Municipal Land Transfer Tax Will Not Expand Beyond Toronto

Good news for all those interested in real estate. On December 1, 2015,  the Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister, Ted McMeekin, announced  that the provincial government has dropped its plan to expand land transfer taxing powers to municipalities, other than Toronto, which already has this power. Provincial land transfer tax is based on the purchase price of a home and is a graduated rate. In Toronto, homebuyers pay an average of $12,000 in provincial and municipal land transfer taxes, according to the Ontario Real Estate Association. The purchaser of a Toronto home selling for $450,000 will pay a total of $10,200 in land transfer tax — $5,475 to the province and $4,725 to the city. On a $1 million home in Toronto, that bill rises to $32,200.  “Extending the power to levy the municipal LTT to Ontario’s municipalities would hurt the home market by adding thousands of dollars to the costs of residential transactions” said the Ontario Real Estate Association Fact’s Sheet about the hike.