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Presale closing costs in BC — GST, PTT, and rebates explained

The price on the sales centre wall is not the amount you will pay. When a presale home is finished and the purchase completes, two taxes land on top of the contract price — federal GST and BC's property transfer tax (PTT) — plus a handful of smaller charges. On an $800,000 condo, the taxes alone can add $54,000. The good news: between a new federal GST rebate for first-time buyers — for new-home purchase agreements dated on or after March 20, 2025 — and BC's exemption for newly built homes, many presale buyers who qualify can legally reduce that bill to almost nothing. This guide explains each charge, each rebate, and how they fit together.

What happens on completion day

Your deposits, paid during construction, are credited toward the purchase price (see our guide on how presale deposits work in BC). At completion, your lawyer or notary prepares a statement of adjustments showing the balance you must bring: the rest of the purchase price, plus GST, plus property transfer tax, plus the smaller closing costs below, minus any rebates the developer credits to you at closing. Most presale surprises happen because a buyer budgeted only for the price. Budget for the statement of adjustments instead.

GST: 5% on every new home

New housing is a taxable supply in Canada. When you buy a newly built home from a developer, you pay 5% GST on the purchase price — collected by the developer at completion, when ownership transfers to you. Resale homes are generally exempt, which is why GST catches presale buyers off guard.

Two contract details matter. First, how the price is stated: some developers quote a price "plus GST," others quote a price that already includes GST — sometimes net of the rebates the developer assumes you qualify for. If the price is quoted net of a rebate and you turn out not to qualify, you owe the difference at closing. Second, GST also applies to extras and upgrades you add to the base home, and can appear on certain adjustments. Read the tax section of your purchase agreement and disclosure statement before you sign, and confirm in writing which rebates, if any, the quoted price assumes.

BC does not add PST to the purchase price of a home. (PST does apply to some services you will pay for at closing — legal and notary fees in BC carry both GST and PST.)

The GST New Housing Rebate — and why most BC presale buyers get $0 from it

The long-standing federal GST/HST New Housing Rebate returns part of the GST when you buy a new home to live in as your primary place of residence. It is worth 36% of the GST paid, to a maximum of $6,300, and the maximum is available only when the home's fair market value is $350,000 or less. The rebate then phases out between $350,000 and $450,000, and there is no rebate at $450,000 or more. Those thresholds have not kept pace with BC prices — at typical Lower Mainland presale prices, the standard rebate is worth nothing. Until recently, that was the end of the story. It no longer is.

The first-time home buyers' GST rebate: up to $50,000 back

Federal legislation — Bill C-4, the Making Life More Affordable for Canadians Act — created a much larger First-Time Home Buyers' (FTHB) GST/HST Rebate. The bill received Royal Assent on March 12, 2026, the rebate is law, and the Canada Revenue Agency is now accepting applications. For an eligible first-time buyer of a new home:

  • Homes valued at or below $1,000,000: rebate of 100% of the GST paid, up to a maximum of $50,000.
  • Homes between $1,000,000 and $1,500,000: the maximum rebate is gradually reduced (at $1,250,000, the midpoint, the rebate is $25,000).
  • Homes at or above $1,500,000: no rebate.

The main conditions, in plain terms:

  • You are at least 18, a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, and an individual — corporations and partnerships cannot claim it.
  • You are a first-time home buyer under the program's definition: in the current calendar year and the four preceding calendar years, you did not live in a home — in or outside Canada — that you or your spouse or common-law partner owned, as your primary place of residence. For a purchase from a builder, this test is applied on the date ownership transfers to you.
  • Your purchase agreement was entered into on or after March 20, 2025 and before 2031. Agreements signed before March 20, 2025 do not qualify — and this includes assignments of older contracts (see our guide on presale assignments in BC).
  • Construction must begin before 2031 and be substantially completed before 2036, and ownership must transfer to you before 2036.
  • The home is for use as your primary place of residence, and you must be the first individual to occupy it after it is substantially completed.
  • The rebate can be claimed once in a lifetime — and not at all if your spouse or common-law partner has previously received it.

How you receive it. At closing, the developer can credit the rebate against the amount you owe, the same way the standard new housing rebate has long been handled — you sign the application (CRA Form GST190) and the developer claims it. If the developer does not credit it, you pay the full GST at closing and apply to the CRA yourself. Either way there is a deadline: generally, you must apply within two years of taking ownership. One more point for buyers whose closings happened while the bill was still before Parliament: if your agreement was signed on or after March 20, 2025 but you completed before the rebate became law, the developer could not credit it — you claim it directly from the CRA.

If you qualify for both the standard new housing rebate and the FTHB rebate, the FTHB rebate is the larger benefit and is calculated so that your total relief equals the FTHB amount — you do not stack the two into more than 100% of the GST.

BC property transfer tax (PTT)

Separate from GST, BC charges the buyer property transfer tax when the transfer is registered at the Land Title Office. It is calculated on the property's fair market value — for a presale, the total amount paid to acquire the home, including upgrades. The general rates are:

  • 1% on the first $200,000
  • 2% on the portion above $200,000 up to $2,000,000
  • 3% on the portion above $2,000,000
  • A further 2% on the residential portion above $3,000,000

On an $800,000 home with no exemption, PTT is $2,000 + $12,000 = $14,000. Your lawyer or notary collects and remits it at registration — it cannot be added to your mortgage. Buyers who are foreign entities or taxable trustees may also face BC's additional property transfer tax in specified areas; that is outside the scope of this guide, but if it could apply to you, raise it with your lawyer early.

Exemption 1: BC's first-time home buyers' program

BC's First Time Home Buyers' Program reduces PTT for qualifying first purchases. To qualify, at registration you must be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, meet the BC residency test (lived in BC for at least a year immediately before registration, or filed at least two BC income tax returns in the last six taxation years), have never owned an interest in a principal residence anywhere in the world, and never have received this exemption before. The property must be used only as your principal residence, be 0.5 hectares or smaller, and contain only residential improvements.

Be precise about what it saves. For purchases registered on or after April 1, 2024, the property's fair market value must be $835,000 or less for the full benefit — but the "full benefit" is an exemption on the first $500,000 of the purchase price, worth up to $8,000 of tax. On an $800,000 home, this program alone leaves $6,000 of PTT payable. A partial exemption applies between $835,000 and $860,000, and none above that. If you are buying a presale, the next exemption is usually worth far more.

Exemption 2: the newly built home exemption — the one that matters for presales

The newly built home exemption is not limited to first-time buyers. Any individual buyer who is a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, buys a qualifying newly built home to use as their principal residence, and meets the occupancy rules can claim it. A unit in a newly built condo building that has not been occupied since construction qualifies — in other words, a typical presale completion.

  • Fair market value of $1,100,000 or less (for registrations on or after April 1, 2024): full exemption — PTT is $0.
  • Between $1,100,000 and $1,150,000: a partial exemption that phases out completely at $1,150,000.
  • The property must be 0.5 hectares or smaller, and this must be the first registration of the property with a completed improvement.
  • Occupancy requirement: to keep the exemption, you must move in within 92 days of registration and keep occupying the home as your principal residence for the remainder of the first year. Moving out early can mean repaying part of the exemption.

You claim one exemption, not both — your legal professional applies the one you qualify for in the property transfer tax return (the newly built home exemption is exemption code 49). For most presale buyers under $1.1 million, the newly built home exemption is the better claim, because it eliminates the tax entirely rather than capping the saving at $8,000.

The BC home flipping tax: not a closing cost, but it starts your clock

You do not pay the BC home flipping tax when you buy — it taxes a seller's profit. It still belongs in your closing-cost planning for one reason: if you sell the home within 730 days of acquiring it, profit on the sale can be taxed at up to 20% (the full 20% applies within the first 365 days, then declines to zero at 730 days), in addition to income tax. For a presale, the holding period and the contract rules have their own wrinkles — we cover them in our guide on presale assignments in BC. The practical point at closing: completing on a presale and reselling quickly is a taxed strategy, not a loophole.

The smaller closing costs people forget

Beyond the two taxes, expect some or all of the following. Amounts vary by provider, lender, and contract — the figures below are typical ranges to budget with, not quotes:

  • Legal or notary fees for the conveyance, plus disbursements and registration charges — commonly in the range of $1,200–$2,500 all-in for a straightforward condo closing, with GST and PST charged on the professional fees themselves.
  • Appraisal fee if your lender requires one — typically $300–$500.
  • Developer charges in your contract. Some purchase agreements pass costs through to buyers at completion: development levies or community amenity contributions the developer elects to flow through, utility connection and hookup fees, and similar items listed in the disclosure statement's budget or the purchase agreement. These are contract terms, not taxes — they can range from a few hundred dollars to several thousand, and the time to find them is before you sign, not on the statement of adjustments.
  • Strata move-in fee and first strata payments — many buildings charge a move-in fee (often $100–$300), and you will begin paying monthly strata fees, sometimes with an initial contribution, from completion.
  • Home insurance from the completion date, and any mortgage setup costs your lender charges. If you are buying to rent the home out long-term rather than live in it, ask your accountant about the separate federal new residential rental property rebate — the owner-occupied rebates above will not apply to you.

Worked example: an $800,000 presale condo

Example only — not a quote. Assumptions: contract price of $800,000 stated "plus GST"; no upgrades or extras; purchase agreement signed after March 20, 2025 — the agreement date is what the rebate keys on, not the year the home is built or closes; this example's closing and registration fall in 2026, and a later closing on a qualifying agreement can still qualify, subject to the construction-begin-before-2031 and completion/ownership-before-2036 deadlines; fair market value at registration equals the $800,000 price; deposits already paid are credited against the price and are not shown again below. "Other costs" uses a $2,000 mid-range estimate for legal, appraisal, and strata charges from the ranges above.

  • The taxes before any relief: GST is 5% × $800,000 = $40,000. The standard new housing rebate is $0 (value above $450,000). PTT is $2,000 (1% on the first $200,000) + $12,000 (2% on the remaining $600,000) = $14,000. Buyer qualifies for the newly built home exemption: PTT becomes $0 — in each scenario below.
  • Scenario A — eligible first-time buyer, principal residence. GST $40,000 − FTHB GST rebate $40,000 = $0 net GST. PTT $0. Other costs ≈ $2,000. Closing costs above the price: ≈ $2,000.
  • Scenario B — repeat buyer, principal residence. GST $40,000 (no FTHB rebate; standard rebate $0 at this value). PTT $0 under the newly built home exemption — note this exemption does not require first-time status. Other costs ≈ $2,000. Closing costs above the price: ≈ $42,000. (Had this buyer relied only on BC's first-time buyers' program logic — capped at an $8,000 saving — PTT would have been $6,000; claiming the newly built home exemption instead is worth $6,000 more.)
  • Scenario C — buyer who will not live in the home (for example, a pure investor purchase). Neither GST rebate applies, and the newly built home exemption requires principal-residence use, so PTT is the full $14,000. GST $40,000 + PTT $14,000 + other ≈ $2,000. Closing costs above the price: ≈ $56,000 — before considering the separate rental-property rebate, which has its own rules.

The spread between Scenario A and Scenario C — roughly $54,000 on the same condo — is why eligibility questions belong at the start of a presale purchase, not at completion.

To run the same thinking against real numbers, browse live project pages that publish their starting prices and deposit structures — for example QUEENS Condos in Surrey (from $500,000) and Ocean Row at Boardwalk in Delta (from $1,112,900).

Questions to ask before you sign

  • Is the quoted price plus GST, or does it include GST? If it is quoted net of rebates, exactly which rebates does it assume I qualify for?
  • Will the developer credit my GST rebates at closing, or do I pay the full GST and apply to the CRA myself?
  • Does the purchase agreement or disclosure statement pass through any development levies, amenity contributions, or utility connection fees to buyers at completion? How much?
  • What is the estimated completion date — and does my GST rebate eligibility (agreement date, construction and transfer deadlines) hold if the project is delayed?
  • For PTT: do I qualify for the newly built home exemption, and can I meet the 92-day move-in and first-year occupancy requirements?
  • If I am a first-time buyer, do I meet both definitions — the federal one for the GST rebate (no owned home lived in, for you or your spouse/partner, in the current year or the four before) and BC's stricter one (never owned a principal residence, ever)?

For what else to verify before signing, see our guide on what to check in a BC presale disclosure statement.

Sources

  • Canada Revenue Agency, What is the first-time home buyers' rebate — FTHB GST/HST rebate amounts: up to 100% of GST to $50,000 at or below $1 million, reduced between $1 million and $1.5 million, none at or above $1.5 million.
  • Canada Revenue Agency, First-time buyers can save more on new homes (Tax Tips, 2026) — CRA accepting applications; builders may credit the rebate at closing or buyers apply on Form GST190; application generally within two years of taking ownership; agreements on or after March 20, 2025.
  • Canada Revenue Agency, Guide RC4028, GST/HST New Housing Rebate — standard new housing rebate (36% of GST, maximum $6,300, phased out between $350,000 and $450,000 of fair market value) and detailed FTHB rebate conditions, including the March 20, 2025 agreement date and the construction and ownership-transfer deadlines.
  • Government of BC, First time home buyers' program — eligibility, $835,000 fair market value limit and $860,000 partial-exemption ceiling (effective April 1, 2024), exemption on the first $500,000 of the purchase price, occupancy requirements.
  • Government of BC, Newly built home exemption — full exemption to $1,100,000 and partial exemption to $1,150,000 (effective April 1, 2024), eligibility and 92-day occupancy requirements, exemption code 49.
  • Government of BC, Newly built home exemption amounts — exemption tables confirming the general property transfer tax amounts by fair market value.
  • Government of BC, BC home flipping tax — pre-sale contracts — 730-day window and 20% rate within 365 days for dispositions of presale contracts and housing units.

This guide is general information about closing costs on presale purchases in British Columbia. It is not legal or tax advice. GST rebate and property transfer tax exemption eligibility depends on your circumstances, your purchase agreement, and the dates that apply to your purchase — confirm your position with a lawyer or notary and an accountant before you buy, and again before completion.