How Much Are Closing Costs When Buying a Home in Ontario?

Closing costs when buying a home in Ontario are the amounts due on top of the price and the down payment. For most resale purchases the largest line is provincial land transfer tax. On a home priced over $400,000 and up to $2 million, the Ministry of Finance quick formula is price times 2% minus $3,525. An $800,000 home is $12,475 in provincial tax. Buyers in the City of Toronto pay a municipal land transfer tax as well, so the tax bill is roughly double before any first-time buyer rebate. Legal fees, title insurance, and tax adjustments sit on top of that, and they are smaller than the tax on a typical GTA price.

This is a planning guide for agents and their buyers, not a tax opinion. The lawyer on the file calculates the number that is actually paid.

What counts as a closing cost, and what does not?

The down payment is not a closing cost. It is part of the purchase price. A mortgage default-insurance premium, when the down payment is under 20%, is usually added to the mortgage rather than paid in cash on closing, though the lender's rules decide that.

Cash a buyer should expect near registration:

• Provincial land transfer tax, and municipal land transfer tax if the property is in the City of Toronto
• The buyer's lawyer, often a flat fee plus disbursements
• Title insurance
• Adjustments: the seller may have prepaid property tax or condo fees, and the buyer reimburses the unused portion
• Status certificate and related condo documents, when the purchase is a condominium. The corporation's fee for the certificate itself is capped. See what a condo status certificate contains
• A home inspection, if the buyer orders one during a condition. That is usually paid before closing, not to the lawyer

Moving costs, furniture, and immediate repairs are real, and they are not closing costs. Agents who fold them into one scary number make the tax look smaller than it is, and the move look larger.

How is Ontario land transfer tax calculated?

Land transfer tax is charged on the value of the consideration, which starts with the purchase price and can include liabilities the buyer assumes and other benefits. It is marginal. Each rate applies only to the slice of value inside its band. The Ministry of Finance states these rates for agreements entered into after November 14, 2016, where registration is on or after January 1, 2017:

The quick formulas on the same page, for registrations on or after January 1, 2017:

Worked examples using that formula, as of October 2026:

HST, when it applies to a purchase, is not part of the value of the consideration for land transfer tax. Resale residential property is usually exempt from HST. New construction and some substantial renovations are not. That is a different question from HST on the agent's commission.

What do Toronto buyers pay on top?

The City of Toronto charges municipal land transfer tax on top of the provincial tax. For a typical resale house or condo the municipal brackets track the provincial ones through $2 million, which is why people say Toronto buyers pay about double. Rates on the portion above $3 million were revised by the city effective April 1, 2026. Do not quote a luxury figure from memory. Read the current table on the city's municipal land transfer tax page before you put a number in a listing presentation.

Mississauga, Brampton, Vaughan, Markham, Oakville, and the rest of the GTA outside the City of Toronto do not charge that municipal tax. "GTA" and "Toronto" are not the same tax answer. A buyer moving from a North York condo to a Mississauga house drops the municipal tax entirely. A buyer moving the other way picks it up.

How does the first-time buyer refund work?

Ontario refunds up to $4,000 of provincial land transfer tax to an eligible first-time buyer. That $4,000 is the full provincial tax on a home worth about $368,000. On anything priced higher, the buyer still pays provincial tax, reduced by $4,000. The City of Toronto has its own rebate against the municipal tax. The two refunds do not replace each other.

The provincial test is not the same test as the federal First Home Savings Account or Home Buyers' Plan. Those federal plans use a four-year lookback at whether you lived in a home you or your spouse owned. The land transfer tax refund looks at whether you have ever owned a home, anywhere. A client can qualify for one and fail the other. Say that out loud before they spend the refund in their head.

Eligibility details, including age, citizenship or permanent residence, occupancy within a set period, and the spousal rule, are on the Ministry of Finance refund page. Send the client there, or to their lawyer. Do not certify them yourself.

What else should you warn a buyer about?

Foreign buyers. The Non-Resident Speculation Tax is 25% of the value of the consideration on residential property anywhere in Ontario, on top of land transfer tax, when the buyer is a foreign national, a foreign corporation, or a taxable trustee. The rate has been 25% since October 25, 2022. There are narrow rebates and transitional cases. This is lawyer territory the moment a buyer is not a citizen or permanent resident.

New builds. The price on the builder's agreement may already treat HST in a way the resale form does not. Rebates assigned to the builder can make the sticker price look simpler than the tax actually is. Ask the buyer's lawyer to read the HST clause before the offer is firm.

Condo and rural extras. A status-certificate review, a well or septic inspection, or a survey the lender demands can add a few hundred to a few thousand dollars. They are predictable if you ask on the first showing, and ugly if they appear three days before closing.

What else sits inside the value of the consideration?

The tax is not calculated on the prettiest number in the listing. The Ministry of Finance uses the value of the consideration. That definition includes the purchase price, liabilities the buyer assumes, benefits conferred as part of the deal, soft costs, and the cost of upgrades. A repair credit does not automatically lower the tax. A liability the buyer takes on can raise it. The lawyer reads the agreement. You should not subtract appliances in your head and text a new tax figure.

Three rules on the same Ministry page get skipped in buyer meetings:

• The statements are in Canadian dollars. If the price is in another currency, the conversion date is the day the agreement becomes a binding contract, or the registration date if there is no written agreement.
• When HST applies to the purchase, that HST is not part of the value of the consideration. Land transfer tax is not charged on the HST itself. The Ministry keeps that rule on its own page, separate from the rate table.
• A vacant lot sold with a construction contract is taxed on the lot plus the construction contract, not on the lot price alone.

Above $2 million, where the land contains one or two single family residences, the slice over $2 million is taxed at 2.5%. The quick formula on that page is value times 0.025 minus $13,525. On $2,200,000 the provincial tax is $41,475. Do not keep using the minus-$3,525 formula once the price crosses $2 million. That formula is for the band up to $2 million.

A cottage or cabin can be a single family residence for this tax even if the family lives somewhere else most of the year, and even if it is not habitable in January. Zoning does not decide it. A residence on agricultural land that qualifies for the farm property class is outside the definition. If the seller calls it a farm, that is a lawyer question, not a reason to drop the rate in your estimate.

Toronto at ordinary prices is the other place agents get casual. Provincial tax on $800,000 is $12,475. Where the city's brackets still match the province, the municipal tax is another $12,475, about $24,950 before any rebate. Confirm the municipal number on the city's own page before you send it. The city revised the rates above $3 million effective April 1, 2026. A luxury figure you memorized last year is the wrong text message.

Put the estimate in one table and label every line an estimate:

A buyer putting down less than 20% should ask the lender whether default-insurance is added to the mortgage or due in cash. You can name that question. The lender answers it. The down payment remains part of the price either way.

How should an agent use this in a buyer meeting?

Quote the provincial formula, say whether the property is inside the City of Toronto, and label the result an estimate. Then name the three items the lawyer will still add: fee, title insurance, and adjustments. Buyers remember the agent who said "$12,475 in provincial tax, and about the same again if we stay in the city" more than the agent who said "budget 1.5% for closing."

Keep the note on the buyer file: price discussed, city or not, first-time or not, foreign-buyer question asked. The follow-up after the showing should repeat the same numbers, not a new set. Consistency is what makes the estimate trustworthy. The tone of that note is the same one in following up without being pushy: one useful fact, no pressure to book a second meeting you have not earned.

"Land transfer tax is calculated on the value of the consideration." Ontario Ministry of Finance, Calculating Land Transfer Tax, page current as of April 22, 2026.

None of the figures above replace the statement of adjustments. They exist so a buyer can decide whether the price they want to offer still works after tax.