Buying your first home in Alberta? Start here.

Buying your first home is a huge step, and most of the confusion around it is completely avoidable. Here's the honest, plain-English version of what it actually takes to buy in Alberta — and a few things that work in your favour here that buyers in other provinces don't get.

First, the Alberta advantage

If you've read horror stories about land transfer tax, take a breath. Alberta doesn't charge one.In Ontario or B.C., that single tax can cost a buyer thousands at closing. Here, you pay only modest Land Titles registration fees — usually a few hundred dollars even on a higher-priced home. It's one of the quiet reasons buying in Calgary is more affordable than people expect.

How much you actually need upfront

Two buckets: your down payment, and your closing costs.

Down payment. Canada uses a tiered minimum:

• 5% on the first $500,000 of the price
• 10% on any portion between $500,000 and $1.5 million
• 20% on homes priced at $1.5 million or more

On a typical Calgary home around the city benchmark, that often lands in the low-to-mid five figures. If you put down less than 20%, your mortgage is “insured” and a default-insurance premium gets added to the loan — that's normal, and it's how most first-time buyers get in the door.

Closing costs.Budget roughly 1.5–4% of the price on top of your down payment for things like your real estate lawyer, title insurance, an appraisal if your lender wants one, and those Alberta registration fees. These are paid at closing and generally can't be rolled into the mortgage, so keep that cash separate from your down payment.

The programs that stack in your favour

There are three savings tools first-time buyers can use together, and most people leave money on the table by not knowing they combine:

• The FHSA (First Home Savings Account). The strongest tool we have. You can contribute up to $8,000 a year, $40,000 lifetime. Contributions lower your taxable income like an RRSP, and withdrawals for your first home come out completely tax-free — with nothing to pay back.
• The RRSP Home Buyers' Plan. Lets you pull up to $60,000 from your RRSP (per person — so up to $120,000 for a couple) toward your first home, tax-free, as long as you pay it back over 15 years.
• The First-Time Home Buyers' Tax Credit. A credit you claim on your tax return the year you buy.

Used well, an individual can build a meaningful tax-advantaged down payment across these — and a couple buying together can roughly double it.

Longer amortizations are back for first-timers

As of late 2024, first-time buyers (and anyone buying a newly built home) can stretch an insured mortgage to a 30-year amortizationinstead of the usual 25. That lowers your monthly payment, though you'll pay more interest over the life of the loan. It's a lever, not a free lunch — useful for qualifying or for breathing room, and something we'd weigh together.

The stress test — what it really means

Lenders don't just check whether you can afford today's rate. They check whether you could handle a higher one. You have to qualify at the greater of 5.25% or your actual rate plus 2%.It sounds harsh, but it's there to make sure a rate bump down the road doesn't sink you. It mostly affects the maximum priceyou'll be approved for — not your down payment.

Do this one thing first: get pre-approved

Before you fall in love with a listing, get a real pre-approval. It tells you your actual budget, often holds a rate for you while you shop, and makes your offer far stronger in a competitive situation. A pre-approval isn't a guarantee — the home and your final documents still matter — but it turns “I think we can afford this” into “I know we can.”

That's the whole map. None of it is as complicated as it's made to sound, and you don't have to figure out which programs apply to you on your own — that's literally my job.