Closing Costs When Buying in Calgary

The Good News for Alberta Buyers

Alberta does not charge a land transfer tax.

That is a genuine advantage over most other provinces, where transfer tax alone can run to many thousands of dollars. Alberta instead charges comparatively modest land titles registration fees.

What You Should Budget For

• Legal fees and disbursements — your lawyer's charge for handling the purchase, title transfer and mortgage registration
• Land titles registration fees — for the transfer and the mortgage
• Property tax adjustment — reimbursing the seller for any period they have prepaid
• Home insurance — required by lenders, in place before possession
• Home inspection, where you have one
• Appraisal, where the lender requires it
• Mortgage default insurance premium, where applicable — usually added to the mortgage rather than paid up front, though the provincial tax on it may be payable at closing
• Condo document fees, where applicable
• GST, on new construction

The Ones People Forget

These sit outside the lawyer's statement and still have to be paid:

• Movers
• Utility connections and deposits
• Immediate repairs or changes before you move in
• Locks, cleaning, window coverings
• Overlap between possession dates, if any

A buyer who spends the last dollar on the down payment and then discovers the possession-day list is in an uncomfortable position. Leave a cushion.

How Much, Roughly?

We deliberately avoid publishing a single percentage. What you pay depends on the price, the property type, whether it is new or resale, whether it is a condo, your lawyer's fees and your lender's requirements — and a rule of thumb applied to the wrong purchase is worse than no rule at all.

The calculator applies current Alberta figures to your actual purchase price, which is a far more useful answer than a percentage.