Costs of Buying a Condo Apartment in Toront

 

Considering the annual appreciation of condos in Toronto real estate market, buying a condo apartment has been a profitable choice for the investors and first time home buyers. But as a first time home buyer, do you really know how much it cost to buy a condo in Toronto?

You should consider many things, including mortgage, down payment, land transfer taxes, closing costs, etc. Since you can’t do the whole process by yourself, you should consider some other costs too, such as your real estate agent commission, fees for home inspection, and so forth. Let’s review the approximate costs of buying a condo in Toronto.

First thing you need for buying a house is a mortgage, unless you are a billionaire superstar. Mortgage is the amount of money you loan from your bank which cannot be more than 3-4 times your total income. 

If you multiply how much money you make each year by 3 and then by 4, it will give you the range of buying price. For example, if you are going to buy a $600,000 condo with a 20% down payment, you need about $480,000 mortgage.

If you decide to buy a house, start saving your money to show your bank that you can be trusted for lending money to. Remember: The higher your down payment, the lower your monthly payments of mortgage. 

The approximate down payment for a condo with the total price under $500.000 is 5% (if you qualify based on lending guidelines; for a condo priced $500.000-$999.000 you should pay 5% on 1st $500k plus 10% on remaining amount; and down payment for a condo over $1.000.000 is 20%. So based on your plans, start saving your money as soon as possible.

Your next cost to consider is the land transfer tax. It is a tax you should pay for the transfer of property ownership. This one is always on the buyer to pay. The amount of land transfer tax depends on your property value ranging from 0.5% to 2.5%. It means the more value, the higher the tax. It must be paid on the closing date, so remember to consider it in your budget.

There is also legal fees and title insurance. You may consider the total amount of $1,500 to $2,000 for closing costs such as fees for your layer or Toronto real estate agent, home inspector and the title insurance (to protect you from all issues related to the purchase and title).

The last one is for those who want to live in their new bought house, which is the moving costs. It doesn’t matter whether you rent or buy a condo, whether you want to do all the moving by yourself or hire a moving company, you better consider the approximate amount of $1,000 to $2,000 for this phase.