Closing costs in Ontario: what you actually pay

On a $1,000,000 Toronto home, closing costs start at $32,950 in land transfer tax alone, split evenly between Ontario and the City. A first time buyer gets $8,475 of that back. Add legal fees, title insurance, an $85 registration fee and a $102.56 city administration fee.

Closing costs are everything you pay on or before closing that is not the purchase price and not the down payment. In Toronto the largest one by a wide margin is land transfer tax, because you pay it twice, once to the province and once to the City. Everything else, the lawyer, the title insurance, the registration, the adjustments, is small beside it.

How much is land transfer tax on a Toronto home?

On a $1,000,000 house or condo in Toronto, land transfer tax is $32,950. That is $16,475 to Ontario and $16,475 to the City, and both are due on closing day in certified funds.

Ontario charges 0.5 per cent on the first $55,000, 1 per cent from $55,000 to $250,000, 1.5 per cent from $250,000 to $400,000, 2 per cent from $400,000 to $2,000,000, and 2.5 per cent above $2,000,000 on land with one or two single family residences, per the Ontario Ministry of Finance. The City of Toronto matches those rates up to $2,000,000 and then climbs steeply: 2.5 per cent from $2,000,000 to $3,000,000, 4.40 per cent to $4,000,000, 5.45 per cent to $5,000,000, 6.50 per cent to $10,000,000, 7.55 per cent to $20,000,000, and 8.60 per cent above that. Those upper brackets took effect on 1 April 2026 under a council decision of 17 December 2025. The City also charges an administration fee of $102.56 plus HST per transaction.

Outside Toronto there is no municipal land transfer tax. The same $1,000,000 purchase in Mississauga, Markham or Vaughan costs $16,475 rather than $32,950, and that one line is worth more than most negotiating.

Our land transfer tax calculator does the arithmetic for any price, and our guide to the Toronto tax works through the brackets in detail.

What do first time buyers get back?

Up to $8,475, and your lawyer can usually apply it at registration so you never front the money. Ontario refunds up to $4,000, which means no provincial land transfer tax at all on a home of $368,000 or less. Toronto refunds up to $4,475.

Both ask the same things of you. At least 18 years old. A Canadian citizen or permanent resident. You have never owned a home, or an interest in one, anywhere in the world. Your spouse has not owned one while married to you. You occupy the home as your principal residence within nine months. If the refund is not applied at registration, you have 18 months from registration to claim it.

The words "anywhere in the world" are what catch people. A part share in an apartment overseas counts. So does a home your spouse owned while you were married, even if it sold years ago.

Do you pay HST when you buy a home?

Not on a resale home. The Canada Revenue Agency is direct about it: "sales of used owner-occupied homes are usually exempt", because the seller is not a builder. On a new build, HST applies and is normally already inside the advertised price, with the rebates assigned to the builder.

Two rebates matter right now and both are large.

The federal first time home buyers' GST/HST rebate returns up to $50,000 on a new or substantially renovated home. It is a full rebate of the federal portion on homes up to $1,000,000, reduced between $1,000,000 and $1,500,000, and nothing at or above $1,500,000. The conditions are that the agreement of purchase and sale is signed on or after 20 March 2025 and before 2031, construction begins before 2031, and ownership transfers before 2036. Note that the CRA uses a different test of a first time buyer than the land transfer tax rules do: you must not have lived in a home you or your spouse owned as a principal residence in the current calendar year or the four before it.

Ontario's Enhanced New Housing Rebate then covers the provincial portion. It rebates 100 per cent of it, to a maximum of $80,000, on homes up to $1,000,000, holds at $80,000 between $1,000,000 and $1,500,000, declines between $1,500,000 and $1,850,000, and reverts to the existing $24,000 rebate above that. There is also a 5 per cent Ontario top up for people who qualify. The window is narrow: the agreement with the builder has to be entered into on or after 1 April 2026 and on or before 31 March 2027.

If you are buying a new build inside that window, the two rebates together are worth more than the entire land transfer tax bill on the same home. Ask the builder in writing which rebates the price already assumes.

What does the lawyer charge, and for what?

Two things, quoted separately. The legal fee is the lawyer's own time, and every firm sets its own. Disbursements are what the lawyer pays out on your behalf and passes through at cost.

Registration is fixed by the province. Registering an instrument electronically costs $85.00 as of 3 November 2025, made up of a $71.55 statutory fee, an $11.90 ELRSA fee and $1.55 of HST. You pay it once for the transfer and once for the mortgage charge, so most purchases carry two.

Title insurance is a one time premium the lawyer arranges on closing, and nearly every lender now requires it. Insurers set their own rates and they scale with the purchase price, so ask for the figure in the lawyer's written quote rather than working from a rule of thumb.

Then there are adjustments. If the seller has prepaid property tax, utilities or condo fees beyond the closing date, you reimburse the unused portion. That is arithmetic on the closing date rather than a fee, but it lands on the same statement and in the wrong month it can be a few thousand dollars.

What does a condo add to the bill?

A status certificate, and the fees attached to the building. The corporation can charge up to $100 including all applicable taxes for the certificate and has to provide it within 10 days. Your lawyer reviews it, and that review is usually inside the legal fee, though it is worth confirming.

You will also reimburse the seller for the common expense fee already paid for the closing month. Some corporations charge their own transfer or update fees on top. Those sit in the declaration rather than in legislation, so they vary building to building.

Do you need mortgage default insurance?

Only if the down payment is under 20 per cent. CMHC's premium is a percentage of the loan: 2.40 per cent at 75.01 to 80 per cent loan to value, 2.80 per cent to 85 per cent, 3.10 per cent to 90 per cent, and 4.00 per cent to 95 per cent, or 4.50 per cent at 95 per cent with a non traditional down payment.

The premium itself can be added to the mortgage. The Ontario provincial sales tax charged on that premium cannot be, and it is due in cash on closing. That is the part buyers miss.

What if you are not a Canadian citizen or permanent resident?

Ontario's Non-Resident Speculation Tax is 25 per cent of the purchase price, it applies anywhere in the province, and it has been at that rate since 25 October 2022. On a $1,000,000 home that is $250,000 on top of everything above. The City of Toronto levies its own municipal version as well.

There are exemptions and rebates, including for buyers who become a permanent resident within four years of the purchase. Read them before signing anything.

What should you set aside?

A repeat buyer of a $1,000,000 Toronto home is looking at roughly this, before the lawyer's own invoice:

• Land transfer tax, Ontario: $16,475
• Land transfer tax, City of Toronto: $16,475
• City administration fee: $102.56 plus HST
• Registration, transfer and mortgage charge: $170.00
• Status certificate, if it is a condo: up to $100
• Legal fee, title insurance and other disbursements: quoted by your lawyer
• Adjustments for prepaid tax and utilities: depends on the closing date

So about $33,200 in taxes and fixed fees. A first time buyer in the same house takes $8,475 off that. The same house in Markham, with no municipal land transfer tax, comes to about $16,700.

Work the number out before you write the offer rather than after. Our buying page sets out what we check before an offer goes in, and we will run the closing costs with you on any specific address.

Rules and rates change. Everything above was confirmed against the body that sets it on 22 August 2026. It is information rather than advice, and your lawyer and your accountant are the people who apply it to your purchase.