A deposit is the first financial hurdle a homebuyer needs to clear when buying a pre-construction home.

That deposit is generally five per cent of a home's total value for a purchase of less than $500,000, but it can be as high as 20 per cent for a $1-million-plus home. Those funds are a pre-construction commitment to the builder to take that condo or single-family home off the market. That money also gets put toward your eventual down payment.

When buying a new home, warranty may not be on the fore front of decisions, but the Alberta government introduced new warranty standards for new home buyers on Feb. 1.

Builders will now have to provide mandatory home warranty coverage for all new homes built in Alberta under the New Home Buyer Protection Act.