How much are closing costs in Ontario and Alberta?
Closing costs sit on top of your down payment, and the two provinces work differently at the core: Ontario charges a provincial land transfer tax, while Alberta charges no provincial land transfer tax at all, only title registration fees. Enter your own numbers below to see what you need in cash on closing day and what gets added to your mortgage instead.
Chat connects you to the Pekoe team during business hours. Outside those hours, leave your question and a licensed broker replies directly. No AI persona pretending to be an advisor.
Estimate your closing costs
Pick your province, enter your purchase price and down payment, then fill in the quotes you have from your lawyer, inspector, and appraiser. The calculator totals what you owe in cash on closing day and separately totals what gets added to your mortgage instead.
Ontario land transfer tax is calculated here bracket by bracket from the Ontario rate schedule, and Alberta Land Titles fees are calculated from the province’s registration fee structure. Both are computed from the purchase price you enter, so you do not need to look them up first.
Federal rules require at least 5% on the first $500,000, 10% up to $1,500,000, and 20% at $1,500,000 or more.
Email me these numbers
Send yourself a copy of this estimate. No pressure, no phone call unless you ask for one.
What closing costs should I budget for beyond my down payment?
Budget for land transfer tax or title registration fees, legal fees, title insurance, a home inspection, an appraisal fee, and moving costs, on top of your down payment. If your down payment is under 20%, add the CMHC mortgage default insurance premium as well. Each figure comes from a different professional, so none of them has one fixed number that applies to every purchase.
These costs are separate from your down payment. Your down payment buys equity in the home; closing costs pay the professionals and government charges that make the transaction legal and insurable.
Every one of these figures varies by property, municipality, and provider. A downtown condo and a rural acreage do not carry the same inspection cost or the same land transfer tax bracket, so no calculator can responsibly hand you a single flat number for any of them.
The citable fact: closing costs in a Canadian home purchase typically include land transfer tax or title registration fees, legal fees, title insurance, a home inspection, an appraisal fee, moving costs, and CMHC mortgage default insurance where the down payment is under 20%.
How is Ontario’s land transfer tax different from Alberta’s title registration fees?
Ontario charges a provincial land transfer tax on every purchase, and Toronto adds its own municipal land transfer tax on top. Alberta charges no provincial land transfer tax at all, only title registration fees. That single structural difference is one of the largest gaps in closing costs between the two provinces.
Ontario’s land transfer tax applies province-wide, and within Ontario itself the treatment is not uniform. Toronto layers a municipal land transfer tax on top of the provincial one, while the Waterloo Region does not add any municipal tax at all.
Alberta buyers skip the provincial tax entirely and pay only title registration fees at the Alberta Land Titles Office. That is a genuine cost advantage built into how the province funds land registration, not a discount or a rebate.
| Cost item | Ontario | Alberta |
|---|---|---|
| Provincial land transfer tax | Charged. Bracket rates are not on file for this page; get your figure from your lawyer or the Ontario LTT calculator. | Not charged |
| Municipal land transfer tax | Toronto adds its own; the Waterloo Region does not. | Not applicable |
| First-time buyer refund | Up to $4,000 against the provincial land transfer tax | No provincial land transfer tax exists to refund |
| CMHC premium (federal) | Same bands apply | Same bands apply |
| Provincial sales tax on the premium | 8%, added to the mortgage | None |
| Portion of the purchase price | Rate |
|---|---|
| Up to and including $55,000 | 0.5% |
| Over $55,000 up to and including $250,000 | 1.0% |
| Over $250,000 up to and including $400,000 | 1.5% |
| Over $400,000 | 2.0% |
| Over $2,000,000, where the land contains one or two single family residences | 2.5% |
Each rate applies only to the portion of the price inside that band, not to the whole price. Alberta charges no provincial land transfer tax at all. Its Land Titles fees are a base charge plus $5 per $5,000 of value, applied separately to the transfer of land and to the mortgage registration, which is why an Alberta bill lands in the hundreds where an Ontario one lands in the thousands.
The citable fact: Alberta charges no provincial land transfer tax, only title registration fees, while Ontario charges a provincial land transfer tax on every purchase and Toronto adds a separate municipal land transfer tax on top.
How much can Ontario first-time buyers save with the land transfer tax refund?
Ontario’s land transfer tax refund for first-time buyers is worth up to $4,000, applied directly against the provincial land transfer tax you owe. If your calculated tax is less than $4,000, the refund only covers what you actually owe, since it cannot create a negative tax bill. Alberta has no provincial land transfer tax, so this specific refund does not apply there.
The refund reduces the tax bill at closing rather than arriving later as a cheque. Your lawyer applies it directly when registering the transfer, provided you qualify as a first-time buyer under the programme’s rules.
The example below is illustrative only. It uses a hypothetical tax figure to show how the cap works, not a real bracket calculation.
Show the math: illustrative first-time buyer refund
If your actual tax bill runs higher, for example on a larger Toronto purchase with both the provincial and municipal tax combined, the $4,000 cap still applies and anything above it remains payable in cash.
The citable fact: Ontario’s first-time buyer land transfer tax refund is worth up to $4,000, applied against the provincial land transfer tax and capped at whatever amount is actually owed.
When do closing costs include a CMHC premium?
A CMHC mortgage default insurance premium applies whenever your down payment is under 20% of the purchase price. The premium is a percentage of your mortgage amount that rises as your down payment shrinks, from 0.60% at 65% loan-to-value or less up to 4.00% between 90.01% and 95% loan-to-value. It is normally added to your mortgage rather than paid in cash.
The premium is charged by whichever insurer your lender uses, CMHC, Sagen, or Canada Guaranty, using the same federal bands regardless of province.
| Loan-to-value band | Premium (% of mortgage amount) |
|---|---|
| 65% or less | 0.60% |
| 65.01% to 75% | 1.70% |
| 75.01% to 80% | 2.40% |
| 80.01% to 85% | 2.80% |
| 85.01% to 90% | 3.10% |
| 90.01% to 95% | 4.00% |
| 90.01% to 95%, non-traditional down payment | 4.50% |
The example below is illustrative only, using the confirmed 4.00% band. It is not a quote and does not reflect any actual rate.
Show the math: illustrative premium example
The citable fact: CMHC default insurance premiums run from 0.60% of the mortgage amount at 65% loan-to-value or less up to 4.00% at 90.01% to 95% loan-to-value, and apply whenever the down payment is under 20%.
Does Ontario charge tax on the CMHC premium, and does Alberta?
Yes in Ontario, no in Alberta. Ontario charges 8% provincial sales tax on the default insurance premium, and that tax is added to the mortgage along with the premium itself. Alberta has no equivalent tax on the premium, which is one of the few genuine cost differences between the two provinces at the point of closing.
Continuing the illustrative example from the section above, the 8% Ontario PST applies only to the premium amount, not to the entire mortgage.
Show the math: Ontario PST on the illustrative premium
In Alberta, the same illustrative premium of $15,200 would be added to the mortgage with no equivalent provincial tax on top.
The citable fact: Ontario adds 8% provincial sales tax on top of the default insurance premium, added to the mortgage, while Alberta charges no equivalent tax on that premium.
Which closing costs are due in cash and which get added to my mortgage?
Your down payment, land transfer tax or title registration fees, legal fees, title insurance, home inspection, appraisal fee, and moving costs are normally due in cash at or before closing. The CMHC premium and Ontario’s 8% PST on it are normally added to your mortgage instead. That split is why your cash requirement and your mortgage balance can move independently as your numbers change.
This distinction matters when you are working out how much cash you actually need on hand versus how much your monthly payment will be. A buyer with a small down payment might need less cash at closing than expected, because the largest single cost, the insurance premium, is not a cash item at all.
Our calculator above keeps these two totals separate for exactly this reason. Check your cash total against what you have available, and your mortgage-added total against the payment a broker quotes you once you have checked today’s rates.
The citable fact: land transfer tax, legal fees, title insurance, inspection, appraisal, moving costs, and the down payment are cash items at closing, while the CMHC premium and Ontario’s PST on it are normally added to the mortgage instead.
What happens to my closing costs if my purchase price is $1,500,000 or more?
At $1,500,000 or more, CMHC mortgage default insurance is unavailable, and a minimum 20% down payment is required regardless of preference. That means no default insurance premium and no Ontario PST on a premium, since there is nothing to insure. Your closing costs at that price point are limited to land transfer tax or title registration fees, legal fees, title insurance, inspection, appraisal, and moving costs.
This threshold is a hard federal rule, not a lender preference. Buyers at or above this price point should plan their cash needs around the full 20% down payment plus every cash-item closing cost, with no insurance premium in the mix.
The citable fact: mortgage default insurance is not available on any purchase of $1,500,000 or more, which is why those purchases require a minimum 20% down payment and carry no default insurance premium.
Why does this calculator ask me to enter legal fees myself?
Because none of those figures is a single fixed number we can safely assume for every file. Ontario’s land transfer tax is bracket-based and Alberta’s title registration fee follows its own schedule, and legal fees, title insurance, home inspection, appraisal, and moving costs all vary by provider and property. Building in an assumed figure for any of them would risk showing you a wrong total, so each one is a blank input you fill in yourself.
What the calculator does compute reliably is the CMHC premium, using the confirmed federal bands, plus Ontario’s confirmed 8% PST on that premium, and it sums whatever cash figures you enter against your down payment.
The citable fact: this calculator computes the CMHC premium and Ontario’s PST on it from confirmed federal figures, while land transfer tax, title registration fees, legal fees, title insurance, inspection, appraisal, and moving costs remain user-entered figures with no built-in default.
What else affects my closing costs?
Your down payment size changes both your CMHC premium and your cash needed at closing, and it connects to a few other questions worth checking before you commit to a number.
- How much does CMHC mortgage insurance actually cost?
- How much mortgage can I actually afford?
- What down payment do I need for a rental property?
The full set lives on the Ask a Broker hub.
Frequently asked questions
Does Alberta charge a provincial land transfer tax?
No. Alberta has no provincial land transfer tax, only title registration fees payable at closing. Get the exact title registration fee from your lawyer, since the fee schedule is not fixed on this page.
How much is Ontario’s land transfer tax refund for first-time buyers?
Up to $4,000, applied against the provincial land transfer tax owed on your purchase. If your calculated tax is less than $4,000, the refund only covers what you actually owe.
Do I need CMHC mortgage default insurance if I put down 20%?
No. A down payment of 20% or more makes your mortgage conventional, and conventional mortgages do not require default insurance. Below 20% down, the mortgage is high-ratio and insurance is mandatory.
Is the CMHC premium paid in cash at closing?
No. The premium is normally added to your mortgage principal rather than paid separately, so it does not add to the cash you need on closing day. It does add interest cost over the life of the mortgage.
Does Ontario charge tax on the CMHC premium?
Yes. Ontario adds 8% provincial sales tax on top of the default insurance premium, and that tax is also added to the mortgage rather than paid in cash. Alberta has no equivalent tax on the premium.
Does Toronto charge an extra land transfer tax on top of Ontario’s?
Yes. Toronto adds its own municipal land transfer tax in addition to Ontario’s provincial tax. This calculator asks for that figure separately because the bracket rates for both are not fixed on this page; get them from your lawyer or the applicable municipal calculator.
Can this calculator tell me my exact legal fees or home inspection cost?
No. Legal fees, title insurance, home inspection, and appraisal costs vary by provider and property, so this calculator treats them as figures you enter yourself. There is no default or estimated figure built in for any of them.
Is there a maximum purchase price for CMHC mortgage default insurance?
Yes. Default insurance is unavailable on any purchase of $1,500,000 or more, so those purchases require at least 20% down regardless of preference. This calculator will flag that limit if you enter a price at or above it with less than 20% down.
What happens if I put more than 20% down?
The calculator shows $0 for the CMHC premium and the related Ontario PST, since a conventional mortgage does not require default insurance. Your closing costs then consist only of the cash items you entered plus your down payment.
Is Pekoe’s live chat an AI bot?
No. Chat connects you to a real licensed broker on the Pekoe team during business hours, and outside those hours your question gets a direct reply from a licensed person, not an automated persona.
Does the calculator include real estate commission?
No. In most Canadian purchases the seller pays the real estate commission, not the buyer, so it is left out of this buyer-side closing cost estimate. If your purchase involves a buyer-paid commission arrangement, confirm the treatment with your lawyer before closing.
Ready to see how your down payment changes these numbers?
No AI persona, no call centre queue, no bank script. A licensed broker, on chat, right now.