The Ontario government just announced a full HST exemption on new construction condos for deals signed between April 1, 2026 and March 31, 2027. For buyers like me who closed in previous years and have since watched our units lose 30% or more of their value, this announcement felt like salt in a wound.

This rebate helps builders move unsold inventory. It does nothing for the thousands of buyers who were already trapped.

Here's what happened to many of us:

When pre-construction condos completed during the market downturn, individual appraisals would have come in far below the purchase price, meaning buyers would have needed to cover a massive shortfall out of pocket, or walk away and face litigation from the builder. Lenders responded by offering "blanket appraisals" a building-wide approval that bypassed individual unit valuations and allowed mortgages to proceed regardless of true market value.

The result: buyers were effectively forced to close, taking on mortgages on properties already underwater.

In my own case, I paid $441,335 for a 1-bedroom condo. The HST embedded in that price was $27,173.64. Today, that unit is worth approximately $400,000 meaning I am already underwater, before accounting for closing costs that brought my actual out-of-pocket closer to $475,000. A retroactive HST rebate would provide meaningful, direct relief to buyers in exactly this situation.

We are asking the Ontario government to:

1. Extend HST rebate eligibility retroactively to buyers who closed on new construction units where market value at closing was below purchase price
2. Investigate the use of blanket appraisals and their impact on buyers' ability to make informed financing decisions
3. Create a formal relief pathway for pre-construction buyers who closed on significantly depreciated units 

If you closed on a new construction condo and your unit has lost significant value, please sign this petition and share it. The government created policy to help the supply side of this crisis — it's time they addressed the demand side too.