Alberta is one of only two provinces — with Saskatchewan — where a home buyer pays no land transfer tax, and of the two Alberta is considerably the cheaper. That single fact is why almost every closing-cost guide you find online is wrong for Calgary: the familiar “budget 3% to 4% of the purchase price” rule is built around a tax you will never pay here. On a typical Calgary purchase the real figure is closer to 1%.
That does not mean closing is free. You will still pay a lawyer, register the title, and settle up property taxes with the seller. The calculator below gives you a real number for a Calgary purchase, itemized, with the ranges shown honestly rather than a single made-up figure. Statutory amounts follow published 2026 rates and formulas; market-priced services are shown as ranges. Treat every figure as a planning estimate, not a quote.
How much are closing costs in Alberta?
About 1% of the purchase price for a typical resale purchase with a mortgage, because Alberta charges no land transfer tax. On a home at Calgary’s August 2026 benchmark price of $569,800 (CREB), with 20% down, the buyer’s closing costs land roughly between $3,200 and $7,000. Here is where that money goes.
| Cost | Typical 2026 amount | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Land Titles — transfer registration | $620 | $50 + $5 per $5,000 of value (114 × $5 on $569,800) |
| Land Titles — mortgage registration | $510 | $50 + $5 per $5,000 of the $455,840 mortgage |
| Legal fees and disbursements | $1,300 – $2,000 | Published Calgary flat rates, net of the Land Titles fees above; GST and routine disbursements included |
| Title insurance | $300 – $550 | Owner and lender policies, one-time; often offered by the seller in place of a Real Property Report — what title insurance costs in Alberta |
| Home inspection | $450 – $800 | Optional, strongly recommended on resale; less for a condo |
| Appraisal | $0 – $600 | Only if your lender requires one; frequently waived or absorbed |
| Property tax adjustment | $0 – six months of the annual bill | Depends on possession month; the calculator works out your case |
| Condo document review | $265 – $630 | Condos and townhouses only; the seller supplies the document package itself, the review is your due diligence |
| Land transfer tax | $0 | Alberta has none. The same home would cost about $7,900 in Ontario land transfer tax or $9,400 in BC property transfer tax under those provinces’ published formulas |
| GST | $0 on resale | 5% on new construction only; first-time buyer rebate applies to new homes up to $1M |
Statutory amounts follow published 2026 rates (Alberta Land Titles levy effective 20 October 2024). Market-priced services are shown as Calgary ranges. Planning estimates, not a quote — confirm with your lawyer and lender.
Closing costs, over and above your down payment
$0
| Cost | Estimate |
|---|---|
| Total closing costs | |
| Down payment | |
| Cash you need on closing day |
Added to your mortgage, not paid in cash
Notice what isn’t on that list: a land transfer tax.
Every other province charges one, and on a home this size it runs into five figures. Moving to Alberta from Ontario or BC? That saving is only the first one — calculate what your household keeps each year once income and sales tax are counted too.
Estimates only, for planning. Statutory amounts — registration fees, GST, and the property tax adjustment — are estimated from published 2026 rates (as of September 2026). The tax adjustment uses your purchase price as a stand-in for the City assessed value, so the real adjustment will differ, and the first-time buyer GST rebate has further eligibility conditions not captured here. Professional fees are typical Calgary ranges and will vary by firm and by file. Confirm final figures with your lawyer and lender before you close. Not legal or tax advice.
What each of these costs actually is
Land Titles registration fee — the closest thing Alberta has to a transfer tax
Alberta charges a registration fee rather than a tax: $50 plus $5 for every $5,000 of the property’s value to register the transfer into your name, and the same $50 plus $5 per $5,000 on the principal of your mortgage. Both rates rose in October 2024 from $2 and $1.50 respectively, so older calculators and older blog posts understate this — if a figure you find online looks suspiciously small, that’s why. On a $700,000 home with a $560,000 mortgage the two registrations come to $1,360 combined. Real, but not in the same universe as a transfer tax.
Legal fees
Your lawyer reviews the contract and title, handles the mortgage instructions from your lender, arranges the payout of the seller’s mortgage, calculates the adjustments, and registers everything at Land Titles. Calgary firms overwhelmingly quote flat rates, scaled to price, and most bundle routine disbursements — couriers, copies, registration submissions — into the quoted number. On a $700,000 purchase with a mortgage, published Calgary flat-rate schedules work out to roughly $1,300 to $2,000 including GST once the Land Titles fees are counted separately (Kahane Law, One80 Law and Shory Law, 2024–2026), rising with price and complexity. A cash purchase costs a few hundred dollars less because there is no mortgage to register or report on.
Title insurance
A one-time policy, typically a few hundred dollars for the owner and lender policies together (what title insurance costs in Alberta has the figures), that protects you against title defects, survey and compliance problems, and title fraud. It has quietly become standard in Alberta for a specific reason: sellers increasingly offer title insurance instead of producing a current Real Property Report with municipal compliance, because an RPR costs them more and takes weeks. If your deal goes that route, read what the policy does and does not cover — it protects against loss, but it does not tell you where your fence actually sits.
Property tax adjustment
This one surprises almost every first-time buyer, and it is the reason two identical purchases can have closing costs hundreds of dollars apart. Alberta property taxes cover the calendar year and fall due at the end of June. If you take possession after the seller has paid the year’s bill, you reimburse them for the part of the year you will own the home. If you take possession before the bill is paid, the adjustment usually runs the other way — the seller credits you for the months they owned it, and you then pay the full year’s tax yourself. The calculator above handles both cases and tells you which one you are in. On a brand-new home the possession-day adjustment is on the builder’s land-only bill; the City then sends you a supplementary tax bill for the house, prorated by month, later in the year.
Home inspection and appraisal
An inspection is optional and, in my view, close to mandatory on any resale home — $450 to $800 for a house, less for a condo, against a purchase measured in hundreds of thousands. An appraisal is your lender’s requirement, not yours; on straightforward urban properties with conventional financing it is very often waived or absorbed by the lender, which is why the calculator shows it starting at zero.
Condo documents
If you are buying into a condo corporation, the seller has to produce the document package — bylaws, budget, reserve fund study, minutes, and an estoppel certificate confirming what the unit owes — under Alberta’s standard resale condo contract, and the corporation’s fees for producing it are capped by regulation. Your cost is the review: a professional condo document review in Calgary runs about $250 to $600 plus GST (CondoScan, 2026), and it is money well spent. Read them, or have someone read them with you. The reserve fund study is the single most predictive document about what your condo fees will do over the next decade.
GST — only on brand-new homes
Resale homes carry no GST. New construction from a builder carries 5%, and since March 2026 there is a First-Time Home Buyers’ GST Rebate (Bill C-4; it applies to builder agreements signed on or after 20 March 2025) that eliminates the federal GST entirely on a new home up to $1 million, phasing out on a straight line to nil at $1.5 million. One important Calgary-specific caution: builders here almost always quote a price with GST already included and the rebate already assigned to them. Do not assume you owe the calculator’s GST figure on top of a builder’s advertised price — confirm in writing which way the contract is written before you sign.
CMHC premium — financed, not paid at closing
If your down payment is under 20%, mortgage default insurance is mandatory: 4.00% of the loan at 5% down, 3.10% at 10%, 2.80% at 15%. It is added to your mortgage principal rather than paid in cash, so it does not belong in your closing-day cash requirement. Worth knowing: some provinces charge provincial sales tax on that premium and require it in cash at closing, because it cannot be rolled into the loan. Alberta charges nothing.
What this calculator deliberately leaves out
Three things, all of which catch people out. The Real Property Report with municipal compliance is the seller’s obligation under Alberta’s standard purchase contract, so it is not in your buyer total — but it is worth knowing it costs the seller several hundred to a thousand dollars and takes weeks, which is precisely why so many sellers now offer title insurance instead. Moving, utility hookups, and immediate repairs are real money in your first month and belong in your budget even though they are not closing costs. And your deposit is not an extra cost at all: you pay it when your offer is accepted and it comes off your down payment at closing, so it appears nowhere in the totals above.
One more, for out-of-province buyers: Alberta charges no additional tax on non-resident or foreign buyers, and no speculation or vacancy tax. That is a statement about Alberta tax, not about eligibility to buy: the federal Prohibition on the Purchase of Residential Property by Non-Canadians runs until 1 January 2027 and applies in census metropolitan areas and census agglomerations, which includes Calgary. It carries exemptions for permanent residents, certain temporary residents, refugees and some others. If you are not a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, confirm your eligibility before you make an offer. There is no Alberta equivalent of BC’s speculation and vacancy tax or Toronto’s vacant home tax.
Frequently asked questions
Does Alberta have a land transfer tax?
No. Alberta and Saskatchewan are the only two provinces without one. Saskatchewan charges a title transfer fee of 0.3% of value, so Alberta is the cheaper of the pair. You pay a Land Titles registration fee instead — $50 plus $5 per $5,000 of value — which on a typical Calgary home works out to a few hundred dollars rather than the tens of thousands a transfer tax would cost.
How much are closing costs in Calgary?
For a typical resale purchase with a mortgage, budget around 1% of the purchase price. On a $700,000 home that works out to roughly $3,400 to $7,700 — the spread is mostly your possession month, because a July or August closing means reimbursing the seller for half a year of property tax while a February closing does not. Lower-priced homes run a higher percentage, since the lawyer and the inspector cost the same whatever you paid. All of it is materially less than the 3% to 4% rule of thumb quoted nationally, because that figure assumes a land transfer tax you will not pay.
Who pays closing costs, the buyer or the seller?
Both, but different ones. Buyers pay their own lawyer, registration fees, title insurance, inspection, and the property tax adjustment. Sellers pay real estate commission, their own lawyer, the mortgage discharge, and the Real Property Report with compliance. The largest single closing cost in most transactions — commission — is the seller’s.
Can I add closing costs to my mortgage?
Generally no. Closing costs are cash you must have available on possession day, and lenders will usually want to see proof you have roughly 1.5% of the purchase price on hand beyond your down payment. The CMHC premium is the exception, and it is added to the loan automatically.
Do I pay GST when I buy a house in Calgary?
Not on a resale home. New construction from a builder attracts 5% GST, though first-time buyers now receive a full federal rebate on new homes up to $1 million, and Alberta builders typically quote GST-inclusive prices. Always confirm how your builder’s contract handles GST and the rebate before signing.
Planning a purchase in Calgary?
The closing-cost number is the easy part. What it costs you to buy the wrong home is the expensive part — and that is where having someone in your corner who will tell you the honest version of a community, a building, or a reserve fund study actually earns its keep. Whether you are buying your first home in Calgary or relocating from Ontario or BC, I’ll walk you through the numbers for your specific situation before you write an offer.
Preet Jandu, eXp Realty — get in touch or call 587-435-0029. Moving to Alberta from out of province? Run the tax savings calculator, start with the relocation guide, or browse the Calgary community guides.
Title insurance is one of the lines above — what title insurance costs in Alberta explains the premium, what it covers and when a Real Property Report does the job instead. Relocating from Ontario or BC? The Alberta tax-savings calculator shows the yearly side of the move; the Calgary buying guide walks through the rest of the purchase.
