HST & GST rebates
What is the Ontario new home affordability payment?
It is a provincial payment of up to $50,000, equivalent to the 5% federal portion of HST, for buyers who receive the Ontario Enhanced New Housing Rebate. It is reduced by any federal GST rebate you claim, so it mainly benefits buyers who do not qualify federally. No separate application is needed.
This is the least understood piece of the current relief package, and the reason the headline figure reaches roughly $130,000 rather than stopping at $80,000.
What it does
Ontario pays an amount equivalent to the 5% federal portion of the HST, the part the province does not normally touch, up to $50,000. The condition is that you are eligible for and actually receive the Ontario ENHR, either directly or as a builder credit.
Critically, it is reduced by whatever federal GST rebate you claim.
Who it really helps
Run the two cases side by side on an $800,000 freehold townhome:
A first-time buyer. Federal rebate pays 5%, $40,000. The top-up would also be 5%, so it is reduced to nothing. Net benefit from the top-up: $0.
A move-up buyer who has owned before. No federal rebate, because they fail the first-time buyer test. The top-up pays the 5% instead, $40,000. Plus the ENHR of $64,000.
So the top-up is, in effect, the province filling the hole the federal first-time buyer restriction leaves. It is what makes the relief roughly equivalent whether or not you have owned before, which is a genuinely unusual piece of policy design, and one most buyers have no idea exists.
How you claim it
There is no separate application. It is claimed by giving consent on the rebate form alongside the ENHR. Your lawyer handles the paperwork at closing, and in the common case where the rebate is assigned to the builder, it forms part of the same assignment.
What you should do is confirm it was included. Because it is newer and less familiar than the rebates themselves, it is the item most likely to be overlooked. Ask your lawyer directly whether the consent was given and the amount was accounted for.
A limit on what we will estimate
Published guidance is clear on the mechanics up to the $1,500,000 mark. Above that, the interaction between the top-up and the ENHR’s partial band is not stated plainly enough for us to put a number on it, so the checker deliberately shows a flag rather than a figure there. A number we are not confident in is worse than no number. This is money you would plan around.
If your purchase is above $1.5M, that is a conversation for your accountant with your actual agreement in hand.
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