Alberta Has No Land Transfer Tax
A short answer to one of the most-asked questions about buying property in Alberta: there's no provincial land transfer tax here. What you do pay, and how it compares to other provinces.
Alberta does not have a land transfer tax
Alberta is one of the very few Canadian jurisdictions with no provincial land transfer tax on residential property purchases. Saskatchewan and the territories also have no LTT; every other province has one, ranging from modest (Quebec's "welcome tax") to substantial (Ontario, BC, Toronto).
That doesn't mean closing costs are zero in Alberta — there are small registration fees plus normal lawyer and inspection costs — but the absence of LTT saves Alberta buyers thousands to tens of thousands of dollars compared to equivalent purchases elsewhere in Canada. Across the typical Canadian's 3-4 home transactions over a lifetime, the cumulative savings often run into six figures.
Alberta land titles registration fees
When you register your purchase and your mortgage with Alberta Land Titles, you pay a small registration fee. The fee structure (as of 2024):
- Title transfer registration: $50 base fee, plus $2 for every $5,000 (or part thereof) of fair market value. So on a $500,000 purchase, the title transfer fee is $50 + (100 × $2) = $250.
- Mortgage registration: $50 base fee, plus $1.50 for every $5,000 (or part thereof) of mortgage amount. On a $400,000 mortgage, this is $50 + (80 × $1.50) = $170.
Combined registration fees on a typical $500K purchase with a $400K mortgage: approximately $420. Add lawyer trust account fees and you're typically looking at $500-$700 in total registration-related costs at closing.
Note: Some lenders or lawyers may bundle these fees with a "title insurance" charge or other administrative line items, so your total closing-cost statement may itemize them differently. The total numbers above are accurate for what reaches Alberta Land Titles.
What you'd pay in other provinces
For context, here's what land transfer tax (or its provincial equivalent) would cost on a $500,000 home purchase in major Canadian cities:
- Edmonton or Calgary, Alberta: ~$420 in registration fees. No LTT.
- Saskatoon or Regina, Saskatchewan: ~$1,500 in registration fees. No LTT.
- Toronto, Ontario: $12,950 (provincial LTT) + $9,475 (Toronto municipal LTT) = $22,425.
- Mississauga, Ontario: Just provincial LTT = $12,950.
- Vancouver, BC: $8,000 (provincial PTT) + foreign-buyer surtax if applicable = $8,000+.
- Montreal, Quebec: "Welcome tax" of approximately $5,500-$7,000 depending on municipal multipliers.
- Halifax, Nova Scotia: $7,500 in provincial deed transfer tax.
First-time buyer rebates exist in some provinces (Ontario, BC, PEI), which reduce these amounts but don't eliminate them. Alberta's no-LTT rule effectively delivers a first-time-buyer benefit to every buyer, every time.
What Alberta closing costs actually look like
For a typical Alberta home purchase, your total closing costs (everything above and beyond your down payment) typically include:
- Lawyer fees: $1,500-$2,500 depending on the file complexity and the firm
- Title insurance: $250-$400 (recommended; sometimes required by lender)
- Land titles registration: $400-$700 (per the schedule above)
- Home inspection: $400-$600 (recommended; not always required)
- Property tax adjustment: Variable; typically $500-$2,000 prorated based on closing date
- Mortgage default insurance: Only if your down payment is under 20%; rolled into mortgage rather than paid at closing
Total cash needed at closing beyond your down payment: typically $3,000-$5,500 on a normal Alberta purchase. Compare to Toronto, where a similar-priced purchase might require $25,000+ in closing costs largely from LTT.
The hidden value of moving to Alberta
If you're considering an interprovincial move into Alberta, the closing-cost savings are one of the most underrated economic benefits. Each home purchase you make over your career happens with thousands of dollars of additional friction in Ontario, BC, Quebec, or the Maritimes that simply doesn't exist here. Across multiple transactions over decades, this compounds into substantial wealth retention for Alberta homeowners.
It's also worth noting that this isn't a temporary policy advantage — Alberta has had no LTT for decades, and there's been no serious political momentum at any level to introduce one. Combined with no provincial sales tax, Alberta's low-tax structure is a durable feature of the province's economic identity.