What Changed / 2026 / Buying a Home

Buying a Home: What Changed in 2026

Transfer taxes, first-time buyer credits, and municipal home-buying programs.

8 verified buying a home changes logged in 2026, each checked against its official source. See every topic in the 2026 year in review or everything in date order.

• Verified 2026-10-16 · Canada (federal) · Buying a home

  The federal home buyers’ amount lets a qualifying buyer claim up to $10,000. Because the lowest federal tax rate fell from 15% to 14% on July 1, 2025, the credit is worth $1,400 for a 2026 purchase ($1,450 for 2025, at the blended 14.5% rate). Our affordability tool showed $1,500.

  $10,000 x 15% = $1,500 → $10,000 x 14% = $1,400 ($1,450 for a 2025 purchase)

  Source: Canada Revenue Agency: Tax rates and income brackets for individuals (last year)

  Updated: Home affordability calculator

• Verified 2026-10-16 · Newfoundland and Labrador · Buying a home

  The Newfoundland and Labrador deed registration fee is $100 plus $0.40 for each additional $100 or part of $100 above $500, with no maximum. The $5,000 cap in the Services Charges Act applies to mortgage registration, not deeds. Our land transfer tax calculator capped the deed fee at $5,000, which understated it on homes over about $1,225,000; on a $2,000,000 home the fee is $8,098.

  Deed registration fee capped at $5,000 → $100 plus $0.40 per additional $100 or part above $500, no cap ($8,098 on $2,000,000)

  Source: Services Charges Act, SNL1998 c S-13.2, s.5

  Updated: Land transfer tax calculator

• Verified 2026-10-16 · New Brunswick · Buying a home

  Moncton’s 2026 residential property tax rate is $1.3614 per $100 of assessment, unchanged from the year before. Our home ownership cost tool used 1.70.

  Moncton residential rate 1.70 per $100 → Moncton residential rate 1.3614 per $100 (2026)

  Source: City of Moncton: City maintains tax rate (November 6, 2025)

  Updated: Home ownership cost calculator

• Verified 2026-10-16 · Prince Edward Island · Buying a home

  PEI’s Real Property Transfer Tax is a flat 1% of the greater of the price or the assessed value, with no 2% surcharge on value over $1,000,000, and a qualifying first-time home buyer pays none. Our calculator added a 2% surcharge the Act does not contain and told first-time buyers they still owed it, so it overstated the tax on PEI homes over $1,000,000: on $1,500,000 it showed $25,000 instead of $15,000.

  1% plus a 2% surcharge on value over $1,000,000, not waived for first-time buyers → Flat 1%, no surcharge; a qualifying first-time home buyer pays no tax

  Source: Real Property Transfer Tax Act (PEI), s.3 and s.5(2), consolidation current to May 29, 2026

  Updated: Land transfer tax calculator

• Verified 2026-10-16 · Quebec · Buying a home

  In Montreal the 2026 property transfer duty is 4% on the portion of a price above $3,113,000, and 3.5% from $2,136,500 to $3,113,000. Our land transfer tax calculator note said Montreal charges up to 3.5% or more.

  Montreal charges up to 3.5%+ on luxury properties → 4% on the portion above $3,113,000 (2026)

  Source: Ville de Montréal: How property transfer duties are calculated

  Updated: Land transfer tax calculator

• Verified 2026-08-02 · Quebec · Buying a home

  Montréal's Home Purchase Assistance Program has ended and stopped accepting new applications on July 7, 2026. Our buy-a-home page still described a municipal rebate of up to $5,000 that a first-time buyer can no longer apply for. In its place, Quebec's refundable tax credit for access to property reimburses the droit de mutation up to $5,875 for a first property. That credit is the same one already verified and published on our home-sale side in July; the buy-side wording now matches it.

  Montreal rebate of up to $5,000 for first-time buyers → Program ended July 7, 2026; Quebec refundable credit up to $5,875 applies instead

  Source: Ville de Montréal (program status) and Finances Québec

  Updated: Buy a home: Quebec, Private home sale: Quebec

• Verified 2026-08-02 · Quebec · Buying a home

  Quebec's Welcome Tax base tranches are indexed every year and we were showing the 2024 thresholds. For 2026 the provincial base is 0.5% up to $62,900, 1% from $62,900 to $315,000, and 1.5% from $315,000 to $552,300. We also corrected a framing error that mattered more than the indexation: rates above $552,300 are not provincial. A municipality may set its own higher rates by by-law above that point, and Montréal does. Our copy had been presenting the two as one schedule.

  2024 base tranches, with municipal rates shown as part of the provincial schedule → 2026 base tranches ($62,900 / $315,000 / $552,300), with municipal rates identified as separate by-law territory

  Source: Ville de Montréal: how property transfer duties are calculated

  Updated: Buy a home: Quebec, Private home sale: Quebec, Home affordability: Quebec

• Verified 2026-07-28 · Quebec · Home sale

  Quebec announced a refundable first-time buyer tax credit on 17 April 2026, retroactive to homes acquired on or after 1 January 2026. It reimburses the droit de mutation (welcome tax) up to $5,875 (100% of the first $5,000 of duty paid plus 25% of the next $3,500), phasing out on a transfer-duty tax base from $750,000 to $1,000,000. You qualify if, in the year of acquisition or the four preceding years, you did not occupy a dwelling that you or your spouse owned; owning a rental you never lived in does not disqualify you.

  No Quebec first-time buyer transfer-duty credit → Refundable credit up to $5,875, retroactive to January 1, 2026

  Source: Finances Québec / Revenu Québec

  Updated: Private home sale: Quebec