Closing Costs by Province: What Buyers Pay Across Canada
What you pay to close depends far more on your province than on your price. In Alberta and Saskatchewan, which charge no land transfer tax, closing costs land at roughly 1 percent of the price. In Toronto, where a municipal land transfer tax is charged on top of the Ontario one, the same buyer is looking at 3 to 4 percent. As a national guideline the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada says to be prepared to spend between 1.5 and 4 percent of the purchase price on closing costs. Your province decides where inside that range you land.
Why the province matters more than anything else
Most closing costs are steady across the country. Legal fees, title insurance, a home inspection, and an appraisal all land in similar ranges no matter where you buy. Land transfer tax does not. It is charged as a percentage of the purchase price, so it scales with the home, and several provinces do not charge it at all. That one line is what moves a buyer from the bottom of the national range to the top of it.
The cheap end: about 1 percent in Alberta
Alberta charges no land transfer tax. It charges land titles registration fees instead, and those are set by a formula rather than a percentage, so they stay small even on an expensive home. On a $450,000 purchase with the minimum 5 percent down, which means a $427,500 mortgage:
| Cost | Amount |
|---|---|
| Transfer of land registration ($50 plus $5 per $5,000) | $500 |
| Mortgage registration ($50 plus $5 per $5,000) | $480 |
| Legal fees | About $1,500 |
| Title insurance and home inspection | About $900 |
| Core total | About $3,400 |
That core total is about 0.75 percent of the purchase price. Add an appraisal and an Alberta buyer is at roughly $3,800, which is just under 1 percent. Property tax adjustments and the first year of home insurance sit on top of that and push the total cash you need higher again, which is set out in full in what a first-time buyer really needs beyond the down payment. Saskatchewan works the same way, with no transfer tax and a value-based land titles registration fee in its place.
Registration fees calculated from the Alberta Land Titles and Surveys Common Document Fee Schedule: $50 plus $5 for every $5,000 of value, charged separately on the transfer of land and on the mortgage. Fee schedule verified 12 August 2026.
The expensive end: 3 to 4 percent in Toronto
A Toronto buyer pays two land transfer taxes on the same purchase. The Ontario land transfer tax applies across the province, and the City of Toronto charges its own municipal land transfer tax on top. Below $2,000,000 the two use the same brackets, so the tax is effectively doubled. On that same $450,000 home the Ontario tax works out to about $5,475, and the Toronto tax adds about the same again, for roughly $10,950 in transfer tax alone.
Put the same legal fees, title insurance, inspection and registration costs on top and a Toronto buyer is near $13,650, which is about 3 percent of the price. The percentage climbs as the price rises, because more of the purchase falls into the higher brackets, which is how Toronto reaches the 4 percent end. First-time buyers can claim a refund of up to $4,000 against the Ontario tax and a rebate of up to $4,475 against the Toronto tax. Claiming both cuts that $10,950 down to about $2,475, which changes the picture completely. Check what you qualify for before budgeting the full amount.
Ontario and Toronto figures calculated from the published bracket rates in the table below. First-time buyer amounts from Ontario Ministry of Finance, "the maximum amount of the refund is $4,000", and City of Toronto, "a rebate of up to $4,475.00". All verified 12 August 2026.
Land transfer tax by province
Every rate below was checked against the government source that sets it. Rates verified 12 August 2026.
| Province | Transfer tax | Rate |
|---|---|---|
| British Columbia | Property transfer tax | 1% to $200,000, 2% from $200,000 to $2,000,000, 3% above $2,000,000 |
| Alberta | None | Land titles registration fees only |
| Saskatchewan | None | Land titles registration fee based on value |
| Manitoba | Land transfer tax | Nil to $30,000, 0.5% to $90,000, 1% to $150,000, 1.5% to $200,000, 2% above $200,000 |
| Ontario | Land transfer tax | 0.5% to $55,000, 1% to $250,000, 1.5% to $400,000, 2% to $2,000,000, 2.5% above |
| Toronto | Municipal land transfer tax, on top of Ontario | Same brackets to $2,000,000, then graduated rates rising above $3,000,000 |
| New Brunswick | Real property transfer tax | 1% of the greater of price or assessed value |
| Nova Scotia | Municipal deed transfer tax | Set by each municipality, capped at 1.5% by provincial law |
| Quebec | Charges a transfer duty. HiveRewards does not operate in Quebec, so it is not covered here. | |
Sources, all verified 12 August 2026: Government of British Columbia, property transfer tax rates. Government of Manitoba Finance, land transfer tax. Government of Ontario, calculating land transfer tax. City of Toronto, municipal land transfer tax rates and fees, graduated rates effective 1 April 2026. Government of New Brunswick, Real Property Transfer Tax Act, section 2(1.03), rate of 1 percent on or after 1 April 2016. Nova Scotia Municipal Government Act, section 102, deed transfer tax "shall not exceed one and one half per cent of the value of the property transferred". Alberta Land Titles and Surveys, Common Document Fee Schedule. Information Services Corporation, Saskatchewan land titles fees. Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador also apply transfer or registration charges on a purchase; their current rates are not quoted here because we could not confirm them at the government source.
What the transfer tax gap looks like in practice
Take the same $450,000 home in three places. In Alberta the buyer pays no transfer tax at all. Alberta registers two documents on a financed purchase, the transfer of land and the mortgage, and charges $50 plus $5 per $5,000 of value on each. On a $450,000 purchase with a $427,500 mortgage that comes to about $980 in total, and it is collected by your lawyer at closing.
In Ontario the same buyer pays land transfer tax under the brackets above. In Toronto they pay that provincial tax and then the municipal land transfer tax on top of it, on the same purchase. That is why Toronto sits at the expensive end of any national comparison, and why a buyer moving from Calgary to Toronto is often surprised by the closing statement rather than the list price.
The full Alberta breakdown, line by line, is here: what are closing costs in Alberta.
What else is on the closing bill
Transfer tax aside, the rest of the list is broadly similar wherever you buy in Canada.
| Component | Typical cost |
|---|---|
| Legal and lawyer fees | $1,000 to $2,000 |
| Title insurance | $300 to $500 |
| Home inspection | $300 to $600 |
| Appraisal | $300 to $500 |
| Land transfer tax or registration fees | Depends entirely on the province |
| Property tax and utility adjustments | Varies with your possession date |
| First year of home insurance | Required by your lender before funding |
Mortgage default insurance applies only when your down payment is under 20 percent, and the premium is usually added to the mortgage rather than paid in cash at closing. There is a longer list of things first-time buyers get caught by here: what a first-time buyer really needs beyond the down payment.
Can cashback offset closing costs?
Some of it, yes. Home buyer cashback is funded from the budgets the professionals on your purchase already spend to find each new client. They pay that budget to HiveRewards instead of to advertising, and most of it goes to you. On a $450,000 purchase with the minimum 5 percent down:
| Source of cashback | Approximate amount |
|---|---|
| Realtor-side cashback | $1,620 |
| Mortgage-side cashback | $1,026 |
| Combined total | $2,646 |
On a $450,000 purchase that covers a real share of the closing bill, and in a no-transfer-tax province it can cover most of it. Amounts are estimates. Actual cashback depends on the home price, the down payment, and the participating professionals. Cashback is not taxable for a home you live in: is home buyer cashback taxable in Canada. HiveRewards operates across Canada, excluding Quebec.
The short version
- Roughly 1 percent of the price in Alberta and Saskatchewan, and 3 to 4 percent in Toronto.
- Nationally the FCAC guideline is 1.5 to 4 percent of the price. Your province decides where in that range you land.
- Alberta and Saskatchewan charge no transfer tax, only land titles registration fees.
- Toronto is the most expensive case, because a municipal land transfer tax is charged on top of the Ontario one.
- Cashback of about $2,646 on a $450,000 purchase offsets part of the bill wherever you buy.