Ontario new-home sales ticked up 130% year-over-year in Q2 of 2026, according to data the Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD) and the Ontario Home Builders' Association (OHBA) shared Tuesday.
The driving force behind the bump, BILD and OHBA say, is the announcement of the provincial-federal enhanced HST rebate program, which began April 1 and came into full effect at the end of June.
Overall, there were 8,410 new home sales in Ontario in the second quarter of 2026, 4765 of which were incremental and attributable to the HST rebate program. This is according to a report compiled by Peter Norman, Principal at Norman Economic Strategies Inc., alongside sales data from BILD, OHBA, and Altus Group.
This count is up from the 3,645 new home sales recorded in Ontario during Q2 of last year.
An Altus Group report published in February projected that together, housing policy measures would generated 18,000 to 23,000 net new home sales per year, helping preserve up to 51,000 sector jobs, $7.3 billion in GDP, and $1.8 billion in gross government revenues.
BILD says the response through the first quarter of the HST program offers confidence that the market is on track towards these projections, and positive momentum is expected to continue.
“It is incredibly positive to know that 4,765 families across Ontario were able to purchase new homes as a result of the enhanced HST rebate program,” said Justin Sherwood, Chief Operating Officer of BILD. “The historic buying opportunity that the HST rebate program presents cannot be understated. As a result of the additional new home sales in the second quarter of 2026, it is estimated that in the first 3 months of the program 17,300 jobs in the construction industry were protected, around $2.8 billion in GDP was preserved and approximately $1.4 billion in gross government revenues was maintained.”
Scott Andison, Chief Executive Officer of the OHBA, notes that the full impact of the Development Charge Reduction Program (DCRP) is not yet reflected in Q2's numbers.
“Details of the newly-introduced DCRP are only now in place, and the first announcement for the City of Toronto was on June 23rd. It is anticipated that details of DC reductions in other municipalities across the province will be announced soon," he said. "We are likely to see a further economic boost as home builders get more shovels in the ground and the cost to build becomes more affordable.”
