The Ontario Home Builders Association (OHBA) appreciates the provincial government for taking the first step towards providing real relief for both home builders and consumers with today’s announcement of the removal of the 8% PST for first-time home buyers on new homes valued up to $1 million. 

For too long, families have not been able to purchase homes, as the prices required for builders to cover their costs have been unaffordable to the average consumer. Both the federal and provincial governments have recognized that the fees and taxes collected by government, roughly 36%, are a barrier to home ownership, to increased home construction and represent a significant part of the affordability crisis. This announcement is a necessary step in recognizing an important component of Ontario’s housing challenges. 

Provincial estimates indicate that the measures announced today could provide first-time home buyers with as much as $80,000 in provincial tax relief, increasing to $130,000 when combined with the proposed federal rebate. 

Without this stimulus, 40,000 direct and indirect jobs in our industry are at risk. While a partial PST exemption could prompt some renewed construction activity and signal a return of momentum, Ontario’s housing economy won’t fully rebound without broader, more comprehensive policy support that restores builder confidence and investment capacity, to generate the kind of stimulus Ontario’s housing sector urgently needs.  

OHBA and our federal and local counterparts have advocated relentlessly for meaningful tax reduction to improve housing affordability.  We recognize that the number of first-time home buyers in the province is a very small segment of the population - less than 5%.  

This announcement is a move in the right direction and a good start, but OHBA and our local members will continue to call on the province to remove the 8% PST from all new home purchases to provide the residential construction industry the stimulus it desperately needs and to truly make new home prices more affordable. 

We will be monitoring the outcomes of this initiative in collaboration with the government and will continue to provide our best advice on how to deliver the broader stimulus Ontario’s housing market desperately needs. 

For all policy inquiries, please contact Kirstin Jensen, Vice President of Policy, Advocacy, and Relationships at (647) 888-2792 or kjensen@ohba.ca