Your complete guide to buying a home in Alberta

It’s a common question, and a good one! Sometimes it just might not be the best time to take the leap into home ownership. Take into account the mortgage rate, market value of the home, and potential rate of return you’d get from investing your extra cash instead of putting it towards a mortgage to help you move farther along in your decision.

What do you think? If you’re feeling pretty confident, we think that you should continue to learn more about buying a home and find answers to more of your questions. We’ve actually created a home buying guide, created specifically for first time home buyers to navigate how to buy a home in Alberta. Download it for free and keep it on hand as you continue your research.

Which is better to buy, a house or a condo? Well, neither is necessarily “right” or “wrong,” but one of them could be the best fit for you. Check out the comparison between the perks and pain points of living in a house versus a condo.

Pros of buying a house:

• Detached houses (and the land they sit on) tend to appreciate in value over time.
• You are able to change and renovate a house as dramatically as you’d like.
• A yard provides personal space to enjoy the outdoors and grow a garden during the summer months.
• Houses allow you more flexibility to have pets.
• Houses often have more parking space on the property than you might be given in a condo parkade.

Cons of buying a house:

• Maintaining a yard may mean spending time, energy and money on lawn mowing, tree trimming, landscaping, etc. And you’ll have to shovel the snow off the sidewalks and driveway during the winter.
• Insurance on a house is often more expensive than on a condo.

Pros of buying a condo:

• Yard work and snow clearing on the property is taken care of by the condo board.
• Condo fees usually include some utilities and can be considerably less than the costs associated with owning a detached house.
• Condo fees are predictable, typically only changing on an annual basis, rather than fluctuating month-to-month like house expenses do.
• Insurance on a condo is more like renter’s insurance: less-expensive insurance on contents rather than the structure itself.
• Condos often have party rooms, workout rooms, swimming pools—sometimes even guest rooms.

Cons of buying a condo:

• Any major renovations to your condo must be approved by the condo board first.
• The resale value of a condo often starts to decline after the ten-year mark.
• Condo facilities (party rooms, gyms, swimming pools) are public to all condo residents and may not offer the level of privacy you desire.
• Some condo buildings are adult-only and some don’t allow pets.
• Condos may limit the amount of parking space available to you, and often cannot accommodate large recreational vehicles.

It’s a valid question. Here are some pros and cons of each to help you weigh your decision when purchasing a house.

The pros of buying new:

• The luxury of simply turning the key and walking in—no need for renovations, maintenance or repairs up-front.
• New homes come with warranties. As of February 1, 2014, every new home in Alberta is protected under warranty by one of seven government-approved warranty providers. Coverage extends for 1-10 years.
• New homes are subject to more stringent and comprehensive building codes, and thus may be safer and more energy-efficient.
• Buying a new house comes with the opportunity to personalize your home, from paint and countertop colours to green technology like solar panels and energy-efficient hot water heaters.
• There’s a smaller chance of being involved in a bidding war for a new house than for a resale.

The cons of buying new:

• GST and HST apply to the price of a new home.
• Unless you’re buying an infill build, a brand-new home will likely be in a brand-new neighbourhood, often in a suburb with undeveloped character and culture.
• New homes are often built with cheaper materials and may not last as long.
• Buying a new home before it’s actually built comes with the potential for delays that can cause stress around the move-in date.

Pros of buying a resale:

• GST and HST are not applied to the price of pre-owned homes.
• Resale homes are often located in established neighbourhoods with developed character and culture.
• Older homes are often built with solid wood, copper pipes, a more substantial foundation, etc., and tend to last longer as a result.

Cons of buying a resale

• You may have to pay for renovations, maintenance, or repairs on the home to personalize it to your lifestyle.
• Older homes were often built under older, less comprehensive building codes, and thus may be less energy-efficient.
• There’s a higher chance of being involved in a bidding war for a resale than for a new house.

The Government of Canada’s Home Buyers’ Plan (HBP) allows first-time home buyers (and those considered first-time home buyers) to withdraw up to $60,000 from your RRSP, tax-free.

Short answer, yes! You have to repay the funds that you withdraw back into your RRSP (or have the required repayment added to your taxable income).

You’ll pay back your HBP when you do your taxes every year—you’ll allocate the money you repay into your RRSP either towards the HBP or your RRSP.

Normally the repayment period starts the second year after you withdraw your funds from your RRSP. Currently there is a temporary relief introduced in 2024 for participants that made thier first withdrawal between January 1, 2022, and December 31, 2025 and deferring thier repayment period by 3 years. So, if you took the first withdrawal out in 2022, you’ll start your repayment in 2027. You will still have 15 years to repay to your RRSP. You can choose to start your repayments earlier, but your repayment period will not change. You have 15 years to repay to your RRSP. You can choose to start your repayments earlier, but your repayment period will not change.  

For more information, check out what the Government of Canada has to say.

No, you’ll need to put 100% of your withdrawn RRSP funds towards buying or building a home that will be your primary residence.

You’ll have to buy or build your new home before October 1 of the year following your withdrawal year, so keep that in mind when planning when to take your RRSP funds out.

Still have more questions about the Home Buyer’s Plan? Find more answers in this article on using your RRSP to buy your first home.

Yes. Unlike in some other provinces, where a notary is sufficient legal authority to oversee property transfers, in Alberta it’s mandatory to work with a lawyer when buying a home.

In the most basic terms, a lawyer ensures the transfer of land from the seller to the buyer is legally enforceable and binding. It’s the lawyer who takes on some of the risk you might otherwise assume.

It’s a lawyer’s job to protect both the buyer and the seller from the time the offer is made until the time the deal is done. After the home inspection is passed, the lawyer initiates the two-week process for registering the transfer of land.

One of the documents the lawyer will send you is called a Statement of Adjustments. This document summarizes (among other things) the total property tax owed for the year, the percentage of the property tax that the seller is responsible for and the percentage of the property tax you, the buyer, are responsible for in the year of the sale. Generally, the percentage of the property tax the buyer is responsible for is added to the sale price of the house and paid to the seller.

The lawyer also facilitates the transfer of your down payment to the seller.

Most real estate lawyers are happy to sit down with a potential client and discuss any questions before they actually launch into the legal process.

You can expect to pay both your lawyer’s fee and your lawyer’s disbursements (costs a lawyer can’t avoid) such as courier fees, office administration fees, title insurance, and land title and mortgage registration. A lawyer’s fee might range from $600 and $1,200, plus GST, while the disbursement costs might come to $400 or $500. All in all, you should be budgeting between $1,500-$1,700 for a lawyer’s services.