Ottawa has ended its $1.25-billion First-Time Home Buyer Incentive program due to low participation since its 2019 launch. The program aimed to assist first-time homebuyers by offering shared-equity mortgages to reduce mortgage sizes and monthly payments. However, its requirements, including income thresholds and property price limits, were criticized as unrealistic in costly markets like Vancouver and Toronto.

Only 22,827 buyers were approved, disbursing just $409 million of the allotted funds. Critics argue for a longer 30-year mortgage amortization period to make homeownership more accessible. The majority of approvals were in Quebec and Alberta, with British Columbia and Ontario having the lowest numbers, indicating limited effectiveness in high-priced real estate markets. The program’s discontinuation highlights ongoing challenges in Canada’s housing affordability crisis.