ClosingCorp: 2018 Closing Costs Hold Steady
ClosingCorp, San Diego, said its most recent closing cost data showed in 2018 national average closing costs for a single-family property held steady at $5,779 including taxes, and $3,344 excluding taxes.
The 2018 report said states with the highest average closing costs, including taxes, were the District of Columbia ($24,613), New York ($13,581), Delaware ($13,309), Washington ($12,667) and Maryland ($11,395). 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).
Excluding taxes, ClosingCorp said states with the highest average closing costs were the District of Columbia ($5,694), New York ($5,586), Hawaii ($5,318), California ($5,284) and Washington ($4,701). States with the lowest closing costs were Missouri ($1,887), Nebraska ($1,919), South Dakota ($1,995), Indiana ($2,002) and Iowa ($2,011).
“The average home price is a number, but not necessarily a real property with a real closing,” said Dori Daganhadt, senior vice president of Data Strategy with ClosingCorp.
“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, CEO 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 ad adjustments in more than 200 counties actually went into effect.”
These include some “interesting twists,” Jennings added. “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.”
