First Time Home Buyers in Niagara

Your first home in Niagara is closer than you think

For most first-time buyers, the hardest part of buying a home is not the monthly mortgage payment — it is getting to the down payment in the first place. Rents in St. Catharines, Niagara Falls, Welland and across the region have climbed for years, which makes saving feel like running up a down escalator. The good news is that first-time buyers in Ontario have access to a stack of programs that renters often do not even know exist: forgivable down payment loans, tax-free savings accounts designed for a first home, refunds on the land transfer tax, federal tax credits, and mortgage rules that let qualified buyers start with as little as 5% down.

Used on their own, each of these helps a little. Used together, they can shave years off your timeline and tens of thousands of dollars off what you need up front. The challenge is that they are scattered across three levels of government and a handful of agencies, each with its own eligibility rules, deadlines and fine print. That is exactly what this resource centre is for — to gather everything a first time home buyer in Niagara needs in one place, explain it in plain language, and show you how the pieces fit together.

Davids & DeLaat is a Niagara real estate team with REMAX Niagara Realty. We do not administer, approve or fund any government program — those are run by the Region, the Province and the federal government. What we do every week is help first-time buyers understand which programs they qualify for, connect them with mortgage professionals for the pre-approval most programs require, and find homes that fit both their budget and each program’s rules. Think of the guides below as your map, and our team as the local guide who knows the terrain.

How the programs stack together

The biggest mistake first-time buyers make is treating these programs as either/or. In reality, many of them are designed to be combined. A typical Niagara buyer might save their down payment inside a First Home Savings Account for the tax deduction, top it up with the Home Buyers’ Plan from their RRSP, qualify for a Welcome Home Niagara forgivable loan to bridge the rest, buy with a low-down-payment insured mortgage, and then claim the land transfer tax refund and First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit after closing. If they buy new construction, the new-home HST rebate can return a large chunk on top. Our down payment programs overview lays out which combinations are allowed.

Start with a plan, not a listing

Almost every program on this page requires an active mortgage pre-approval, and several are first-come, first-served while funding lasts. So the smartest first move is not scrolling listings — it is getting pre-approved and knowing your real numbers. From there you can shop with confidence: browse Niagara homes under $500K that fit the 5%-down threshold, newly built homes that may qualify for the HST rebate, or set up instant new-listing alerts so the right home finds you. When you are ready, buying with Davids & DeLaat means a local team handling the rest.