Closing Cost Calculator: What It Costs to Buy a Home in Canada

Closing costs are the cash you pay on top of your down payment to complete a home purchase: the provincial transfer tax, the lawyer or notary, title insurance, inspections and the adjustments settled on closing day. This calculator gives a first estimate for any province from your price and down payment, and the tables below compare the part that changes most from one province to the next, the transfer tax. For the individual costs and the province guides, see the closing costs directory.

What the calculator includes, and what it assumes

The estimate is a starting point, not a quote. It adds up:

• The provincial transfer tax or registry fees for the province you choose, from the same data files as the land transfer tax calculator. Choose the City of Toronto to add its municipal land transfer tax, or Montreal or Quebec City for their own transfer-duty brackets. In Alberta, Saskatchewan and Newfoundland and Labrador it also adds the fee for registering the mortgage, which is charged on the amount borrowed. Nova Scotia’s deed transfer tax is set by each municipality, and the calculator uses Halifax’s rate.
• First-time buyer relief applied at closing: Ontario’s land transfer tax refund, Toronto’s municipal rebate, British Columbia’s first-time buyer exemption and PEI’s exemption, each assuming you meet that program’s conditions. Quebec’s first-time buyer credit is claimed later on your tax return, so it isn’t subtracted.
• Fixed allowances that don’t change with your inputs: $1,800 for legal fees, $350 for title insurance, $500 for a home inspection and $400 for an appraisal. Real quotes can differ a lot.
• A property tax adjustment equal to half a year of property tax, with the annual tax assumed to be 1% of the price. The real figure depends on your municipality’s rate and the closing date.
• Mortgage insurance when the down payment is under 20%. The premium is normally added to the mortgage rather than paid in cash, so the calculator shows it below the total instead of in it, at the rate for a 25-year amortization. In Ontario, Quebec and Saskatchewan the provincial tax on that premium is due in cash at closing (see which provinces tax the mortgage insurance premium), so it is in the total. If the price or the down payment rules out insurance, the calculator says so instead of showing a premium; the CMHC insurance calculator shows the premium on its own.

It leaves out the mortgage interest adjustment, mortgage registration fees outside the three provinces above, BC’s separate exemption for newly built homes, GST/HST on a new home, moving costs and home insurance.

A worked example

Closing costs by province

The transfer tax is where provinces differ most. Some charge a tiered percentage of the price, some a flat percentage, and Alberta, Saskatchewan and Newfoundland and Labrador charge registration fees instead of a land transfer tax. The table works out the tax or fee on a $500,000 home from each province’s published schedule, then adds the calculator’s other allowances ($5,550) for an estimate before any first-time buyer rebate, with 20% or more down.

For Alberta and Saskatchewan the calculator above adds both land titles fees, for the transfer and for the mortgage, from your price and down payment.

Beyond the transfer tax, a few costs belong to particular provinces. Quebec buyers close with a notary rather than a lawyer. Alberta sales usually come with a real property report from the seller, which the title insurance guide compares with a title policy. In some provinces, sales tax on the mortgage insurance premium has to be paid in cash at closing: see which provinces charge PST on mortgage insurance. First-time buyers can get a refund or exemption on the transfer tax in Ontario, Toronto, British Columbia, Quebec and Prince Edward Island, each with its own conditions, set out on the province’s page in the land transfer tax calculator section.

Totals at higher prices

The tiered taxes in Ontario and British Columbia step up with each bracket. The same method at two higher prices, with 20% or more down and no first-time buyer rebate:

In Toronto the municipal land transfer tax comes on top of Ontario’s: choose the City of Toronto in the calculator above, or see the Toronto land transfer tax calculator for both taxes bracket by bracket.

Buyer closing costs vs seller closing costs

Buyers and sellers both pay costs to close, but they are different costs. The ranges below are rough guides to compare against your own quotes.

Buyer closing costs

Seller closing costs

Each buyer cost is explained, with who charges it and when it’s paid, in what closing costs include.

Help with the cash you need

Several federal and provincial programs reduce what a first-time buyer pays up front or help build the down payment, from transfer tax refunds to the First Home Savings Account and the Home Buyers’ Plan; the first-time home buyer guide covers each one. A buyer of a newly built home may also get part of the GST or HST back through the GST/HST new housing rebate.

The mortgage down payment calculator works out the down payment itself, and the mortgage calculator the payments that follow.