Which taxes apply on each ownership path

The comparison table

The table lists the main taxes and rebates for each ownership path. It shows who pays and the rule that sets the amount. Amounts for any one project depend on values, costs and the owner's own tax position, so the table shows the rules only. Each row has its source and date in the citations below.

Three short terms appear in the table. GST is the federal Goods and Services Tax, 5% in British Columbia. PTT is British Columbia's property transfer tax, paid by the buyer when the transfer is registered at the Land Title Office. Self-supply is the CRA rule that treats a builder who rents out new housing as having sold it to themselves.

Selling new strata units: GST, the buyer's transfer tax and the rebates

CRA guide RC4052 says that when a builder of new housing, or housing that has had a substantial renovation, sells it, the sale will generally be taxable. GST at 5% applies to the price of each new strata unit. The builder collects it, even a builder who is not registered for GST.

Buyers can claim rebates. The first-time home buyers' GST/HST rebate in memorandum 19-3-10 (dated October 2026) returns 100% of the GST, up to $50,000, on a new home valued up to $1,000,000, with a reduced rebate between $1,000,000 and $1,500,000 and none at $1,500,000 or more. For a purchase from a builder, the agreement must be signed on or after 20 March 2025 and before 2031, and construction must reach substantial completion before 2036. The buyer must be at least 18, a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, the first to live in the home, and must not have owned and lived in a primary residence in the current year or the four years before. The older GST/HST new housing rebate in guide RC4028 (modified 21 October 2026) has a maximum of $6,300, and a buyer from a builder qualifies only if the purchase price before tax is less than $450,000.

Property transfer tax is paid by the buyer on the fair market value when the transfer is registered. As of the gov.bc.ca page updated 3 December 2025, the rates are 1% on the first $200,000, 2% on the part from $200,000 to $2,000,000, 3% above $2,000,000, and a further 2% on residential value above $3,000,000. The newly built home exemption (page updated 6 January 2026) gives a full exemption for transfers registered on or after 1 April 2024 where the value is up to $1,100,000, with a partial exemption up to $1,150,000. The buyer must be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, move in within 92 days and live there as a principal residence for the rest of the first year. The page includes a unit in a newly built condo building. The first time home buyers' exemption (page updated 20 June 2025) exempts the first $500,000 on a home worth $835,000 or less, with a partial exemption below $860,000.

Keeping the building: self-supply and the rental rebates

A builder who leases a unit in new multiple-unit housing to its first occupant is treated as having sold the entire building, and as having collected GST on the fair market value of the building and its land. RC4052 sets the date as the later of the first handover of a unit and substantial completion. The rental chapter covers the details.

The purpose-built rental housing rebate returns 100% of that GST for a building with at least 4 units that each have a private kitchen, bathroom and living area, or at least 10 units, where 90% are held for long-term rental. Construction must begin after 13 September 2023 and before 2031 and finish before 2036. The CRA excludes duplexes, triplexes, single-unit housing and condominium units (page modified 22 June 2026). The older new residential rental property rebate is up to 36% where the unit's fair market value is under $450,000 (page modified 2 September 2026).

A buyer who purchases a qualifying new purpose-built rental building between 1 January 2025 and 31 December 2030 is fully exempt from property transfer tax, as of the gov.bc.ca page updated 5 May 2026. The building needs at least 4 apartments, must be non-stratified and must stay rental for 10 years. A sale or stratification inside 10 years means reporting it and repaying part of the exemption.

Income or capital gain, and the two flipping rules

The CRA's page on real estate profits (modified 4 September 2025) says the same sale can be business income in one case and a capital gain in another. If a return is audited, the CRA looks at the type of property, how long it was held, the seller's history of similar sales, the work done on it, why it was sold, and what the owner meant to do with it when they bought it. The page states two outcomes plainly: profit from buying to build and sell is business income, and profit on a property bought to earn rental income is a capital gain.

The federal flipped property rule sits on top of that test. Folio S1-F3-C2 says a housing unit, other than inventory, sold on or after 1 January 2023 after being owned for less than 365 consecutive days is a flipped property. Its profit is business income and the principal residence exemption does not apply, unless a listed life event explains the sale.

The BC home flipping tax is separate and provincial. It took effect on 1 January 2025, applies to sales within 730 days of acquisition, and is 20% of net taxable income on a sale within 365 days, falling to zero at 730 days (page updated 8 June 2026). The exemptions for builders and developers, for building on land without a housing unit, and for demolishing and rebuilding or adding a housing unit all require a return filed within 90 days of the sale.

Dates to watch

Several of these rules carry fixed end dates or start dates. The purpose-built rental rebate needs construction to start before 2031. The first-time home buyers' GST rebate needs a purchase agreement or owner-built construction start before 2031. The property transfer tax exemption for new purpose-built rental buildings covers purchases up to 31 December 2030. For strata corporations established on or after 1 July 2027, owner developers must pay toward the first depreciation report under section 6.23 of the Strata Property Regulation, as the strata chapter explains.

Tax rules change with each federal and provincial budget, and several pages cited here were updated in 2026. Before you sign a purchase agreement, a partnership agreement or a construction contract, have an accountant confirm each rule against the source page on that date. Every source on this page is listed with the date it was last changed.