NYC Closing Costs: What Buyers and Sellers Actually Pay

Updated 2026-08-19 8 sources

General information about how this works in New York City — not financial, tax, or legal advice, and not an offer of credit. lender.nyc is not a lender or a mortgage broker and is not licensed by NY DFS.

The short answer

A financed condo purchase in New York City typically carries buyer closing costs in the low single digits of the price, driven almost entirely by two taxes — the mansion tax and the mortgage recording tax. A co-op at the same price is usually far cheaper to close, because neither tax applies the same way. On the sell side, the two transfer taxes plus a co-op flip tax do most of the damage.

Everything below is educational, not financial or legal advice; New York closings are attorney-run and your attorney’s estimate governs.

Buyer-side costs

Mansion tax

New York imposes an additional tax of 1% on residential conveyances of $1 million or more and — in New York City only — a supplemental tax at $2 million or more, at incremental rates published in the Form TP-584-NYC-I instructions, per the NYS Department of Taxation and Finance as of August 2026. Combined, they form the eight-tier schedule buyers know as the mansion tax:

Rates per the TP-584-NYC-I schedules and TSB-M-19(1)R as of August 2026. The buyer is liable; the seller becomes liable only if the buyer does not pay.

The cliff matters more than the rate. This is not a marginal bracket system — the applicable rate applies to the entire consideration. At $999,999 the tax is zero; at $1,000,000 it is $10,000. At $2,999,999 it is $37,500; at $3,000,000 it is $45,000, a $7,500 jump for a $1 increase, and that contract also crosses into the higher NYS additional base tax band below. Pricing just under a threshold is one of the few genuinely large levers a buyer has.

Mortgage recording tax

Per the NYS Department of Taxation and Finance as of August 2026, this tax stacks a state basic tax of 50 cents per $100 of debt, a special additional tax of 25 cents, an additional tax of 25 cents (30 cents inside the Metropolitan Commuter Transportation District), and local city or county taxes. In New York City the commonly applied residential rates are 1.8% on mortgages under $500,000 and 1.925% at $500,000 or more.

Two adjustments matter:

• The lender pays the 0.25% special additional tax on most residential loans, so the buyer’s effective share is roughly 1.55% or 1.675%.
• For one- and two-family residences, the first $10,000 of principal is deducted before the additional-tax component is computed.

The tax is measured on the loan amount, not the price, so a larger down payment reduces it directly. It does not apply to co-op share loans, which are secured by shares of stock and a proprietary lease rather than by real property — often the largest cost difference between an equivalent condo and co-op purchase. A CEMA (consolidation, extension and modification agreement) can reduce the tax on a refinance or some resales by assigning the existing mortgage instead of recording a new one, but it depends on the other side’s lender cooperating and is never something to assume.

Title insurance and why the premium is not negotiable

New York regulates title insurance rates. Per the NY Department of Financial Services as of August 2026, title insurers are licensed by the Department and their rates and rules are subject to Department approval, with rates filed through TIRSA, the licensed rate service organization. The practical consequence: the owner’s policy premium is the same at every title company for the same coverage. Shopping on premium is pointless.

What varies is the ancillary layer — municipal searches, patriot/bankruptcy searches, closer attendance, recording service charges — customary fees that differ between companies and are worth comparing. DFS also notes two structural discounts: a simultaneously issued loan policy is written at 30% of the applicable mortgage loan rate, and refinance rates are discounted within ten years of prior coverage absent a change in ownership.

Co-op buyers do not buy title insurance, because no real property is conveyed; they pay for a UCC-1 lien search and filing instead.

Attorney fees, and why New York is different

Most of the country closes residential real estate with a title or escrow company and standardized forms. New York does not: in practice both sides retain counsel, the contract of sale is drafted and negotiated rather than filled in, and both attorneys attend the closing. That is why an attorney fee appears on both sides of every NYC settlement statement, and why the contract — including the closing-cost allocations discussed here — is genuinely negotiable.

Attorney fees are a customary range, not a regulated rate. Buyer’s counsel commonly quotes roughly $2,500–$5,000 for a straightforward resale as of August 2026, with new development, sponsor sales and estates priced higher; seller’s counsel sits in a similar band. Treat any figure as an estimate to confirm directly.

Lender fees, points and appraisal

Lender charges — application, underwriting, processing, tax service, flood certification — are set by each lender and disclosed on the Loan Estimate. Discount points are optional prepaid interest; one point equals 1% of the loan amount and buys a rate reduction the lender sets. NYC appraisal fees are customary and run from the high hundreds upward, with co-op and new-construction appraisals often costing more. None of these are fixed by law; compare them on Loan Estimates, not against national averages.

Condo-specific buyer costs

• Common charge adjustment — pro-rated from closing forward.
• Working capital contribution — customary in new development and some resales, commonly one to two months of common charges per the governing documents.
• Managing agent transfer/processing fee — customary, varies by agent.
• Recording fees for the deed and mortgage, plus the RPTT and TP-584 filings.

Co-op-specific buyer costs

Co-ops replace title costs with a different, mostly smaller set of charges — all customary and building-specific:

• Managing agent application, credit and processing fees, and the co-op attorney fee for reviewing the transfer.
• Lien and UCC-1 search plus filing fee.
• Recognition agreement fee — a small flat fee for the tri-party agreement (commonly an Aztech form) among the co-op, the lender and the shareholder.
• Move-in fee and deposit — the deposit is normally refundable, the fee is not.
• Maintenance adjustment — pro-rated as with common charges.

Seller-side costs

NYC RPTT

Per the NYC Department of Finance as of August 2026, the Real Property Transfer Tax on residential property is 1% of consideration at $500,000 or less and 1.425% above $500,000; other property is taxed at 1.425% and 2.625% across the same threshold. The return must be filed within 30 days of the transfer even if no tax is due. Like the mansion tax it is a cliff, not a graduated bracket, and it reaches co-op share transfers as well as deeds.

NYS transfer tax

The state transfer tax is $2 per $500 of consideration — 0.4% — paid by the grantor, per the NYS Department of Taxation and Finance as of August 2026. An additional base tax of $1.25 per $500 (0.25%) applies to NYC residential conveyances of $3,000,000 or more and non-residential conveyances of $2,000,000 or more, for 0.65% total at those levels.

Flip taxes and other co-op seller costs

A flip tax is not a tax — it is a transfer fee set by the co-op’s own documents, so it is entirely building-specific. The common structures:

All are customary and building-set, not statutory, and some buildings charge the buyer instead. Read the offering plan, house rules and any board resolution — the answer is in the documents, not in a market average. Sellers also commonly pay a move-out fee and deposit, managing agent transfer fees, and lien-payoff recording charges. New York’s stock transfer tax nominally reaches co-op share transfers; confirm current treatment with counsel.

Broker commission is a negotiable contractual charge with no statutory rate, and is normally the largest single seller cost.

Sponsor sales flip the transfer taxes to the buyer

On most sponsor and new development purchases the offering plan requires the purchaser to pay the NYC RPTT and NYS transfer tax a resale seller would ordinarily pay, plus the sponsor’s attorney fee. Because tax paid on the seller’s behalf is itself additional consideration, the taxable base is “grossed up,” and that figure can push a contract over a mansion tax threshold. The companion guide on sponsor units and new development financing covers the mechanics.

Worked example 1 — $1,400,000 condo, 20% down

Loan amount $1,120,000. Tax lines follow the rates cited above; fee lines are customary estimates, not quotes.

Prepaid interest and escrows sit on top and are not closing costs in the strict sense.

Seller side: NYC RPTT at 1.425% is $19,950; NYS transfer tax at 0.4% is $5,600; attorney, managing agent and payoff charges roughly $4,500 customary — about $30,000, or 2.1%, before broker commission.

Worked example 2 — $850,000 co-op, 20% down

Share loan $680,000.

A refundable move-in deposit, commonly $500–$1,000, is collected on top and returned absent damage.

Seller side: NYC RPTT at 1.425% is $12,113; NYS transfer tax at 0.4% is $3,400; a 2% flip tax — purely illustrative, since the structure is building-set — would be $17,000; attorney and managing agent charges roughly $3,900 customary. That is about $36,400, or 4.3%, before commission, with the flip tax as the dominant line.

Note the comparison: the $1.4M condo carries roughly $33,000 in buyer taxes the $850k co-op does not, and much of that gap survives adjusting for price.

What varies most, and what to confirm with your attorney

The statutory items — mansion tax, mortgage recording tax, RPTT, NYS transfer tax — are fixed by rate and threshold; the only variables are price, loan size and property type. Everything else moves: flip taxes vary by structure and building and sometimes fall on the buyer; attorney, lender and appraisal charges are customary ranges rather than schedules; working capital contributions and move-in fees come from governing documents; title ancillary fees vary even though the premium does not; and who pays the transfer taxes is a contract term that flips on sponsor sales.

Ask your attorney for a written closing-cost estimate before you sign, and ask three questions specifically: is this a sponsor unit, what does the building’s flip tax actually say, and is a CEMA available. Those answers move the number most.