Understanding Oxford County’s Affordable Home Ownership Program

While we recently outlined the advantages of the First Time Home Buyer Incentive, as a first-time homebuyer in Oxford County, you may be able to access other funding sources.

Oxford County delivers the Affordable Home Ownership Program on behalf of both the federal and provincial governments. If your household income is $92,700 or less and you’re currently renting in Oxford County, you may be eligible to receive a down-payment assistance loan of 5% of the purchase price of an eligible home – to a max of $21,000.

Unlike the First Time Home Buyer Incentive, with this program, you don’t need to match or exceed the down payment yourself – the loan covers your down payment.

Under the program, you can buy a single-family home, a semi-detached, a townhouse (condo or freehold), a row house, or a condo apartment. The home must be located in Oxford County and have a maximum purchase price of $425,000. It includes new construction and resale.

The loan is interest-free. And it’s forgivable after 20 years. So if you live in the home for 20 years or more, you don’t have to pay it back.

Of course, 20 years is a long time, and there’s a good chance you’ll sell sooner than that. If you do, the terms are similar to those of the First Time Home Buyer Incentive. You pay back the principal, plus 5% of the capital appreciation of the house (effectively 5% of the home’s value, as with the FTHBI). If the house increases in value by $40,000, you pay back the loan plus $2000. (If the house decreases in value, the terms are better than with the FTHBI. The loan takes the hit for the decrease [capital loss] – the loss is subtracted entirely from the loan amount, and if it’s more than the loan amount, the loan’s forgiven.)