For many Canadians trying to buy their first home without help from their parents, the hardest number is not the monthly mortgage payment. It is the pile of cash needed before they ever get the keys.

You need a down payment. Then there are legal fees, inspections, moving expenses and other closing costs. And even after paying all of that, ideally you still have money left for the first broken appliance or unexpected repair.

So it is easy to look at a home price and think, “There is no way I can get there on my own.”

But before assuming you need a family gift, it is worth adding up the home-buying resources you may already have.

For an eligible first-time buyer, money accumulated in a First Home Savings Account (FHSA) can potentially be combined with money withdrawn from an RRSP through the Home Buyers’ Plan (HBP) for the same qualifying home.

The Canada Revenue Agency explicitly permits the two programs to be used together when all of the requirements for each withdrawal are satisfied.

Before asking how much your parents can help, calculate how much home-buying money you can assemble yourself.

Start With the Number You Actually Need

A $600,000 home does not necessarily require a $120,000 down payment.

Under current federal rules, the minimum down payment on a home priced between $500,000 and $1.5 million is 5% of the first $500,000 and 10% of the portion above $500,000.

For a $600,000 home, that calculation looks like this:

The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada explains the current down-payment requirements here:
FCAC — How Much You Need for a Down Payment.

A down payment below 20% will typically mean mortgage loan insurance is required, so the smallest possible down payment is not automatically the cheapest long-term option.

Still, knowing the actual minimum changes the conversation. Someone looking at a $600,000 home may think they need $120,000 because they have heard that buyers need 20%. The federal minimum in this example is $35,000, although mortgage qualification, insurance and affordability still have to work.

Your Down Payment Is Not Your Entire Home-Buying Fund

This is where first-time buyers can get caught.

Suppose you finally save exactly $35,000 for that $600,000 property. You put every dollar into the down payment and arrive at closing with almost nothing left.

You still have other bills.

FCAC advises buyers to prepare for upfront and closing costs such as legal fees, a home inspection, property-tax adjustments and title insurance. Its current guidance suggests budgeting approximately 1.5% to 4% of the purchase price for these costs.
See FCAC’s home-buying cost guidance.

For a $600,000 purchase, 1.5% to 4% represents roughly $9,000 to $24,000.

That does not mean every $600,000 purchase will generate a $24,000 closing bill. Province, property and transaction details matter. The range is useful because it prevents a buyer from treating the down payment as the only cash requirement.

Now Add Up the Money You Already Control

Instead of starting with the maximum FHSA or HBP limits, start with your own accounts.

Imagine a first-time buyer named Alex.

Alex has:

Looking only at the bank account, Alex might feel nowhere near ready to buy.

But the home-buying calculation is different from the chequing-account balance.

If Alex satisfies the conditions for both programs, some or all of the FHSA balance may potentially be available through a qualifying FHSA withdrawal, while eligible RRSP savings may potentially be accessed through the HBP.

That does not mean Alex should empty every account. It means Alex should calculate the resources first and decide how much is actually needed second.

Why the FHSA Is So Useful When You Are Building the Down Payment Yourself

The First Home Savings Account combines two valuable tax features.

Eligible contributions can generally produce an income-tax deduction, while a qualifying withdrawal for a first home is non-taxable.

The current annual FHSA contribution limit is generally $8,000, subject to available participation room, with a $40,000 lifetime contribution limit.
CRA — FHSA Definitions and Limits.

The $40,000 figure is a contribution limit, not necessarily the maximum future account value. Investments held inside the FHSA can grow.

And unlike the HBP, a qualifying FHSA withdrawal does not have to be repaid.

Don’t Ignore the Tax Deduction While You Save

There is another part of the FHSA strategy that matters when you are trying to build a down payment without family money.

Eligible FHSA contributions can reduce taxable income.

Suppose you contribute $8,000. The actual tax reduction depends on your income, province or territory, deductions and overall tax situation, so there is no universal refund amount.

But if that deduction contributes to a tax refund, you have a choice.

You can spend the refund, or you can put that money back toward your home-buying goal, subject to the contribution rules of whichever account you use.

CRA has an official estimator that can help you model potential FHSA tax and down-payment savings:
CRA — FHSA Down Payment and Tax Savings Estimators.

Then Look at the RRSP You May Already Have

Some first-time buyers have been contributing to an RRSP through work or on their own for years without thinking of that account as part of their home purchase.

The Home Buyers’ Plan can change that calculation.

The current HBP allows an eligible participant to withdraw up to $60,000 from RRSPs toward buying or building a qualifying home.
CRA — Home Buyers’ Plan.

This is not an extra $60,000 from the government. It is your own RRSP money being accessed under a special set of tax rules.

And unlike a qualifying FHSA withdrawal, HBP money generally has to be repaid to an RRSP over the applicable repayment period.

FHSA or HBP? You May Not Have to Pick One

This is one of the most useful rules for someone trying to assemble a down payment independently.

CRA states that you can make a qualifying FHSA withdrawal and an HBP withdrawal for the same qualifying home as long as all of the conditions for each program are met at the time of the withdrawals.

See the current CRA rules:
FHSA Qualifying Withdrawals
and
Home Buyers’ Plan.

Again, this is not $100,000 of government money. It assumes the buyer has accumulated sufficient assets and qualifies to make both withdrawals.

But You Probably Shouldn’t Automatically Withdraw $100,000

Go back to Alex.

Suppose the home purchase requires a $35,000 minimum down payment. Alex also wants to preserve money for closing expenses and an emergency reserve.

If Alex’s FHSA can provide most of the planned down payment, withdrawing the full HBP maximum simply because it is available may not make sense.

Every dollar removed from the RRSP is a dollar that is no longer invested there, and HBP withdrawals create a balance that generally has to be repaid.

The better question is not:

“How much am I allowed to take?”

It is:

“How much do I need to take without weakening the rest of my finances?”

For a 2026 HBP Withdrawal, Repayment May Start in 2031

There is a current rule that matters particularly to buyers using the HBP in 2026.

Temporary repayment relief was extended to participants making their first HBP withdrawal between January 1, 2026 and December 31, 2028. Under the current measure, the 15-year repayment period begins in the fifth year following the year of the first withdrawal.

CRA specifically states that if your first HBP withdrawal occurs in 2026, your first repayment year will be 2031.
CRA — Current HBP Repayment Rules.

Delaying the first repayment can help cash flow during the expensive early years of homeownership. It does not erase the HBP balance.

A Couple Buying Without Family Help Has More Accounts to Check

Now imagine Alex is buying with a partner, Jamie.

Both satisfy the relevant first-time buyer requirements.

Their actual balances look like this:

Neither buyer has a fully funded $40,000 FHSA or needs the maximum $60,000 HBP withdrawal.

Yet together they have assembled $113,000 from savings they control themselves.

That is a much more useful calculation than simply looking at the balance of one savings account and deciding homeownership is impossible without a gift.

Keep Some Money Out of the Down Payment

There is a temptation when buying without family assistance: put absolutely everything into the house.

That can create another problem the day after closing.

A homeowner may suddenly face moving expenses, furniture, insurance, utility deposits, strata-related expenses, repairs or an appliance that decides to stop working at exactly the wrong time.

FCAC also reminds buyers that pre-approval does not mean they should automatically borrow the maximum offered by a lender. Buyers still need to account for closing costs, moving costs and ongoing maintenance.
FCAC — Mortgage Pre-Approval.

So when calculating your home fund, create a separate line for money you refuse to spend at closing.

Try This: “Can We Buy Without Family Help?”

This number is more useful than simply adding the maximum FHSA and HBP limits because it reflects your actual accounts and the cash you need to keep.

Then Ask the Harder Question: Can You Actually Carry the Mortgage?

Finding the down payment is only half of the problem.

A lender still has to approve the mortgage.

Federally regulated lenders apply a mortgage stress test. Under current FCAC guidance, borrowers generally need to qualify using the higher of 5.25% or their negotiated mortgage rate plus 2%.
FCAC — Preparing to Get a Mortgage.

Your income, credit history and existing debts such as car loans, student loans, credit cards and lines of credit can all affect how much mortgage you qualify for.

This is why having a $100,000 down payment fund does not automatically mean you can buy any property requiring a $100,000 down payment.

Down-payment capacity and mortgage affordability are two different tests.

One Timing Mistake to Avoid With Your RRSP

If you are approaching a purchase, be careful about making a large RRSP contribution and immediately withdrawing it through the HBP.

CRA has special deduction rules for RRSP contributions made during the 89-day period immediately before an HBP withdrawal. Depending on the contribution and the value remaining in the RRSP after the withdrawal, some recent contributions may not be deductible.

Check the CRA calculation before moving money:
CRA — HBP Withdrawals and Recent RRSP Contributions.

Interestingly, CRA states that there is no minimum number of days that an FHSA contribution or transfer must remain in an FHSA before it can be used as a qualifying withdrawal, assuming all qualifying-withdrawal conditions are satisfied.
CRA — FHSA Withdrawal Rules.

Five Steps Before Deciding You Need the “Bank of Mom and Dad”

The Goal Isn’t to Max Out Every Program

Go back to Alex and Jamie.

They started with a familiar worry: neither set of parents was going to provide a large down-payment gift, so they assumed buying would have to wait.

Then they stopped looking at their finances as one savings-account balance.

They counted their cash, checked their FHSAs, looked at how much of their RRSP savings they were comfortable using through the HBP, estimated closing expenses and deliberately left an emergency reserve untouched.

The exercise did not magically make a home affordable. It did something more useful: it gave them a real number.

For some buyers, that calculation will show that they are closer than they thought. For others, it may show a $20,000 or $40,000 gap that still needs another year or two of saving. And sometimes it will show that the down payment is already there, but the mortgage itself would stretch the monthly budget too far.

All three answers are useful.

Before deciding that buying a first home in Canada requires help from your parents, find out what your own accounts can actually do — and how much of that money you can safely use without leaving yourself broke the morning after closing.

For more practical Canadian finance and benefits guides, visit the
Caduck News home page.

Sources & Further Reading

Official Government Sources

• 
  Canada Revenue Agency — First Home Savings Account (FHSA)
  
• 
  Canada Revenue Agency — FHSA Withdrawals and Qualifying Withdrawals
  
• 
  Canada Revenue Agency — FHSA Definitions and Limits
  
• 
  Canada Revenue Agency — FHSA Down Payment and Tax Savings Estimators
  
• 
  Canada Revenue Agency — Home Buyers’ Plan (HBP)
  
• 
  Canada Revenue Agency — Making HBP Withdrawals
  
• 
  Financial Consumer Agency of Canada — How Much You Need for a Down Payment
  
• 
  Financial Consumer Agency of Canada — Buying a Home
  
• 
  Financial Consumer Agency of Canada — Mortgage Pre-Approval
  
• 
  Financial Consumer Agency of Canada — Preparing to Get a Mortgage
  

Original News Report

No external news report was used as the basis for this article. The rules and figures were reviewed against current CRA and FCAC guidance.

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