Alberta does not charge land transfer tax. That is the headline, and it is the main reason closing here costs less than closing in Toronto or Vancouver on an identical purchase price. A buyer in Ontario at $600,000 pays land transfer tax measured in thousands. An Alberta buyer at $600,000 pays registration fees measured in hundreds.
What Alberta does charge is a land titles registration fee, on the transfer of the land and again on the mortgage. Those fees went up on October 20, 2024, and a good number of pages still quote the old rates. Here is the current calculation, and what else belongs on a realistic closing budget.
How much to set aside before you know any of the numbers
Long before you have a lawyer's quote or a specific property, you need a figure to plan against. The federal consumer agency gives one: closing costs generally run between 1.5 and 4 per cent of the home's purchase price.
That is a national rule of thumb rather than an Alberta calculation, and Alberta sits at the friendly end of it, because the single largest item in provinces with land transfer tax simply does not exist here. Used as a planning number rather than a prediction, it does the job: it tells you the money has to be liquid and separate from your down payment.
| Property type | Benchmark price | At 1.5% | At 4% |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apartment | $295,400 | $4,431 | $11,816 |
| Row | $415,200 | $6,228 | $16,608 |
| Total residential | $569,800 | $8,547 | $22,792 |
| Detached | $744,300 | $11,165 | $29,772 |
The benchmark prices are the Calgary board's August 2026 figures, used here only to put the percentage range against real local numbers. The spread between the two columns is wide because the variable items, chiefly legal fees, mortgage default insurance and the tax adjustment, genuinely do vary that much from one transaction to the next.
Two things this range does not include, and both catch people out.
The deposit is not a closing cost. It is part of your down payment, paid shortly after the offer is accepted and credited back to you on the statement of adjustments. Budgeting the two together understates how much cash you need and when you need it, because the deposit is due weeks or months earlier.
Neither is moving. Movers, utility connections, and anything the home needs on day one all land in the same week as closing and none of them appear on the lawyer's statement. They are real money on the same date, which is the only thing that matters when you are working out whether the cash is there.
The land titles registration levy
The Government of Alberta describes the change as raising the sliding scale from $2 per $5,000 of property value, and $1.50 per $5,000 of value for mortgages, to $5 per $5,000 of value for both transfers of land and mortgage registrations.
| Registration | Before | On or after October 20, 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| Transfer of land | $2 per $5,000 of value | $5 per $5,000 of value |
| Mortgage registration | $1.50 per $5,000 of value | $5 per $5,000 of value |
The change applies to submissions received on or after October 20, 2024. It was announced in Budget 2024 and proclaimed in force by an Order in Council signed September 25, 2024.
The full fee is a base charge plus the variable component:
$50 + $5 for every $5,000 of value, charged separately on the transfer and on the mortgage.
A worked example
Take a $600,000 purchase with a $480,000 mortgage, meaning a 20 per cent down payment.
- Transfer of land: $50 + ($600,000 divided by $5,000, times $5) = $50 + $600 = $650
- Mortgage registration: $50 + ($480,000 divided by $5,000, times $5) = $50 + $480 = $530
- Total land titles cost: $1,180
Buying without a mortgage means only the transfer portion applies, so the same purchase in cash costs $650 at Land Titles. Run your own numbers through the formula rather than reaching for a table of pre-calculated figures, since the mortgage amount moves independently of the price.
What else lands on a closing statement
The rest of the costs are quoted per transaction rather than set by any authority, so treat any specific figure you see quoted online with suspicion, including ours. What follows is what each item is and what drives it.
Legal fees and disbursements
A real estate lawyer handles the transfer, the mortgage registration, title searches and the final statement of adjustments. The fee is quoted by the firm. Disbursements, which include the land titles fees calculated above, are passed through on top and are worth asking about separately so you are comparing like with like.
Title insurance
A one-time premium covering title defects, survey problems and certain kinds of fraud. Frequently required by the lender. The premium varies with the property value and the insurer.
Home inspection
Paid before closing, and usually before your conditions come off, so it is out of pocket well ahead of possession. Quoted per inspection and varies with the size and age of the home.
Appraisal
Sometimes ordered by the lender to confirm value. Sometimes the lender absorbs it, sometimes it is passed to the buyer, so ask early rather than discovering it on the statement.
Property tax adjustment
This one surprises buyers most often, because it is not a fee at all. If the seller has already paid the year's property taxes, you reimburse them for the portion of the year you will own the home. On a possession date early in the year this is small. Later in the year, after the annual bill has been paid, it can be a significant line.
Mortgage default insurance
Required where the down payment is under 20 per cent. The premium is normally added to the mortgage rather than paid at closing, so it affects your balance and payment rather than your cash requirement on possession day.
Not everything is due on the same day
Closing costs get discussed as one lump because they appear on one statement, but the cash leaves your account on at least three different dates. Getting that sequence wrong is the most common reason a buyer who genuinely has enough money still has a difficult week.
| When | What | Where it shows up |
|---|---|---|
| During conditions | Home inspection, and the appraisal if the lender passes it on | Paid directly to the provider, not on any statement |
| Days after the offer is accepted | Deposit | Held in trust, credited back to you on the statement of adjustments |
| Before possession | Balance of the down payment, land titles fees, legal fees, title insurance, tax adjustment | The lawyer's statement of adjustments |
| Possession week | Movers, utility connections, anything the home needs immediately | Nowhere on any statement |
The inspection is the one worth flagging to a first-time buyer. It is spent during the condition period, which means it is spent on homes you may not end up buying. A buyer who inspects three properties before one holds together has paid for three inspections, and none of that appears in a percentage-of-purchase-price estimate.
New construction is a different calculation
A newly built home may attract GST, which has its own rebate rules depending on price and how the home will be used. Resale homes generally do not. If you are buying new, treat GST as a separate question to work through with your lawyer or accountant, because the rebate thresholds change the answer materially.
The short version
Alberta buyers should budget for land titles registration fees calculated from the formula above, legal fees and disbursements, title insurance, an inspection, possibly an appraisal, and a property tax adjustment that depends on the possession date. What they should not budget for is land transfer tax, because there isn't one.
Plan against the federal one and a half to four per cent range while you are still shopping, narrow it to real figures once you have a lawyer's quote and a possession date, and keep the deposit and the moving money separate from both. The deposit is your own down payment arriving early, and the movers are not on anybody's statement.
This is a summary of published fee rules, not legal or tax advice. Your lawyer's statement of adjustments is the document that governs what you actually pay.