Almost every first-time buyer guide you will find is written for Canada in general. This one is written for Fredericton, with the actual prices here, and it tells you which programs New Brunswick does not have — because that is the part that catches people out.
Everything below was checked against government sources in August 2026. Two of the figures you will see quoted almost everywhere else are now out of date, and I have flagged both.
What you actually need to get in
Minimum down payment in Canada is 5% on the first $500,000, 10% on the portion between $500,000 and $1.5 million, and 20% at $1.5 million and above.
Applied to real Fredericton-area benchmark prices as at July 2026:
| Area | Benchmark price | Minimum down payment |
|---|---|---|
| Grand Lake / Chipman / Minto | $201,100 | $10,055 |
| Silverwood | $281,800 | $14,090 |
| Fredericton region | $361,100 | $18,055 |
| College Hill | $386,000 | $19,300 |
| Skyline Acres / Southwood Park | $410,400 | $20,520 |
| Oromocto | $431,700 | $21,585 |
| New Maryland | $445,800 | $22,290 |
| Hanwell | $548,800 | $29,880 |
Look at the Hanwell row. It is not 5% of $548,800, because above $500,000 the second band kicks in: $25,000 on the first $500,000 plus 10% of the remaining $48,800. Crossing that line costs you an extra $2,440 in cash on top of the ordinary 5%.
Prices: MLS® Home Price Index, New Brunswick Real Estate Association boards, July 2026. Full table on Fredericton neighbourhoods.
The federal programs, as they stand today
First Home Savings Account (FHSA)
$8,000 a year, $40,000 lifetime, contributions deductible from your income and qualifying withdrawals completely tax-free. It is the best of the federal tools by a distance, because it is the only one that gives you the deduction going in and tax-free money coming out.
The one piece of advice worth acting on today: your contribution room starts accruing only in the calendar year you open the account — not from the year you turned 18. If you think you might buy within five years, open one now even if you cannot put a dollar in it. Waiting a year costs you $8,000 of permanent room.
Unused room carries forward, but only $8,000 of carry-forward can be used in any one year, so the most you can contribute in a single year is $16,000.
Watch one trap: the test to open an FHSA counts homes your spouse or common-law partner owned. The test to make a qualifying withdrawal counts only homes you owned. They are different tests, and people get caught by the first one.
Home Buyers’ Plan (HBP)
You can withdraw up to $60,000 from your RRSP, tax-free, to buy a first home — raised from $35,000 for withdrawals after 16 April 2024. A couple who both qualify can take $120,000 between them.
You repay it over 15 years. There is currently a deferral: for a first withdrawal made between 1 January 2022 and 31 December 2025, the 15-year repayment does not start until the fifth year after the withdrawal. The 2026 federal update extends the same relief to first withdrawals between 1 January 2026 and 31 December 2028. CRA states this on its main Home Buyers’ Plan page, though its own repayment sub-page had not been updated to match at the time of writing — worth confirming with your accountant for your own year.
You can use the FHSA and the HBP for the same purchase. CRA is explicit about it. A lot of buyers assume it is one or the other.
Home Buyers’ Amount — the number nearly everyone gets wrong
You claim $10,000 on your tax return, and the credit is worth that amount times the lowest federal tax rate. That rate has been cut twice:
| Tax year | Lowest federal rate | Credit actually worth |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 and earlier | 15% | $1,500 |
| 2025 | 14.5% | $1,450 |
| 2026 onward | 14% | $1,400 |
Almost every guide, calculator and bank page still says $1,500. If you are buying in 2026, budget $1,400.
The First-Time Home Buyer Incentive is gone
The federal shared-equity programme stopped accepting submissions after 21 March 2024 and granted no approvals after 31 March 2024. Nothing has replaced it. If a site is still telling you about it, that site is out of date and you should treat the rest of its numbers with suspicion.
The new GST rebate on new builds — and the New Brunswick catch
This is genuinely new and it is large. The First-Time Home Buyers’ GST/HST Rebate received Royal Assent on 12 March 2026 and CRA is accepting applications.
- 100% of the federal GST portion refunded, to a maximum of $50,000
- Full rebate on homes up to $1,000,000, phasing down linearly to nil at $1.5 million
- Your agreement of purchase and sale must be dated on or after 20 March 2025 and before 2031
- You must be 18 or over, a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, and the first person to occupy the home
- Neither you nor your spouse may have lived in a home either of you owned in the current year or the previous four calendar years
- Once per lifetime, per couple
Here is the part that matters in New Brunswick. Our HST is 15% — a 5% federal portion and a 10% provincial portion. This rebate reaches the federal 5% only. Ontario has a provincial enhanced rebate on top; New Brunswick does not.
So on a new build here, roughly one third of the HST you pay can come back to you, and the other two thirds cannot. That is still a very large cheque, and it is a real reason to look at new construction — but if you have read a national article implying the whole tax comes back, it does not, not here.
The ordinary GST/HST New Housing Rebate still exists separately for buyers who do not qualify as first-time: 36% of the federal portion, full up to $350,000 of value, phasing out at $450,000, maximum $6,300.
What New Brunswick does not give you
There is no first-time buyer rebate on the land transfer tax in New Brunswick. None. Ontario, British Columbia and Prince Edward Island all have one. We do not.
New Brunswick’s Real Property Transfer Tax is 1% of the greater of the purchase price or the assessed value. It went from 0.25% to 0.5% in 2012 and to 1% on 1 April 2016.
Read that “greater of” again, because it has a sharp edge: if you negotiate a price below the assessed value, you still pay the tax on the assessment. Buying a $340,000 home assessed at $370,000 costs you $3,700 in transfer tax, not $3,400.
The one New Brunswick programme that does exist
The province runs a Homeownership Assistance Program through Social Development, and hardly anyone mentions it. It offers a repayable loan of 40% of the purchase price, closing costs and modest repairs, or up to $75,000 to build.
Interest is 0% for a household income under $30,000, rising half a percentage point for every $1,000 of income above that.
The honest caveat: the household income ceiling is $40,000, and your total debt service ratio must be 42% or less. At Fredericton’s current prices that reaches very few buyers. I am including it because it is real and because it is almost never mentioned — not because most people reading this will qualify. If your household is under that ceiling, call 1-833-733-7835, because it changes what is possible for you.
The City of Fredericton grant — check before you count on it
The City has offered a grant of up to $20,000 to help moderate-income first-time buyers build a new, modestly designed home on one of five city-owned serviced lots on DeMerchant Drive — numbers 51, 54, 66, 69 and 72. It is funded through the federal Housing Accelerator Fund and it is new construction only.
Its current status is genuinely unclear, and I would rather say so than guess. The City’s page states the deadline as “Thursday, April 16th at 3:00pm” without naming a year. The 16th of April fell on a Thursday in 2026, which suggests the deadline has passed. All five lots are still listed as available, which may mean none were taken or may simply mean the page has not been updated. The eligibility criteria — including what counts as moderate income — appear only inside the application form, not on the page.
If a new build on a city lot interests you, email housing@fredericton.ca and ask directly whether the programme is open. I will do that with you.
Mortgage rules that changed recently
Two changes took effect on 15 December 2024 and both favour first-time buyers:
- The insured mortgage price cap rose from $1 million to $1.5 million. Not a constraint at Fredericton prices, but worth knowing that the Financial Consumer Agency’s own down payment page still displays the old $1 million figure. Even government pages go stale.
- 30-year amortizations are now available to all first-time buyers and to all buyers of new builds. That lowers your monthly payment and helps you qualify. It also costs more in total interest, and CMHC adds 0.20% to the insurance premium for any amortization beyond 25 years. It is a trade, not a free upgrade.
Mortgage insurance
Below 20% down you pay a CMHC premium, added to your mortgage:
| Down payment | Loan-to-value | Premium |
|---|---|---|
| 5% – 9.99% | 90.01% – 95% | 4.00% |
| 10% – 14.99% | 85.01% – 90% | 3.10% |
| 15% – 19.99% | 80.01% – 85% | 2.80% |
| 20% + | 80% or less | none required |
Good news specific to us: Ontario, Quebec and Saskatchewan charge provincial sales tax on the CMHC premium, payable in cash at closing. New Brunswick does not. One line item you do not have to budget for.
The stress test
You must qualify at the greater of your contract rate plus 2%, or 5.25%. Since November 2024, if you are simply switching lenders at renewal without increasing the loan or extending the amortization, you no longer have to re-qualify under the stress test — which matters five years from now, not today, but it is worth knowing you will not be trapped with your first lender.
The property tax surprise in your first year
Service New Brunswick assesses every property at market value and phases in any increase above 10% over time, so existing owners are protected from sudden jumps. Their wording is exact:
“Any increase greater than 10% will be phased in over time… Properties that have sold in the previous year and all new construction and/or major improvements are excluded from this protection.”
You are the property that sold in the previous year. The tax bill the seller has been paying is not the bill you will get. If they had been shielded by phase-in, that shielding ends with your purchase and your assessment can move straight to full market value.
Never budget from the tax figure on the listing. Ask what the property would be assessed at today, and budget from that. This single item causes more first-year shock than anything else I see.
What it costs to close
The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada tells buyers to budget 1.5% to 4% of the purchase price for closing costs. On the Fredericton benchmark of $361,100 that is roughly $5,400 to $14,400.
New Brunswick’s own regulator lists what goes into it: home inspection, appraisal, title insurance, water testing, legal fees and disbursements, land transfer tax, property tax and utility adjustments, mortgage insurance, HST on new construction, and a property survey.
Water testing is on that list for a reason. Plenty of properties in the Fredericton area — Hanwell entirely, and parts of New Maryland and Lincoln — are on private wells. If yours is, you want potability and quantity testing, and you want it as a condition of your offer, not as a nice-to-have.
No government source publishes dollar figures for New Brunswick legal fees or inspections, so anyone quoting you exact numbers is estimating. I will give you realistic local figures for your specific purchase rather than a national average.
Putting it together on a $361,100 purchase
The regional benchmark, bought with the minimum down payment:
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Purchase price | $361,100 |
| Down payment at 5% | $18,055 |
| Mortgage before insurance | $343,045 |
| CMHC premium at 4.00% (added to the mortgage) | $13,722 |
| Total mortgage | $356,767 |
| Cash needed — down payment | $18,055 |
| Cash needed — land transfer tax at 1% | $3,611 |
| Cash needed — closing costs at 1.5% to 4% | $5,417 – $14,444 |
| Total cash to close | roughly $27,000 to $36,000 |
The premium goes onto your mortgage rather than coming out of pocket, and there is no provincial tax on it here. The land transfer tax and the closing costs do come out of pocket, on closing day, in certified funds.
So the honest headline number is not $18,000. It is closer to $27,000. That gap is where most first-time buyers get caught, and it is the first thing I go through with anyone starting out.
The order I would do this in
- Open an FHSA today, even with nothing in it, so the room starts accruing.
- Get a real pre-approval, not an online estimate. It tells you your actual band, and it holds a rate while you look.
- Work out your cash to close, not just your down payment. Use the table above.
- Pick your areas from the price data rather than from what you hoped. The benchmark table shows what each budget genuinely reaches.
- Decide new build or resale deliberately. The GST rebate is worth real money on a new build; older stock costs less up front and more in maintenance.
- Then start looking. Not before — looking first is how people fall for a house they cannot finance.
What I do for first-time buyers
I came into real estate from residential construction, so on a walkthrough I will tell you what a house is going to cost you after you own it — roof age, wiring, foundation, moisture, the furnace or heat pump — before you write an offer rather than after. For a first purchase, where the repair budget is usually thin, that is the part that matters most.
I also will not push you. If the timing is wrong or the numbers do not work yet, I will say so and we will look again when they do. There is no cost to a first conversation and nothing to sign.
A client who started exactly here
Rob is an outstanding Real Estate agent. He goes above and beyond to find you your perfect home. As first time home buyers and being posted to New Brunswick with the military, we really didn’t know what to look for. Rob is very personal and with his background in carpentry he can, and he will point out the positives and the negatives in the homes you look at, so you know what you will be getting into. He definitely knows what to look for in a house, and he will find you your perfect home! Look no further as Rob is the best real estate agent for you!
Taylor — Google review, May 2023
More client reviews, reproduced word for word.
Where to go from here
- Buying a home in Fredericton — the full process, deposits, conditions and what to inspect.
- Fredericton neighbourhoods — 21 areas with benchmark prices, so you can match a budget to a map.
- Fredericton real estate FAQ — shorter answers to the common questions.
- Oromocto — if you are posted to CFB Gagetown.
- Get in touch — I answer my own phone.
Every federal, provincial and municipal figure on this page was verified against government sources in August 2026. Programmes change; if you are reading this much later, ask me and I will confirm what is current. I am a REALTOR®, not an accountant or a mortgage broker — for tax and financing decisions, take this to a professional in that field.
