ClosingCorp report reveals that hundreds of counties implemented higher taxes
The average closing cost for a single-family property in 2018 were $5,779 including taxes, and $3,344 excluding taxes.
The figures have been released by ClosingCorp using cost calculations include lender’s title, owner’s title, appraisals, settlement fees, recording fees, land surveys and transfer tax; plus home price data from CoreLogic; to create $100,000 price ranges.
“The average home price is a number, but not necessarily a real property with a real closing. To get a sense of what is really going on in the market, we compared real cost data on more than 1.5 million purchase transactions that went through our SmartFees platform in 2018,” said Dori Daganhardt, senior vice president of Data Strategy. “We also used ‘market-specific’ rates and fees charged by the most active settlement services providers in each geographic area, not just network averages.”
Highest and lowest closing costs
The states with the highest average closing costs, including taxes, were: District of Columbia ($24,613), New York ($13,581), Delaware ($13,309), Washington ($12,667) and Maryland ($11,395) while those with the lowest closing costs, including taxes, were: Missouri ($1,887), Indiana ($2,002), South Dakota ($2,149), Iowa ($2,248) and Nebraska ($2,267).
The states with the highest average closing costs, excluding taxes, were: District of Columbia ($5,694), New York ($5,586), Hawaii ($5,318), California ($5,284) and Washington ($4,701) while those with the lowest closing costs, excluding taxes, were: Missouri ($1,887), Nebraska ($1,919), South Dakota ($1,995), Indiana ($2,002) and Iowa ($2,011).
“Because closing costs are based on sale price and taxing jurisdictions, the rankings of high and low-cost states tend to be relatively static,” said Bob Jennings, chief executive officer of ClosingCorp. “However, that doesn’t mean that various jurisdictions aren’t continually contemplating increases and adjustments.”
He added that the firm’s research showed more than one-third of all counties considered an adjustment to their taxes in 2018 and adjustments in more than 200 counties actually went into effect.
More adjustments expected
Jennings noted some interesting twists, such as four New York counties that let their local mortgage tax expire and then reinstated the same tax; and the city of Baltimore, which introduced a ‘yield tax,’ which is essentially a ‘tax on tax.’
“We expect to see even more adjustments in 2019, including a new law which increases the mansion tax on a sliding scale for transfers where the consideration is in excess of $2 million in New York City—already one of the cities with the highest closing costs,” concluded Jennings.
Average Closing Costs by State
|
State |
|
Average Home |
|
Average Total |
|
Average Total |
|
Percentage |
|
AK |
|
$200,000 - $300,000 |
|
$3,197 |
|
$3,197 |
|
1.07% |
|
AL |
|
$100,000 - $200,000 |
|
$2,580 |
|
$2,361 |
|
1.56% |
|
AR |
|
$100,000 - $200,000 |
|
$2,530 |
|
$2,027 |
|
1.57% |
|
AZ |
|
$200,000 - $300,000 |
|
$3,561 |
|
$3,561 |
|
1.26% |
|
CA |
|
$600,000 - $700,000 |
|
$6,765 |
|
$5,284 |
|
1.09% |
|
CO |
|
$400,000 - $500,000 |
|
$3,570 |
|
$3,496 |
|
0.88% |
|
CT |
|
$300,000 - $400,000 |
|
$7,003 |
|
$3,416 |
|
2.11% |
|
DC |
|
$600,000 - $700,000 |
|
$24,613 |
|
$5,694 |
|
3.87% |
|
DE |
|
$200,000 - $300,000 |
|
$13,309 |
|
$3,322 |
|
4.83% |
|
FL |
|
$200,000 - $300,000 |
|
$6,459 |
|
$3,585 |
|
2.35% |
|
GA |
|
$200,000 - $300,000 |
|
$3,600 |
|
$2,733 |
|
1.61% |
|
HI |
|
$600,000 - $700,000 |
|
$6,665 |
|
$5,318 |
|
1.02% |
|
IA |
|
$100,000 - $200,000 |
|
$2,248 |
|
$2,011 |
|
1.34% |
|
ID |
|
$200,000 - $300,000 |
|
$3,066 |
|
$3,066 |
|
1.17% |
|
IL |
|
$200,000 - $300,000 |
|
$5,523 |
|
$4,454 |
|
2.31% |
|
IN |
|
$100,000 - $200,000 |
|
$2,002 |
|
$2,002 |
|
1.10% |
|
KS |
|
$200,000 - $300,000 |
|
$2,532 |
|
$2,428 |
|
1.10% |
|
KY |
|
$100,000 - $200,000 |
|
$2,311 |
|
$2,162 |
|
1.39% |
|
LA |
|
$100,000 - $200,000 |
|
$3,445 |
|
$3,120 |
|
1.82% |
|
MA |
|
$400,000 - $500,000 |
|
$5,924 |
|
$3,820 |
|
1.21% |
|
MD |
|
$300,000 - $400,000 |
|
$11,395 |
|
$3,667 |
|
3.59% |
|
ME |
|
$200,000 - $300,000 |
|
$3,563 |
|
$2,461 |
|
1.40% |
|
MI |
|
$100,000 - $200,000 |
|
$3,983 |
|
$2,696 |
|
2.37% |
|
MN |
|
$200,000 - $300,000 |
|
$3,790 |
|
$2,446 |
|
1.56% |
|
MO |
|
$100,000 - $200,000 |
|
$1,887 |
|
$1,887 |
|
0.95% |
|
MS |
|
$200,000 - $300,000 |
|
$2,475 |
|
$2,475 |
|
1.14% |
|
MT |
|
$200,000 - $300,000 |
|
$2,741 |
|
$2,741 |
|
0.96% |
|
NC |
|
$200,000 - $300,000 |
|
$2,850 |
|
$2,316 |
|
1.24% |
|
ND |
|
$200,000 - $300,000 |
|
$2,501 |
|
$2,501 |
|
1.18% |
|
NE |
|
$100,000 - $200,000 |
|
$2,267 |
|
$1,919 |
|
1.24% |
|
NH |
|
$200,000 - $300,000 |
|
$6,183 |
|
$2,405 |
|
2.37% |
|
NJ |
|
$300,000 - $400,000 |
|
$6,026 |
|
$3,658 |
|
1.71% |
|
NM |
|
$200,000 - $300,000 |
|
$2,964 |
|
$2,964 |
|
1.26% |
|
NV |
|
$300,000 - $400,000 |
|
$5,489 |
|
$3,801 |
|
1.74% |
|
NY |
|
$400,000 - $500,000 |
|
$13,581 |
|
$5,586 |
|
3.36% |
|
OH |
|
$100,000 - $200,000 |
|
$3,347 |
|
$2,877 |
|
2.08% |
|
OK |
|
$100,000 - $200,000 |
|
$3,010 |
|
$2,649 |
|
2.01% |
|
OR |
|
$300,000 - $400,000 |
|
$3,921 |
|
$3,568 |
|
1.14% |
|
PA |
|
$200,000 - $300,000 |
|
$9,950 |
|
$4,050 |
|
4.95% |
|
RI |
|
$300,000 - $400,000 |
|
$4,563 |
|
$2,940 |
|
1.52% |
|
SC |
|
$200,000 - $300,000 |
|
$3,276 |
|
$2,352 |
|
1.48% |
|
SD |
|
$100,000 - $200,000 |
|
$2,149 |
|
$1,995 |
|
1.31% |
|
TN |
|
$200,000 - $300,000 |
|
$3,746 |
|
$2,581 |
|
1.86% |
|
TX |
|
$200,000 - $300,000 |
|
$3,770 |
|
$3,770 |
|
1.42% |
|
UT |
|
$300,000 - $400,000 |
|
$3,960 |
|
$3,960 |
|
1.18% |
|
VA |
|
$300,000 - $400,000 |
|
$5,842 |
|
$3,150 |
|
1.81% |
|
VT |
|
$200,000 - $300,000 |
|
$5,750 |
|
$2,756 |
|
2.56% |
|
WA |
|
$400,000 - $500,000 |
|
$12,667 |
|
$4,701 |
|
3.02% |
|
WI |
|
$100,000 - $200,000 |
|
$2,595 |
|
$2,143 |
|
1.41% |
|
WV |
|
$100,000 - $200,000 |
|
$3,367 |
|
$2,490 |
|
2.27% |
|
WY |
|
$200,000 - $300,000 |
|
$2,523 |
|
$2,523 |
|
0.95% |
