You must be pre-approved for a mortgage by a recognised financial institution.
• All mortgagors on the loan must be first-time home buyers.
• Total household income must be less than $85,000 to qualify for the full loan, or up to $95,000 for reduced sliding-scale assistance.
• The program is not available for homes that have already been purchased.

Applicants may have a guarantor on the FHP mortgage. You can also choose your own lender, provided that lender is accredited, offers competitive rates, and is willing to accept the down payment loan as an eligible source of down payment funds. That last condition is worth confirming with your lender early, because not every lender treats a provincial loan the same way.

How Much Assistance You Can Receive

The FHP provides two separate pieces of help, and the grant depends on the loan.

• A grant of 50% of the legal closing costs associated with your purchase, to a maximum of $1,500. The grant depends on receipt of the loan, so you cannot take the grant on its own.
• A repayable loan of up to 5% of the purchase price of a new or existing home, subject to regional maximum purchase prices.

In St. John’s and Labrador, where prices are highest, an applicant with a household income of $85,000 can receive a maximum of $19,000, made up of a $17,500 loan and a $1,500 grant. The same applicant in the same region with an income of $95,000 receives a maximum of $14,000, consisting of a $12,500 loan and a $1,500 grant.

Maximum Purchase Prices by Region

The loan is 5% of the purchase price, but the price the program will recognise is capped by the price you pay. This is the rule that surprises most applicants because a higher-priced home does not result in a larger loan.

Region	Maximum purchase price	Maximum loan at income under $85,000
St. John’s Census Metropolitan Area and Labrador	$350,000	$17,500
Regional centres: Clarenville, Gander, Grand Falls-Windsor, Corner Brook and Stephenville, plus all communities within a 30 km radius	$300,000	$15,000
Rest of the province	$250,000	$12,500

The Sliding Scale of Assistance

Households earning between $85,000 and $95,000 remain eligible, but the loan is reduced by $500 for each additional $1,000 of income above $85,000. The full scale is set out below.

Household income	St. John’s and Labrador	Regional centres	Rural Newfoundland
Under $85,000	$17,500	$15,000	$12,500
$86,000	$17,000	$14,500	$12,000
$87,000	$16,500	$14,000	$11,500
$88,000	$16,000	$13,500	$11,000
$89,000	$15,500	$13,000	$10,500
$90,000	$15,000	$12,500	$10,000
$91,000	$14,500	$12,000	$9,500
$92,000	$14,000	$11,500	$9,000
$93,000	$13,500	$11,000	$8,500
$94,000	$13,000	$10,500	$8,000
$95,000	$12,500	$10,000	$7,500

The Variance Policy for Higher-Priced Homes

The FHP includes a variance policy that allows, upon approval, the purchase of homes priced up to 10% above the established maximums for the St. John’s Census Metropolitan Area, Labrador and the regional centres. The assistance itself does not grow with the price. It stays capped at 5% of the regional maximum purchase price, and you are responsible for funding the difference needed to reach a 5% down payment.

A worked example from the program makes this concrete. A buyer earning $70,000 purchases a $375,000 home in Mount Pearl. The required 5% down payment is $18,750. The loan is capped at $17,500, which is 5% of the $350,000 regional maximum, so the buyer must supply the remaining $1,250 themselves. Legal closing costs of $4,750 attract the maximum $1,500 grant, leaving $3,250 to cover. You can model the resulting payment with the Newfoundland and Labrador mortgage payment calculator.

Interest, Repayment and Timing

The FHP loan is repayable, not forgivable, which is the main structural difference between this program and the forgivable assistance offered in some other provinces. Successful applicants are not required to begin repaying the loan for 5 years after purchasing the home and may choose to start earlier if they are financially able. Interest rates vary depending on when you decide to begin repaying the down payment loan, and will not exceed the prime lending rate minus one percent.

On timing, applications submitted with a purchase and sale agreement already in place must allow 15 business days for processing before closing. Build that into your financing condition rather than discovering it in the final week.

Registration of Deeds Fees Instead of Land Transfer Tax

Newfoundland and Labrador does not charge a land transfer tax. Instead, buyers pay Registration of Deeds and Prescribed Fees, calculated as $100 covering the first $500 of value plus $0.40 for each additional $100. The fee applies twice on a purchase: once to register the deed against the property value and once to register the mortgage against the loan amount, and the total is capped at $5,000.

On a $350,000 home purchased with 5% down, the deed registration works out to roughly $1,498 and the mortgage registration on a $332,500 loan to roughly $1,428, for about $2,926 in total. In Ontario, the land transfer tax alone, at the same price, would be $3,725. There is no first-time buyer rebate on these fees, but one isn’t needed at this scale. Check your own figures using the Newfoundland and Labrador land transfer tax calculator.

Newfoundland and Labrador charges 15% HST, made up of a 10% provincial portion and the 5% federal portion. Unlike Ontario and Nova Scotia, the province does not offer a rebate on the provincial portion for first-time buyers of new construction, so the federal rebates below are the only relief available on a new build here.

Federal First-Time Home Buyer Programs

Federal programs apply to every first-time buyer in the province and can be combined with the FHP. For buyers whose income sits above the $95,000 FHP ceiling, they are the entire package.

First Home Savings Account (FHSA)

The First Home Savings Account allows contributions of up to $8,000 per year, with a lifetime maximum of $40,000. Contributions are tax-deductible, and qualifying withdrawals for a first home are tax-free. Unused annual room carries forward, but only up to $8,000 can be added to any single future year, so the account is worth opening as early as you can even if you cannot fund it immediately.

RRSP Home Buyers’ Plan (HBP)

The Home Buyers’ Plan allows a tax-free withdrawal of up to $60,000 from your RRSP, or up to $120,000 for two qualifying buyers, repayable to your RRSP in equal instalments over 15 years.

The repayment start date has changed and is frequently reported incorrectly. Temporary relief defers the start of the 15-year repayment period by an additional three years. For a first withdrawal made between 1 January 2026 and 31 December 2028, repayment begins in the fifth year after the year of the first withdrawal; for example, a 2026 withdrawal means the first repayment year is 2031. The same relief applies to first withdrawals made between 1 January 2022 and 31 December 2025. You can use an HBP withdrawal and an FHSA withdrawal for the same home.

Home Buyers’ Amount

The Home Buyers’ Amount is a non-refundable tax credit that allows eligible first-time buyers to claim up to $10,000 on their income tax return, for a credit of up to $1,500. The amount can be split between spouses, common-law partners or other eligible people acquiring the home jointly, as long as the combined claim does not exceed $10,000.

First-Time Home Buyers’ GST/HST Rebate

Bill C-4 received Royal Assent on 12 March 2026, and the Canada Revenue Agency is now processing claims under the First-Time Home Buyers’ GST/HST Rebate. It applies only to newly built or substantially renovated homes, and it returns the federal portion of the tax.

• A new home valued at $1 million or less returns 100% of the GST, or the federal part of the HST, to a maximum rebate of $50,000.
• A new home valued between $1 million and $1.5 million receives a rebate that phases out on a straight line, so a $1.25 million home receives $25,000.
• No rebate applies at or above $1.5 million.

Eligibility requires that you are at least 18, are a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, and have not lived in a home owned by you or your spouse or common-law partner in the current calendar year or the previous four calendar years. The agreement of purchase and sale must have been entered into with the builder on or after 20 March 2025 and before 2031; you must be the first occupant; and neither you nor your partner can have claimed this rebate before. Because new construction in Newfoundland and Labrador sits well below $1 million almost everywhere, eligible buyers here generally recover the full federal portion.

GST/HST New Housing Rebate

The existing GST/HST New Housing Rebate remains in place for buyers who are not first-time buyers. Where both apply, the first-time buyers’ rebate acts as a top-up rather than a replacement.

Mortgage Rules That Work in Your Favour

First-time buyers can access 30-year amortizations on an insured mortgage, which lowers the monthly payment at the cost of more total interest over the life of the loan. The insured mortgage price cap is $1.5 million, a threshold that is academic in most of this province. Minimum down payments are 5% on the first $500,000, 10% on the portion between $500,000 and $1.5 million, and 20% on $1.5 million or more; anything under 20% requires mortgage default insurance.

How the Programs Stack on a St. John’s Purchase

Consider a first-time buyer with a household income of $80,000 purchasing a $320,000 resale home in St. John’s. The required 5% down payment is $16,000, and the FHP loan covers it in full because the price is under the $350,000 regional maximum and the income is under $85,000. Legal closing costs of $3,200 attract a $1,500 grant. Registration of deeds fees come to roughly $2,700 across the deed and the mortgage. The Home Buyers’ Amount returns up to $1,500 at tax time.

That buyer reaches closing having funded the difference on closing costs and little else, which is a materially different position from a buyer at the same income in a land transfer tax province. Confirm where you stand against the mortgage stress test and check your credit score before you apply, since the FHP requires a mortgage pre-approval from a recognised financial institution up front. If you are earlier in the process, start with buying a house in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) on First-Time Home Buyer Incentives in Newfoundland and Labrador

Conclusion

Newfoundland and Labrador pairs one of the more generous provincial down payment programs in the country with some of the lowest closing costs, which is a strong combination for a first purchase. The parts worth planning around are the regional purchase price caps, the sliding scale between $85,000 and $95,000 of household income, and the fact that funding is finite and first-come, first-served.

Contact a nesto mortgage expert today to work through your options and find the best mortgage rate in Newfoundland and Labrador for your first home purchase.

---

Why Choose nesto

At nesto, our commission-free mortgage experts, certified in multiple provinces, provide exceptional advice and service that exceeds industry standards. Our mortgage experts are salaried employees who provide impartial guidance on mortgage options tailored to your needs and are evaluated based on client satisfaction and the quality of their advice. nesto aims to transform the mortgage industry by providing honest advice and competitive rates through a 100% digital, transparent, and seamless process.

nesto is on a mission to offer a positive, empowering and transparent property financing experience – simplified from start to finish.

Contact our licensed and knowledgeable mortgage experts to find your best mortgage rate in Canada.

---

Let’s get started!

New Mortgage

Mortgage Renewal

Mortgage Refinance