Provider of residential real estate closing cost data and technology, ClosingCorp, showed that national average closing cost for single-family homes in the first half of 2021 was $6,837 including taxes, and $3,836 excluding taxes. This represents a 12.3% and 10.5% year-over-year increase, respectively. At the same time, closing refinance costs increased marginally by 4.87% to $2,398 compared to 2020’s average of $2,287.
ClosingCorp closing cost calculations include the lender’s title policy, owner’s title policy, appraisal, settlement, recording fees, land surveys and transfer tax.
“To get a better overall picture of what is actually going on in a market, we analyzed data on more than 1.9 million single-family purchase transactions that ran through our ClosingCorp Fees platform in the first half of this year,” said Dori Daganhardt, chief data officer of ClosingCorp. “We are reporting ‘market-specific’ rates and fees, not just network averages charged by the most active settlement services providers in each geographic area.”
CEO of ClosingCorp, Bob Jennings, commented on what this means for consumers, saying, “In the first half of 2021, buyers faced significantly higher home prices; in June, for example, the average national price hit a new high of $373,664, and in July leading home price indices registered their highest ever year-over-year gains. Although the average home price increased by nearly $45,000, the closing costs, excluding taxes, on that property only increased by $400. In fact, closing costs as a percentage of purchase prices declined this year, going from 1.06% of the transaction in 2020 down to 1.03%. So, in addition to keeping up with high demand, the mortgage industry is doing a good job in holding down the costs it can control.”
States with the highest average closing costs, including taxes, were District of Columbia ($30,352), Delaware ($17,831), New York ($17,582), Washington ($13,909), and Maryland ($12,056). The states with the lowest closing costs, including taxes, were: Missouri ($2,102), Indiana ($2,193), North Dakota ($2,321), Kentucky ($2,355) and Wyoming ($2,509).
The states with the highest average closing costs, excluding taxes, were: District of Columbia ($6,523), New York ($6,300), Hawaii ($5,976), California ($5,772), and Washington ($4,803). The states with the lowest closing costs, excluding taxes, were: Arkansas ($2,071), Missouri ($2,102), Indiana ($2,193), Nebraska ($2,193) and Kentucky ($2,193).
