BC Closing Costs Calculator

Try a typical scenario

Where this fits in your buying journey

1. AffordabilityWhat you can buy
3. PTTTransfer tax
5. Cash-to-CloseClosing day cash
7. MortgageMonthly payment

Worked example: a new Langley townhouse at $1,079,000

Twenty per cent down is $215,800. The bracket-rate property transfer tax comes to $19,580, and because the home is new and under the $1.1M ceiling, the BC Newly Built exemption erases all of it. That is the line most buyers expect to be the painful one, and on this purchase it is zero.

The painful one is the federal GST: 5% of $1,079,000 is $53,950. A repeat buyer gets nothing back. The New Housing Rebate stops paying at a $450,000 price set in 1991 and never indexed. A first-time buyer who will live there claims the newer rebate brought in by Bill C-4 in March 2026, recovers $42,100 of it, and is left with $11,850. Same home, same price, a $42,100 difference decided by who is buying.

So the repeat buyer wires $215,800 down plus roughly $57,650 in closing costs: about $273,450 at the notary, against a purchase they may have budgeted at $219,500. On a resale home at the same price there would be no GST at all, which is why the newly-built toggle above moves the total so far.

The one insured buyers miss: tax on the insurance premium

A first-time-buyer couple buying a Walnut Grove townhouse at $950,000 with 10% down ($95,000) land above the $860,000 cap, so no transfer-tax exemption: $17,000 owing. The mortgage is $855,000 at 90% loan-to-value, which carries a 3.10% insurance premium of $26,505. The premium itself rolls into the mortgage. The 7% provincial sales tax on it does not: $1,855, in cash, on closing day. That single line is larger than their inspection, title insurance and adjustments combined, and it appears on no pre-approval letter.

Common questions about closing-day cash in BC

• What's included in closing-day cash?+

  Everything that doesn't roll into the mortgage. Property transfer tax (the big one — often $20K–$50K), legal/notary fees, title insurance, prorated adjustments to the seller (property tax, utilities, strata fees they prepaid), and on insured deals the 7% BC PST on the CMHC premium. The down payment is separate from closing-day cash — it goes to the seller via the notary alongside these.
• Why does the provincial sales tax on the insurance premium matter?+

  The mortgage default insurance premium itself (2.8%–4.0% of the mortgage on insured deals) rolls into the mortgage principal — you don't pay it in cash on closing. But the 7% BC PST charged on top of that premium IS cash, due at closing. On a $700K insured mortgage the premium runs $19,600 to $28,000 depending on the down payment, so the PST is $1,370 to $1,960 in cash that is easy to miss in a self-built closing budget.
• Does the total include the mortgage?+

  The headline figure is cash on completion day only. Below it, "The whole picture" carries the same purchase through the mortgage: what the home costs all in, how that splits between cash and borrowed money, and what the borrowed half costs to carry at a rate and amortization you set. The last line, cash at completion plus every payment, assumes the rate holds for the whole amortization, which no BC mortgage does. Terms run five years or less and renew at whatever the market offers, so read it as what today's rate would cost if it lasted, not as a forecast.
• Is Property Transfer Tax financeable?+

  No. Property transfer tax cannot be added to your mortgage or covered by mortgage default insurance. It's due in cash on closing day. Your notary disburses it directly to the Province of BC from your closing-day deposit. The closing-day cash demand is generally PTT + legal + adjustments + PST on CMHC + inspection + moving — see the breakdown above.
• How does the first-time home buyer exemption affect closing costs?+

  The BC First-Time Home Buyer exemption (raised April 1, 2024) gives a full property transfer tax exemption up to $500,000 of fair market value, a fixed $8K reduction in the $500K–$835K band, and a phase-out to $0 at $860K. Above $860K the exemption doesn't apply. The toggle above auto-applies it to the PTT line in your closing total.
• What are typical BC legal fees, and where did the title-insurance field go?+

  BC notary fees on a residential purchase typically run $1,200–$2,000. Lawyer fees on the same file run $1,500–$2,500, slightly higher because lawyers carry broader practice insurance and often handle complex chains. Title insurance adds $300–$500, and your notary or lawyer places the policy and bills it on the same invoice — which is why it is folded into the one field above rather than asked for separately. The $1,800 default is a conveyancing fee plus a standard policy. Get a quote specific to your transaction; a leasehold, a manufactured home or a chain of assignments costs more.
• What about GST on new construction?+

  Newly built homes carry 5% federal GST on the purchase price, and it is usually the largest single item on a new-build closing. Tick "newly-built home" above and the calculator charges it and applies whichever rebate you qualify for. Two rebates exist and they do not stack. The GST New Housing Rebate returns 36% of the GST up to a $350,000 price and pays nothing at $450,000 or above. Those thresholds were set in 1991 and never indexed, so in this market it is almost always zero. The First-Time Home Buyers' GST Rebate, brought in by Bill C-4 and in force since March 2026, removes the whole 5% up to a $1,000,000 price and tapers to nothing at $1,500,000, capped at $50,000; the buyer must be a first-time buyer, must live in the home, and the purchase agreement must be dated on or after March 20, 2025. Resale homes carry no GST at all.

Related

• · What you can afford — max mortgage and purchase price
• · Mortgage payment calculator
• · Property Transfer Tax calculator (by area and buyer type)
• · Closing costs in BC — full reference guide
• · GST on a new home, and the two rebates — full reference
• · CMHC default insurance — full reference
• · BC Property Transfer Tax — full reference
• · The Tax reference in the Codex