Ontario Home Owners Utilities Energy Grant 2021

Ontario Home Owners Utilities Energy Grant 2021

• To help homeowners improve their home energy efficiency, the federal government has proposed providing up to 700,000 grants of up to $5,000 for energy-efficient improvements to homes, and up to one million free EnerGuide energy assessments. Additional information on home energy efficiency grants will be provided in a future announcement, and eligibility for these grants will be retroactive to December 1, 2020.
• The aforementioned First-Time Home Buyer Incentive will be expanded in Toronto, Vancouver and Victoria. Changes include the eligible buyer’s income threshold being raised from $120,000 to $150,000 as well as the ability to purchase a home up to 4.5 times household income— an increase from the current limit of four times household income.

Please note: the federal government is constantly updating their website as new information is announced. Remember to check Canada’s official coronavirus webpage and CREA’s COVID-19 online hub to stay up to date. This article is for information purposes only and is not a substitute for professional advice. If you need professional advice you should consult a lawyer, accountant or other qualified professional.

Help for Ontario Home Buyers – Important Links for 2021/2022

Despite the pandemic, the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) continued to promote the importance of  housing in Ontario to the government in 2020.  Our goal was to provide support to Ontario Home Buyers and also the Ontario First-Time Home Buyers looking to get into the market for 2021/2022. As a result, the following is a summary of some advocacy wins for REALTORS^® and their clients.

• the Ontario Home Buyers’ Plan (HBP) is a program that allows Ontario Home Buyers to withdraw up to $35,000 in a calendar year from your registered retirement savings plans (RRSPs) to buy or build a qualifying home for yourself or for a related person with a disability.
• the Home Buyers’ Amount (Home buyers’ tax credit) offers a $5,000 non-refundable income tax credit amount on a qualifying home acquired during the year. For an eligible individual, the credit will provide up to $750 in federal tax relief.
• the First-Time Home Buyer Incentive offers eligible first-time home buyers 5 or 10% of a qualifying home’s purchase price to put toward a down payment through a shared equity mortgage with the Government of Canada.
• the GST/HST new housing rebate allows an individual to recover some of the GST or the federal part of the HST paid for a new or substantially renovated house that is for use as the individual’s, or their relation’s, primary place of residence.