The purchase price and down payment are only part of what you need on closing day. Budgeting 1.5–4% of the purchase price for closing costs is a reasonable planning rule — where you land in that range depends heavily on whether property transfer tax applies and whether you're buying new construction.
Costs that apply almost everywhere
- Legal or notary fees. The professional who handles your conveyancing — title search, drafting and reviewing documents, coordinating funds and registering title. Budget roughly $1,000–$2,000 for a typical residential purchase, more for a complex file.
- Title insurance. A one-time policy protecting against title defects, fraud, or survey issues not caught in the title search — usually a few hundred dollars, and frequently required by lenders.
- Home inspection. Typically $400–$800 depending on the property's size and type, and one of the best-value subjects you can put in an offer.
- Appraisal fee. Sometimes covered by the lender, sometimes billed to the buyer — confirm which with your mortgage professional.
- Property tax and utility adjustments. If the seller has prepaid property tax, strata fees, or utilities beyond the completion date, you reimburse them their prorated share at closing — a credit, not a cost you can plan around zero, but budget for it.
- Home insurance. Lenders require proof of insurance in place before funding — get a quote early, not the week before completion.
- Moving costs. Easy to underestimate — get a real quote if you're using movers, not a guess.
Property transfer tax — the biggest variable
This is where BC and Alberta genuinely diverge:
- British Columbia charges Property Transfer Tax on a tiered scale: 1% on the first $200,000, 2% up to $2 million, 3% above that, plus an extra 2% on the residential portion of a property valued over $3 million. First-time buyers and some newly built homes may qualify for a full or partial exemption. On a $900,000 purchase, PTT alone runs roughly $16,000 — by far the largest single closing cost most BC buyers face.
- Alberta has no land transfer tax at all. Alberta buyers instead pay Land Titles Office registration fees — $50 plus $5 per $5,000 of value (or part of a $5,000 increment) for the title transfer, and the same formula again for a mortgage registration if you're financing. On that same $900,000 purchase, total registration fees run in the hundreds of dollars, not the thousands — a meaningful, often-overlooked difference in total cost between the two provinces.
Costs specific to new construction
- GST. New homes are subject to 5% GST on the purchase price (resale homes are not); a partial rebate may apply below certain price thresholds.
- Deposit structure. Presale and new-construction deposits are often staged over the construction period rather than paid as one lump sum at offer acceptance — confirm the full schedule before you commit.
Costs specific to strata/condo purchases
- Status certificate / strata documents review. Your lawyer or notary should review the strata's financials, meeting minutes, depreciation report and any pending special assessments — sometimes a modest fee, always worth doing.
- Move-in fees. Many strata corporations charge a one-time move-in (and move-out) fee, typically $100–$300.
A simple way to budget
For a typical BC resale purchase, plan on roughly 2–4% of the purchase price in total closing costs once PTT is included. For a typical Alberta resale purchase, plan on roughly 1–1.5%, since the largest BC line item simply doesn't exist there. Either way, get a real number from your lawyer or notary once you have an accepted offer — this checklist is a planning tool, not a substitute for their final statement of adjustments.
Want a closing-cost estimate specific to a property you're considering? Reach out and we'll walk through the real numbers before you write an offer.