Your down payment is the number everyone plans around. Closing costs are the number that catches people out: a transfer tax that depends on exemptions most buyers misunderstand, GST on new homes, legal fees with two taxes on them, and a handful of adjustments that turn up on your lawyer's statement a week before completion. The calculator above adds them all up for BC and shows when each payment actually happens.
The short answer
For most BC resale purchases, closing costs land somewhere between about 1.5% and 3% of the price. The biggest variable is property transfer tax. A first-time buyer at the lower end can get close to 1.5%. A move-up buyer with no exemption usually pays 2.5% or more. New builds are the extreme case either way: close to nothing for a first-time buyer who qualifies for both the transfer tax exemption and the new GST rebate, and 5% or more for anyone who pays GST in full.
| Completion in November 2026 | Transfer tax | GST | All closing costs | Share of price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First-time buyer, $799,000 Langley townhouse, 10% down | $5,980 | none | $12,185 | 1.52% |
| Move-up buyer, $1,299,000 Surrey house, 20% down | $23,980 | none | $31,674 | 2.44% |
| First-time buyer, $749,900 presale condo, signed after March 20, 2025 | $0 | $0 after rebate | $5,893 | 0.79% |
| Same presale, signed before March 20, 2025 | $0 | $37,495 | $43,388 | 5.79% |
The last two rows are the same condo with the same buyer. The only difference is the date they signed the contract. That one date is worth $37,495.
Property transfer tax
BC charges property transfer tax when title is registered, and your lawyer pays it on completion day out of the funds you send. The rates are applied in brackets on the fair market value:
- 1% on the first $200,000
- 2% on the portion up to $2 million
- 3% on the portion from $2 million to $3 million
- 5% on residential value above $3 million, which is the 3% rate plus a further 2%
| Price | Transfer tax, no exemption |
|---|---|
| $500,000 | $8,000 |
| $799,000 | $13,980 |
| $1,299,000 | $23,980 |
| $2,500,000 | $53,000 |
| $3,500,000 | $93,000 |
Buyers who aren't Canadian citizens or permanent residents pay an additional 20% on homes in Metro Vancouver, the Fraser Valley and other specified areas. In most cases they're also barred from buying residential property at all by the federal ban on non-Canadian buyers, which runs until at least January 1, 2027, with exceptions for some work-permit holders and others. Our newcomer buying guide covers who qualifies.
The first-time buyer exemption, explained properly
This is the most misquoted rule in BC real estate. You'll read that first-time buyers pay no transfer tax on homes up to $835,000. They don't.
The exemption covers the tax on the first $500,000 of the price, which is a maximum of $8,000, for homes worth up to $835,000. Between $835,000 and $860,000 the exemption shrinks, and at $860,000 it's gone. On a $799,000 townhouse, the full tax is $13,980, the exemption is $8,000, and you pay $5,980.
The phase-out range is where negotiation pays off. Between $835,000 and $860,000, the exemption drops by $320 for every $1,000 of price. Add the normal 2% tax on that same $1,000, and every $1,000 over $835,000 costs you $340 in tax on top of the price itself. On an $845,000 home, you pay $10,100 in transfer tax instead of the $6,700 you'd pay at $835,000.
To qualify you must:
- Be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident.
- Have lived in BC for 12 months in a row before registration, or have filed two BC tax returns in the last six years.
- Never have owned a principal residence anywhere in the world.
- Never have used the exemption before.
The home must also meet two conditions:
- You move in within 92 days and live there for the first year.
- The property is 0.5 hectares or smaller.
If only one of two buyers qualifies, the exemption is cut in proportion to that buyer's share.
New builds: two big breaks, and one catch
The newly built home exemption removes transfer tax entirely on a new home worth up to $1,100,000, and phases out between $1,100,000 and $1,150,000. You don't have to be a first-time buyer, but you do have to be a citizen or permanent resident and live in the home. You can't use it together with the first-time buyer exemption on the same purchase. You get whichever is larger, and for a new home under $1.1 million, the new-build exemption always wins.
GST applies to new homes bought from a builder, at 5% of the price. In BC, presale prices are usually quoted before GST, so a $749,900 condo carries $37,495 of GST on top.
The first-time home buyers' GST rebate became law on March 12, 2026. It refunds 100% of the GST on a new home worth up to $1 million, for a maximum of $50,000. The refund phases out in a straight line to zero at $1.5 million, so a $1.25 million home gets $25,000 back. To qualify, you must be a first-time buyer and the purchase agreement must have been signed on or after March 20, 2025. The builder can credit it on completion, or you can claim it from CRA afterward.
The catch is the date. Most presales completing in 2026 were signed in 2022, 2023 or 2024, and those buyers don't qualify for the new rebate. The older GST new housing rebate phases out completely at $450,000, so it's no help on almost anything in the Lower Mainland. If you're buying a presale today, the rebate is real money. If you're completing one you signed years ago, budget for the full 5%.
Our new home GST calculator goes further into the rebate rules. If you're buying an assignment, the GST rules are different, so see the presale assignment calculator.
Legal fees and title insurance
In BC, either a lawyer or a notary public can handle a residential purchase. Expect somewhere around $1,500 to $2,000 all-in for a straightforward purchase with a mortgage. That covers the fee itself, disbursements such as title searches and Land Title Office registration, and taxes. One BC-specific detail: legal services carry both 5% GST and 7% PST, so about 12% of the fee is tax. When comparing quotes, ask for the all-in number.
Title insurance protects you and the lender against problems with title, such as survey issues, unpermitted work that affects title, or certain frauds. It usually costs a couple of hundred dollars. Most lenders accept it in place of a survey, and many lawyers include it in their package, so check before you count it twice.
Adjustments: the lines that surprise people
Your lawyer's statement of adjustments evens out costs that the seller has prepaid or still owes as of the completion date. You become responsible for the property on the completion day itself.
Property tax. Most Lower Mainland municipalities bill property tax once a year, with payment due in early July.
- Completion after the July due date: the seller has already paid the whole year, so you reimburse them for the days from completion to December 31. On the default townhouse closing November 16, that's about $332.
- Completion before July: the seller credits you for the days they owned the home, and you pay the full year's bill yourself in July. The credit lowers your cash at closing, but the July bill is still coming. A May closing on the same townhouse gives you a credit of about $961, and then a bill of about $2,637 two months later.
Strata fees. Strata fees are usually paid monthly in advance. If the seller has paid the month you close in, you reimburse the days from completion to month end.
Interest adjustment. Most lenders want your regular payments to start on a set date, often the first of a month. They charge interest on the new mortgage from completion to that date and usually take it out of the mortgage advance. The result is that you need to send your lawyer a bit more cash. On a $741,392 mortgage at 4.34% closing on November 16, that's about $1,322 for the 15 days to December 1. It's the line that most often catches buyers off guard, because nobody mentions it until the week before closing.
Inspection, appraisal and insurance
Inspection. A home inspection in the Lower Mainland usually costs roughly $500 to $800 for a condo and $700 to $1,200 for a house, and you pay it during the subject period, before you've firmed up the deal. On a new build, a deficiency inspection before your walkthrough is cheaper and worth doing.
Appraisal. Often covered by the lender on insured mortgages. On some conventional files you may pay $300 to $500.
Home insurance. This has to be in place before your lender will fund. It isn't a closing cost exactly, but the first premium tends to land that same week. For a condo, make sure your policy covers the strata's deductible, which in many BC buildings is now very large for water damage.
Strata costs
Move-in fees. Most buildings charge one, commonly somewhere around $100 to $300, and many also take a refundable damage deposit. Under the Strata Property Regulation these are user fees and must be reasonable. BC's Civil Resolution Tribunal has reduced fees it found out of line with the strata's real costs.
Paperwork. The Form B information certificate and the Form F payment certificate are normally ordered and paid for by the seller.
Special levies. This is the bigger issue. Who pays a special levy depends on when it was approved and what your contract says. A levy approved before your offer usually stays with the seller, but read the Form B and the minutes, and deal with any levy in the contract rather than assuming.
Deposits and timing
In a typical BC resale purchase, you pay a deposit, often 5% of the price, within about 24 hours of removing subjects. It's held in trust by the brokerage and counts toward your down payment, so it isn't an extra cost. It's the first large sum to leave your account, though, and it has to be ready days after your offer is accepted.
BC also has a three-business-day rescission period after an accepted offer on most residential purchases. Using it costs 0.25% of the price. For a $799,000 home, that's $1,997.50.
About a week before completion, your lawyer sends a statement showing exactly how much to wire or bring as a bank draft. That figure includes the rest of the down payment, transfer tax, any GST, the lawyer's fees and the adjustments. Your lender sends the mortgage money directly to the lawyer. The timeline in the calculator follows this same order.
Presale completions: what's different
Deposits. A presale deposit isn't one payment. It's usually 10% to 20% of the price, paid in instalments over the first year or so of the contract and held in trust until completion. It counts toward your down payment, but the money leaves your account years before the keys arrive.
Timing. Completion dates on presales usually fall inside a window rather than on a fixed date, and the developer gives notice once occupancy is approved. That makes the interest adjustment and property tax adjustment hard to predict until the last few weeks. Budget for the high end.
Documents. New homes in BC come with mandatory home warranty coverage, which is built into the price rather than charged at closing. The strata's first-year budget is set by the developer and is often optimistic. Expect the fees to rise at the first annual general meeting.
Appraisal. If the unit appraises below your contract price at completion, the lender lends on the lower number and you make up the difference in cash. Our CMHC calculator walks through an example where a $49,900 appraisal shortfall means bringing almost $45,000 more to keep the same insurance tier.
Buying and selling at the same time
If you're selling one home and buying another, the order matters.
- Buying completes first. Your down payment is still tied up in the home you haven't sold yet. A bridge loan from your lender covers the gap, usually for a few weeks, with a setup fee and interest on top.
- Selling completes first. You'll need somewhere to live in between, and possibly storage.
The cleanest option is usually to line up both completion dates a day or two apart, with the sale first. On the selling side, commission, your lawyer and any mortgage penalty come out of the proceeds before you see the money. Our net proceeds calculator and mortgage penalty calculator cover that half.
What isn't a closing cost in BC
- The CMHC premium. It's added to your mortgage, and BC doesn't charge provincial sales tax on it, so no cash is due at closing. Buyers in Ontario, Quebec and Saskatchewan do pay provincial tax on the premium up front, and some online calculators include that line for BC by mistake. Our CMHC calculator shows the premium itself.
- The speculation and vacancy tax declaration. You'll need to file it each year in areas where the tax applies, but for an owner who lives in the home there's nothing to pay.
- The Home Owner Grant. Claim it on your property tax bill, not at closing.
Mistakes we see with closing costs
Assuming first-time buyers pay no transfer tax up to $835,000. The exemption tops out at $8,000. On an $800,000 home you still pay $6,000.
Counting on the new GST rebate for a presale signed before March 20, 2025. It doesn't apply, and 5% GST on a $750,000 condo is $37,495.
Draining savings for the down payment and forgetting the 1.5%. Lenders generally want to see about 1.5% of the price available for closing costs, on top of the down payment.
Forgetting the interest adjustment. A mid-month closing can add more than $1,000 to the cash your lawyer asks for.
Closing in spring and spending the tax credit. The full property tax bill arrives in July.
Paying $1,000 above $835,000 without doing the math. In the first-time buyer phase-out range, each $1,000 of price costs $340 more in tax.
Questions people ask us
How much are closing costs in BC?
For most resale purchases, about 1.5% to 3% of the price, driven mainly by property transfer tax. A first-time buyer at $799,000 pays roughly $12,000 all-in, including $5,980 of transfer tax. A move-up buyer at $1,299,000 pays about $31,700. New builds range from almost nothing, with the new-build transfer tax exemption and the first-time buyer GST rebate, to over 5% with full GST.
Do first-time buyers pay property transfer tax in BC?
Usually some. The first-time buyer exemption covers the tax on the first $500,000, up to $8,000, for homes worth up to $835,000, and phases out by $860,000. Homes at $500,000 or less pay nothing. On an $800,000 home, the tax is $14,000 before the exemption and $6,000 after.
Can I combine the first-time buyer and newly built home exemptions?
No. You can claim one or the other on a purchase, and you'd choose the larger. For a new home worth up to $1,100,000, the newly built home exemption removes the whole tax, so it's always the better choice there.
Who qualifies for the $50,000 first-time buyer GST rebate?
First-time buyers of a newly built or substantially renovated home who signed the purchase agreement on or after March 20, 2025. It refunds all the GST on homes up to $1 million, to a maximum of $50,000, and phases out to zero at $1.5 million. It became law on March 12, 2026. It doesn't apply to resale homes.
Is PST charged on CMHC insurance in BC?
No. BC doesn't charge provincial sales tax on mortgage insurance premiums, so there's nothing to pay at closing for it. The premium itself is added to your mortgage.
How much does a lawyer or notary cost to buy a home in BC?
Typically around $1,500 to $2,000 all-in for a standard purchase with a mortgage, including disbursements and taxes. Legal services in BC carry both 5% GST and 7% PST. Ask for an all-in quote when you compare.
When do I pay closing costs?
In stages. The inspection is paid during the subject period, and the deposit within about 24 hours of removing subjects. The rest goes to your lawyer about a week before completion: the remaining down payment, property transfer tax, any GST, legal fees and adjustments. Moving costs and strata move-in fees come around possession.
What is the interest adjustment on a mortgage?
It's interest from your completion date to the date your regular payments are set to start, often the first of the next month. Lenders usually deduct it from the mortgage advance, so you have to send the lawyer that much more. On a $741,392 mortgage at 4.34%, 15 days of interest is about $1,322.
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No surprises on completion day
The price, the completion date and the deposit timing all change what you need and when. Dan plans those with you before you write an offer, and he'll connect you with a lawyer or notary and a mortgage broker who explain the numbers up front. Your calculator inputs come along with the message.
Buying through EstateBlock? Ask about our buyer cashback rebate, which can go toward closing costs.
