New home buyers across Ontario are responding positively to the enhanced HST rebate program as new home sales rose 130 percent year-over-year in the second quarter of 2026, said the Ontario Home Builders’ Association (OHBA) and Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD) today. The driving force behind this increase has been the announcement of the provincial-federal enhanced HST rebate program, which began on April 1 and took full effect in late June.
 
The evidence is clear and direct. The leadership shown by the provincial and federal governments to exempt the sales tax on all new homes below $1 million is creating jobs, stimulating economic activity and improving affordability across the province.
 
In the second quarter of 2026, there were 8,410 new home sales in Ontario – of which 4,765 were incremental and attributable to the HST rebate program, according to a report compiled by Peter Norman, Principal at Norman Economic Strategies Inc., and based on sales data collected by BILD, OHBA and Altus Group. This represents a 130 percent year-over-year increase, with 3,645 new home sales across Ontario during the same period in 2025.

In a report published by Altus Group in February 2026, combined housing policy measures were expected to generate between 18,000 and 23,000 net new home sales per year. This would help to preserve up to 51,000 jobs in the sector, $7.3 billion in GDP and $1.8 billion in gross government revenues. The market response in the first quarter of the program provides confidence that we are well on track to meet the economic and affordability impacts outlined in February 2026, with the positive momentum of the HST rebate program anticipated to continue.
 
It is important to note that these numbers also do not yet reflect the impact of the historic Development Charge Reduction Program (DCRP). It is anticipated that details of DC reductions in other municipalities across the province will be announced soon, and that we will likely to see a further economic boost as home builders get more shovels in the ground and the cost to build becomes more affordable.
 
For more information about the HST rebate program on eligible new homes, visit here.