Closing costs in Canada: land transfer tax + everything else
Closing costs in Canada vary wildly by province — from a few hundred dollars in Alberta to $30,000+ in Toronto on a typical home — because every province sets its own land transfer tax, and Toronto piles a municipal one on top. The tool below works out yours; the rest of this guide walks through what’s in the number and what isn’t.
Closing Costs Calculator
Total closing costs
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- Net land transfer tax
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- Legal + title + inspection
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Show the math
| Provincial LTT | — |
| Municipal LTT | — |
| First-time buyer rebate | — |
| Net LTT | — |
| Legal fees | — |
| Title insurance | — |
| Home inspection | — |
Estimate only. Foreign-buyer surcharges (BC, Ontario), the BC speculation tax, and Quebec's notary fee aren't included — see the closing costs guide for context. Always confirm with your lawyer or notary.
What the calculator includes
- Provincial land transfer tax (LTT) using each province’s 2026 bracket schedule.
- Municipal LTT in Toronto (full mirror of the Ontario schedule), Halifax (1.5% Deed Transfer Tax), and Montreal (higher upper brackets above $1.1M). Other municipalities default to provincial-only — confirm with your lawyer if you’re closing somewhere unusual.
- First-time buyer rebates for BC (full PTT exemption to $500k, phasing out to $835k for resale; $1.1M / $1.15M for new builds), Ontario (up to $4,000 provincial + $4,475 Toronto MLTT), and PEI (full exemption from the 1% RPTT). Quebec ($750) and Saskatchewan ($1,050) offer income-tax credits rather than LTT rebates — those don’t reduce the LTT line but they do reduce your tax bill the next April.
- Standard third-party fees: legal ($1,500 default), title insurance ($250), home inspection ($500). Adjust under “Adjust standard fees” if your numbers differ.
What the calculator doesn’t include
- Foreign-buyer taxes. BC’s Additional PTT (20% for foreign buyers in designated regions), Ontario’s Non-Resident Speculation Tax (25% province-wide), and the federal foreign buyer ban (in effect through 2027) are out of scope. If any apply to you, the calculator’s number is wildly low.
- BC speculation and vacancy tax. Annual, not closing-day, but worth budgeting for if you’re buying in Metro Vancouver / Victoria / Kelowna and not occupying.
- Quebec notary fees (typically $1,200–$2,000). Quebec uses a notary-led closing system rather than the lawyer-based system of common-law provinces; if your province is Quebec, mentally add ~$1,500 to the legal-fees line.
- GST/HST on new builds. Resale homes are exempt; new builds carry 5% GST. The legacy federal rebate phases out between $350k and $450k; the May-2025 expansion adds a separate first-time-buyer rebate (full to $1M, partial to $1.5M). Provincial sales tax also applies in some provinces. Talk to the builder — many quote the post-rebate price.
- CMHC premium. That’s part of the mortgage, not a closing cost. The down payment guide and the affordability tool cover that one.
- Property tax adjustment. At closing, you reimburse the seller for property tax they’ve prepaid covering days you’ll own the property. Usually a few hundred to a couple thousand dollars depending on the time of year and the local rate.
- Title insurance over the default. The $250 default is for a typical resale single-family home; new builds and condos often run higher. Your lawyer will tell you the actual quote.
Province-by-province quick reference
- AB, SK — no LTT. Registration fees only, well under $500.
- NL — no LTT. Registration fees scale with price; about $1,300 on a $300k home.
- NB, PE — flat 1%. PEI’s 1% is fully waived for first-time buyers.
- NS — municipal Deed Transfer Tax, typically 1.5% in Halifax / 1% elsewhere.
- MB — tiered up to 2%; $5,650 on a $400k home.
- ON — tiered up to 2.5%, plus a matching MLTT inside Toronto. First-time buyers save up to $8,475 in Toronto, $4,000 elsewhere.
- QC — tiered “Welcome Tax”, indexed annually, with higher upper brackets in Montreal. Bill arrives 30–60 days after closing, not at closing.
- BC — tiered up to 5%, with the most generous first-time buyer exemption in Canada (full to $500k resale / $1.1M new build).
How to think about it
Closing costs aren’t optional and they aren’t financed into the mortgage (the CMHC premium is the only thing that gets rolled in). You need them in cash at closing, on top of the down payment. A common rule of thumb: budget 1.5% of purchase price for closing in no-LTT provinces, 3% in BC and Ontario outside Toronto, and 4% in Toronto. Run the calculator for your specific case before relying on the rule.
If you’re tight on cash, the down payment guide walks through the trade-offs of putting more vs less down. Sometimes putting 5% down (paying CMHC) preserves the cash you need for closing — even if 20% would have been cheaper over the life of the mortgage.