Calculate your property transfer tax

Property Transfer Tax (PTT) is a land registration tax. It must be paid, for taxable transactions, on the

date of registration when an application to register changes to a certificate of title is made at any Land Title Office in British Columbia. Note, pre-sale condos are treated differently, and you should consult with your mortgage provider or lawyer for more information.

The property transfer tax rate is:

• 1% of the fair market value up to and including $200,000

• 2% of the fair market value greater than $200,000 and up to and including $2,000,000

• 3% of the fair market value greater than $2,000,000 and

• If the property has residential property worth over $3,000,000, a further 2% tax will be applied to the residential property value greater than $3,000,000

• If the property is mixed class (such as residential and commercial), you pay the further 2% tax on only the residential portion of the property.

The First Time Home Buyers' Program in British Columbia offers reductions or exemptions on property transfer tax for eligible first-time homebuyers. To qualify, the buyer must be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident and meet specific residency and property criteria. The property must be used as the principal residence, have a fair market value of $835,000 or less (effective April 1, 2024), be 0.5 hectares or smaller, and contain only residential improvements. If all conditions are met, the exemption applies to the first $500,000 of the property's purchase price.

For partial exemptions, the property can have a fair market value between $835,000 and $860,000, be larger than 0.5 hectares, or have additional buildings. Foreign entities and taxable trustees are ineligible, but non-citizens who become residents within a year can apply for a refund.

Property Transfer Tax is payable on the fair market value of the property being transferred. Fair market value is the price that would be paid by a willing purchaser, to a willing seller, in the open market on the date of registration. An open market is where the property is offered for sale, so that anyone likely to be interested in purchasing it, may make an offer (e.g. a seller lists the property with a realtor or advertises it for sale). If your tax return is reviewed by the government, you may be asked to provide evidence of how you knew the property was for sale.

In most open market transactions, the purchase price is the fair market value when the transfer is registered within a few months after the sales contract is signed. In other instances, such as where no money changes hands or the transfer did not take place in the open market, the fair market value must be determined by other means (e.g. independent appraisal, BC Assessment value).

Generally, BC Assessment property assessments reflect fair market value as of July 1 of the previous year. For example, assessed values for the 2024 tax year are based on what the property would have sold for on the open market as of July 1, 2023. This means that the assessed value may not reflect the current market value of your property, at the date of registration. Furthermore, property markets can change rapidly. Therefore, you may need a more recent valuation (i.e. an independent appraisal) at the time of registration. Other situations when the BC Assessment value does not reflect the current fair market value include when the land is classified as farmland or there have been material changes affecting fair market value (i.e. trends in a local area, addition of services, partial/new construction, rezoning, etc.) since July 1 of the previous year.

Check out our blog post (below) about what to expect in terms of REALTOR fee commissions in Vancouver, BC