Complete Guide to Closing Costs When Buying a Home in the GTA
Land transfer tax is usually the single largest closing cost for GTA buyers, but it's rarely the only one. Here's the full picture of what to budget for beyond your down payment.
Land Transfer Tax
Covered in depth in our Ontario Land Transfer Tax and Toronto Land Transfer Tax guides — for most GTA buyers, this is the largest closing cost by a wide margin, especially within Toronto, where you pay both provincial and municipal tax. Use our Land Transfer Tax Calculator for your exact estimate.
Legal Fees
Every purchase requires a real estate lawyer to handle the closing — reviewing the agreement, conducting a title search, registering the transfer, and disbursing funds. Legal fees for a typical GTA residential purchase generally range from roughly $1,500 to $3,000, though this varies by law firm and transaction complexity.
Title Insurance
Protects against certain title defects, fraud, or survey issues that a standard title search might not catch. Typically a few hundred dollars, and often arranged directly by your lawyer as part of the closing process.
Home Inspection
Optional but strongly recommended, particularly for resale properties. Costs generally range from $400 to $700 depending on property size and inspector.
Appraisal Fees
Your lender may require an appraisal to confirm the property's value supports your mortgage amount. Sometimes covered by the lender, sometimes passed on to the buyer — worth confirming with your mortgage professional before closing.
Adjustments
At closing, you reimburse the seller for any prepaid property taxes, utility costs, or condo fees covering the period after your closing date. This isn't a fixed cost — it depends on the property's specific tax and fee schedule and your closing date within the year.
Moving Costs
Easy to underestimate. Professional movers for a typical GTA home run anywhere from a few hundred dollars for a small local move to several thousand for a larger household or longer distance.
Mortgage Default Insurance (If Applicable)
If your down payment is less than 20%, mortgage default insurance is required and typically added to your mortgage rather than paid upfront — but it increases your total borrowing cost and monthly payment, worth factoring into your overall budget.
A Rough Total
For a typical GTA resale purchase outside Toronto, non-land-transfer-tax closing costs commonly land somewhere between $2,500 and $5,000, before moving costs. Add land transfer tax on top — which, as covered in our other guides, is often the largest single number in this whole list, particularly for Toronto purchases.
The Practical Takeaway
Land transfer tax gets the most attention because it's the largest and most variable of these costs, but a realistic closing budget needs the full list, not just the tax. Use our calculators for the land transfer tax and mortgage penalty pieces specifically, and build in a reasonable estimate for the rest based on the ranges above.
This is general information, not financial or legal advice. Exact costs vary by transaction, lawyer, lender, and property. Confirm specifics with your real estate lawyer and mortgage professional before budgeting your closing.