The deposit and the down payment are the numbers buyers plan for. The closing costs are the ones that turn up three weeks before the keys change hands and send people scrambling. In New Brunswick the biggest of them is the real property transfer tax, and it is a straight 1% of the purchase price — on a $350,000 house that is $3,500 you need in cash, on top of everything else.
This calculator works out what you need on closing day using the current New Brunswick rules. Nothing is sent anywhere and you do not need to give me your email to see the answer.
New Brunswick closing cost calculator
Transfer tax, mortgage insurance and the cash you actually need on closing day.
New Brunswick charges transfer tax on the greater of the price you pay or the property’s assessed value. In a normal sale the price is higher and this changes nothing. On an estate sale, a family transfer or anything priced below assessment, it matters. You can look the assessment up free on PLANET at planet.snb.ca.
Ask two or three Fredericton real estate lawyers for an all-in quote including HST, registration and title search. Quotes vary more than people expect.
Add a separate line below for a well and septic test if the property is rural.
New Brunswick bills the whole calendar year in March. Buy in September and you reimburse the seller for the part of the year you’ll own the house.
Water test, septic inspection, oil tank inspection, appraisal, movers, first insurance payment.
| Cash you need on closing day | |
| Down payment | — |
| Real property transfer tax | — |
| Legal fees and disbursements | — |
| Home inspection | — |
| Property tax adjustment | — |
| Other costs | — |
| Total cash at closing | — |
| Your mortgage | |
| Loan before insurance | — |
| Mortgage default insurance | — |
| Total mortgage | — |
Two things this calculator deliberately does not do. It does not add mortgage insurance to your cash at closing, because lenders normally roll the premium into the loan — showing it as cash you need is the most common error in online calculators. And it does not calculate HST on a brand-new build, where the tax applies to the purchase price and the rebate maths is involved enough that you want a lawyer and a builder’s statement rather than a web form.
Real property transfer tax, and the rule most calculators miss
New Brunswick charges a real property transfer tax of 1% every time a deed is registered. It has been 1% since 1 April 2016, when it doubled from the previous half percent.
The part almost every online calculator gets wrong is what the 1% applies to. Under section 2 of the Real Property Transfer Tax Act, the tax is 1% of the greater of two things: what you are paying for the property, or the property’s assessed value.
In an ordinary sale this changes nothing, because you are almost always paying more than the assessment. Where it bites is the sale that is not ordinary. Buying a house from a parent at a friendly price. An estate sale priced to move quickly. A property that sold below assessment because it needs work. In all of those the assessment is the higher number, and the tax is calculated on the assessment whether or not that is what you paid.
I have seen this catch buyers who budgeted off a national calculator that only knows the purchase price. If you are buying anything below market, look the assessment up on PLANET at planet.snb.ca, which is free, and put it into the calculator above.
Is there a first-time buyer rebate in New Brunswick?
No. Some provinces rebate or waive land transfer tax for first-time buyers. New Brunswick does not — the exemptions in the Act cover things like transfers under a will, transfers to a registered charity, and corrections to a deed, but there is no first-time buyer relief. A first-time buyer in Fredericton pays the same 1% as everyone else, and should budget for it.
Mortgage default insurance, and why it is not cash at closing
If your down payment is less than 20%, your mortgage has to be insured. The premium is a percentage of the loan and it climbs as your down payment shrinks: 2.80% between 15% and 20% down, 3.10% between 10% and 15%, and 4.00% at the 5% minimum.
Here is the part that trips people up. The premium is normally added to your mortgage, not paid in cash at closing. A calculator that lumps it into “cash you need” is overstating what you need by thousands of dollars and may talk you out of a purchase you could comfortably make. That is why the calculator above keeps the two apart.
One piece of good news specific to us: Ontario, Quebec and Saskatchewan charge provincial sales tax on the insurance premium, and that part is payable in cash. New Brunswick does not. If you are moving here from one of those provinces, that is a line you can delete from your budget.
The minimum down payment is 5% on the first $500,000 and 10% on anything above that, so on a $600,000 purchase the minimum is $35,000 rather than $30,000. Above $1.5 million a mortgage cannot be insured at all and 20% down becomes the floor. Neither threshold affects most Fredericton purchases, but they matter at the top of the market.
Legal fees and disbursements
Your lawyer’s bill has two parts: their fee, and the disbursements they pay on your behalf — title search, registration, a title insurance policy if you are using one, courier and office charges, plus HST on the lot.
Quotes vary more than people expect, and the headline fee is not the thing to compare. Ask two or three Fredericton real estate lawyers for an all-in figure including disbursements and HST for a purchase at your price point with a mortgage, and compare those numbers instead. The gap between the cheapest and the most expensive quote is often larger than anything you will save haggling elsewhere.
If you are buying rural, say so when you ask. A property on a well and septic, or one with an older survey, takes more work than a serviced lot in a subdivision.
The property tax adjustment
New Brunswick bills property tax for the whole calendar year, with bills going out in early March. If the seller has already paid the year and you close in September, you reimburse them for the months you will own the house. On a $4,200 annual bill and a 30 September closing, that is about $1,058.
It is real money and it is due at closing, so it belongs in your cash calculation. If you want a sense of what the annual bill will be before you make an offer, the Fredericton property tax page has the 2026 rates for the city and the surrounding communities and an estimator.
A worked example
A buyer purchases at $350,000 with 5% down. The assessment is $330,000, so the purchase price governs. Their lawyer quoted $1,800 all in, the inspection is $600, and they close on 30 September with the year’s tax already paid by the seller.
| Down payment, 5% | $17,500 |
| Real property transfer tax, 1% of $350,000 | $3,500 |
| Legal fees and disbursements | $1,800 |
| Home inspection | $600 |
| Property tax adjustment, 92 days | $1,058 |
| Cash needed on closing day | $24,458 |
| Mortgage default insurance, 4.00% of $332,500, added to the loan | $13,300 |
| Total mortgage | $345,800 |
The thing worth noticing is that the closing costs on their own came to $6,958 — roughly 2% of the purchase price, and 40% again on top of the down payment. Two percent is a reasonable rule of thumb for a resale purchase in Fredericton with a straightforward lawyer’s bill and one inspection. Rural properties with a well test, a septic inspection and an oil tank inspection run higher.
What is deliberately not in here
HST on new construction. When you buy a brand-new home from a builder, HST applies to the purchase price, and there are federal and provincial new housing rebates that claw part of it back depending on the price and whether it is your principal residence. Whether the quoted price includes the tax and who claims the rebate is usually set out in the builder’s agreement, and getting it wrong is expensive. That is a conversation with your lawyer and your builder, not a web form, so this calculator leaves new construction alone rather than giving you a confident wrong answer.
Also not included: moving costs, your first home insurance payment, utility hookups, and anything you buy in the first month because the previous owner took it with them.
Sources and when this was last checked
The 1% rate and the greater-of rule come from the Real Property Transfer Tax Act, section 2(1.03), in force since 1 April 2016. Mortgage default insurance premium bands and the provinces that charge sales tax on the premium come from CMHC’s published premium schedule. Checked 7 October 2026.
Not sure what you can actually buy here?
That is the question worth settling before you start looking at houses, and it takes one conversation. Tell me your budget and what you need, and I will tell you which parts of Fredericton that realistically covers, what it gets you in each, and what to watch for in the housing stock there.
If the honest answer is that you should wait six months, I will tell you that too. It costs nothing either way.
Call or text (506) 261-7373, or email info@hamelrealty.com. I answer my own phone.
