Results Based on 1.5 Million Purchase Transactions
SAN DIEGO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–ClosingCorp,
a leading provider of residential real estate closing cost data and
technology for the mortgage and real estate services industries, today
released its most recent closing cost data, which showed that in 2018
national average closing costs for a single-family property were $5,779
including taxes, and $3,344 excluding taxes.
ClosingCorp cost calculations include lender’s title, owner’s title,
appraisals, settlement fees, recording fees, land surveys and transfer
tax. To determine the average single-family home sale ranges,
ClosingCorp uses home price data from CoreLogic, a leading global
property information provider, to create a $100,000 price range.
ClosingCorp uses ranges, rather than average sales prices, because it
allows them to see real transactions.
Dori Daganhardt, senior vice president of Data Strategy, explained it
this way: “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. We also used ‘market-specific’ rates and fees charged by the
most active settlement services providers in each geographic area, not
just network averages.”
The 2018 report shows 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). The states 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). The states 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. Our 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. These include some interesting twists. For example, four New
York counties let their local mortgage tax expire and then reinstated
the same tax; and the city of Baltimore 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.”
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% | ||||
CBSAs with the Highest Average Closing Costs
| CBSA |
Average Home |
Average Total |
Average Total |
Percentage of |
||||
| Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA | $500,000 – $600,000 | $15,045 | $5,266 | 2.71% | ||||
| New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA | $500,000 – $600,000 | $13,763 | $5,380 | 2.54% | ||||
| Dover, DE | $200,000 – $300,000 | $13,398 | $3,356 | 6.49% | ||||
| Easton, MD | $300,000 – $400,000 | $12,154 | $3,515 | 3.12% | ||||
| Key West, FL | $500,000 – $600,000 | $11,535 | $5,258 | 1.93% | ||||
CBSAs with the Lowest Average Closing Costs
| CBSA |
Average Home |
Average Total |
Average Total |
Percentage of |
||||
| Warrensburg, MO | $100,000 – $200,000 | $1,653 | $1,653 | 0.85% | ||||
| Joplin, MO | $100,000 – $200,000 | $1,682 | $1,682 | 1.21% | ||||
| Columbia, MO | $200,000 – $300,000 | $1,726 | $1,726 | 0.83% | ||||
| Branson, MO | $100,000 – $200,000 | $1,813 | $1,813 | 1.05% | ||||
| Jefferson City, MO | $100,000 – $200,000 | $1,846 | $1,846 | 1.14% | ||||
Counties with the Highest Average Closing Costs
| County |
Average Home |
Average Total |
Average Total |
Percentage of |
||||
| Kings, NY | $900,000 – $1,000,000 | $39,352 | $7,480 | 4.09% | ||||
| Queens, NY | $600,000 – $700,000 | $28,729 | $6,784 | 4.44% | ||||
| Washington, DC | $600,000 – $700,000 | $24,617 | $5,696 | 3.87% | ||||
| Richmond, NY | $500,000 – $600,000 | $23,662 | $5,684 | 4.08% | ||||
| Westchester, NY | $700,000 – $800,000 | $19,173 | $6,336 | 2.64% | ||||
Counties with the Lowest Average Closing Costs
| County |
Average Home |
Average Total |
Average Total |
Percentage of |
||||
| Jasper, MO | $100,000 – $200,000 | $ 1,689 | $ 1,689 | 1.21% | ||||
| Jefferson, MO | $0 – $100,000 | $ 1,693 | $ 1,693 | 1.78% | ||||
| Boone, MO | $200,000 – $300,000 | $ 1,716 | $ 1,716 | 0.80% | ||||
| Jasper, IN | $100,000 – $200,000 | $ 1,793 | $ 1,793 | 0.99% | ||||
| Clark, IN | $100,000 – $200,000 | $ 1,805 | $ 1,805 | 0.97% | ||||
Additional CBSAs and county-level data available upon request.
Methodology
ClosingCorp average closing costs are defined as the average fees and
transfer taxes required to close a conventional purchase transaction in
a geographical area. These costs consist of fees from the following
service types: title policies (both owners and lenders), appraisals,
settlement fees, recording fees, land surveys and transfer tax. Actual
closing fees for 1.5 million single-family home purchases from January 1
through December 31, 2018 were analyzed. Homes within a $100,000 range
of the average home price (source: CoreLogic, a leading global property
information, analytics and data-enabled solutions provider) were used to
estimate closing costs for an average home at the state, core-based
statistical area (CBSA) and county levels.
The average service type component fee was computed for every
geographical area where at least 30 transactions occurred in the
specified range during the period under review. Total cost to close was
then computed as the sum of the service type averages. Land survey fees
only were included for Florida and Texas single-family homes where land
surveys are required. If a geographic area did not contain at least 30
data points for a given service type (excluding transfer tax), the
average of the next largest geographical unit within the $100,000 range
was used as an estimate. Only one estimate was allowed per geography.
Cost to close was computed with and without transfer taxes.
About ClosingCorp
Headquartered in San Diego, Calif., ClosingCorp owns and operates the
premier source of intelligence for closing costs and service providers
in the U.S. residential real estate industry. Through innovative
solutions, progressive technologies and strong alliances, the company
delivers timely, accurate and transparent results that help optimize
closing processes and services for mortgage lenders, title and
settlement companies and real estate professionals. Clients rely on
ClosingCorp to help improve efficiencies and mitigate risk. For more
information, please visit www.closing.com.
Contacts
MEDIA CONTACTS:
Bill Campbell
Campbell Lewis
Communications
212.995.8057
[email protected]
Carol Crawford
ClosingCorp
858.352.7434
[email protected]
