First home fund.
FHSA, RRSP, or both?
The FHSA ($8,000 a year, $40,000 lifetime) never has to be paid back. The RRSP Home Buyers’ Plan lets you take out up to $60,000, which you repay over 15 years. See both with your own numbers.
Illustration, not financial advice. Uses CRA FHSA and Home Buyers' Plan rules for the 2026 tax year. Eligibility, RRSP room and your tax rate are yours to confirm.
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The rules this calculator uses are listed below the results.
Money goes in at the start of each year and grows at one constant rate. “Tax deduction value” is contributions × the tax rate you entered; it is not added to the balances. The RRSP paths assume you have enough RRSP deduction room. Home Buyers’ Plan repayments are shown as equal yearly amounts. Taxes on growth left in an RRSP are not modelled.
Official sources, checked Oct 7, 2026.
- What an FHSA does
An FHSA lets a first-time home buyer save for a qualifying first home tax-free, up to its limits. Contributions are generally deductible.
- FHSA participation room in the year you open it$8,000 CAD
Room is $8,000 in the year you open your first FHSA. It does not build up before the account is opened.
- Most unused FHSA room you can carry forward$8,000 CAD
Unused room carries forward, but only up to $8,000, so a later year's room is at most $16,000.
- FHSA lifetime limit$40,000 CAD
Total FHSA contributions and RRSP-to-FHSA transfers over your lifetime are capped at $40,000. The most you can deduct over your lifetime is also $40,000.
- FHSA maximum participation period15 years
FHSAs must close by December 31 of the year of the earliest of: the 15th anniversary of opening, turning 71, or the year after your first qualifying withdrawal.
- Who can open an FHSA
You must be a Canadian resident, 18 or older (19 where that is the legal age), no older than 71 at the end of the year you open it, and a first-time home buyer: no owner-occupied home (yours or your spouse's) this year or in the previous 4 calendar years.
- RRSP Home Buyers' Plan withdrawal limit$60,000 CAD
You can withdraw up to $60,000 from your RRSPs under the HBP, and you can also use a qualifying FHSA withdrawal for the same home.
- HBP repayment period15 years
HBP withdrawals must be paid back to your RRSP over up to 15 years. An amount not repaid when due is included in your income for that year.
- HBP repayments start (standard rule)2 years after the first withdrawal
Without the temporary relief, repayments start in the second year after the year of your first withdrawal.
- HBP repayments start (temporary relief, first withdrawal 2022–2028)5 years after the first withdrawal
For a first HBP withdrawal from January 1, 2022 to December 31, 2028, repayments start in the fifth year after the withdrawal year (a 2026 withdrawal repays from 2031).