Ask about Massachusetts closing costs and someone will mention the deed excise stamp tax within two minutes. It's $2.28 per $500 of the sale price, or 0.456%, and on the statewide median sale price of $690,000 it comes to $3,146.
Here's the part that gets buried: in Massachusetts that tax is customarily the seller's. Buyers hear the number, budget for it, then find it sitting on the other side of the settlement statement. Rare good news in an expensive state.
The bad news is arithmetic. Buyer closing costs here run roughly 2% to 5% of the purchase price, an unremarkable range — but 5% of $690,000 is not an unremarkable number. It's $34,500. Massachusetts also requires a licensed attorney to conduct your closing, so that fee is a certainty rather than a maybe. Below is where the state-specific money goes; for how each individual fee works, start with our full line-by-line breakdown of closing costs.
A note before you start: this is general education, not financial, legal, or tax advice. Every figure below is a statewide number from CalculatorByState's sourced dataset, and your county, town, lender, closing attorney, and purchase and sale agreement will all move the total — in Massachusetts one county's rules can rewrite the math. Your Loan Estimate and Closing Disclosure are authoritative. Use this to sanity-check them, not to replace them.
1. What closing costs actually run in Massachusetts
A 2-5% range against the $690,000 median sale price gives you roughly $13,800 to $34,500, midpoint around $24,150. That midpoint is 3.5% of the price.
That's a spread of nearly $21,000, and what pushes you toward the top of it is loan-side: discount points, origination, prepaid escrow on a high-value property. Run the same range at a smaller price and the state's cost structure separates from its price tags. On a $350,000 Massachusetts purchase, 2-5% is only $7,000 to $17,500. Nothing about how Massachusetts charges for a closing is extreme. The median price is.
Closing costs are separate from your down payment, and both are due the same day. On a $690,000 purchase with 20% down you finance $552,000 and put down $138,000. Add the $24,150 midpoint and you need about $162,150 in cash. At 6.65% on a 30-year fixed or 5.95% on a 15-year, the payment is the part people plan for; the $162,150 decides whether you're buying this year.
See your all-in Massachusetts closing costs2. The deed excise tax, and why it's usually not your problem
Massachusetts charges a deed excise tax — the "tax stamps" you'll hear referenced at closing — at $2.28 per $500 of consideration, which is 0.456% of the price. It's assessed on the sale, collected at the registry of deeds when the deed is recorded, and by long-standing Massachusetts custom the seller pays it.
Run it at two prices:
- On a $350,000 sale: $1,596
- On the $690,000 median: $3,146
Where transfer tax is split or buyer-paid, it's often the largest government charge on the buyer's side. In Massachusetts it usually isn't on your side at all — one reason a 2% low end is achievable here despite the price level.
"Customarily" is doing real work, though. Who pays the excise is set by your purchase and sale agreement, not by statute, and it moves with the market. In a competitive stretch, a buyer offering to absorb it is handing the seller $3,146 without touching the offer price or the appraisal. Worth knowing you hold that lever. Transfer tax is the biggest reason closing costs differ by state — more on that variation here.
3. Cape Cod is a separate calculation
If you're buying in Barnstable County, the excise figure above is only a starting point. The county's 15 member towns levy a land bank surcharge of 2% of the purchase price on top of the standard deed excise, to fund open-space conservation.
Two percent of a $690,000 purchase is $13,800 — by itself as large as the entire low end of the statewide buyer closing-cost range. None of the statewide numbers here include it, and how it's applied and who carries it follows the town's own rules.
So: if the property is on the Cape, ask the listing agent and your closing attorney for the exact surcharge treatment at that address before you write an offer.
4. No mortgage recording tax, which quietly saves you thousands
Massachusetts has no mortgage recording or intangible tax. Several states charge a percentage-based tax on the loan amount when the mortgage is recorded, separate from any tax on the sale itself. Massachusetts does not; registries of deeds charge flat recording fees instead. At these price levels that matters: a 20%-down purchase at the median means a $552,000 mortgage, and elsewhere a loan that size would generate a charge scaled to it.
It's also why refinancing here is cheap on the government-fee side: no sale means no deed excise, and no tax on the new loan either. Refinance math here is lender charges and prepaids, both covered in what shows up on a lender's fee sheet.
5. An attorney runs your closing, and that's not optional
Massachusetts is an attorney closing state. Following the Supreme Judicial Court's 2011 decision in Real Estate Bar Association for Massachusetts, Inc. v. National Real Estate Information Services (SJC-10744), a licensed Massachusetts attorney must conduct the closing and analyze the closing documents. A title or escrow company can't handle it alone. In practice:
- An attorney fee is a certainty, not a regional custom. Budget it from the start instead of treating it as a surprise line.
- Your lender's attorney is not your attorney. The closing attorney is usually engaged by the lender and paid by the buyer through closing costs, and that person's job is protecting the lender's lien position.
- Hiring your own counsel is a separate decision. Many buyers do, to review the purchase and sale agreement — here a substantive negotiated contract, not a form you initial.
Title insurance is a genuinely separate product from the attorney's work — see what title insurance actually covers and who it protects.
6. Who pays what, and where the room is
The default allocation is straightforward: the seller pays the deed excise; the buyer pays the loan-side costs. That's $3,146 on a median sale for the seller, and the bulk of the $13,800 to $34,500 range for the buyer.
Because the excise isn't yours, your negotiating room sits almost entirely in lender charges, shoppable services, and seller credits. Recording fees and prepaids are fixed; origination and underwriting charges are not, and on a $552,000 loan a fraction of a percent is real money. Our guide to which fees you can push back on and which you can't sorts them.
Seller credits deserve a mention: on a $690,000 purchase, asking for a credit toward closing costs is asking for a slice of a $24,150 bill, which lands more easily than a price cut of the same size.
7. How to lower the bill before you sign
- Confirm who pays the excise in your contract. Custom says the seller, at $3,146 on a median-priced home. Check it's written that way rather than assuming.
- Price the Cape surcharge separately if it applies. A 2% land bank surcharge is $13,800 on a $690,000 purchase, and no statewide estimate includes it.
- Shop at least three lenders. On a $552,000 loan, origination and points are the largest controllable variable you have.
- Get the closing attorney's fee quote early. A required cost is a predictable one — no reason to learn the number at the table.
- Compare your Loan Estimate to your Closing Disclosure line by line. Some items may legally change between the two and some may not; how to read a Loan Estimate and what the tolerances mean sorts out which is which.
And don't underestimate prepaids: funding a first-year escrow account on a high-value Massachusetts property is real cash due at closing — see how escrow accounts get funded.
Frequently asked questions
How much are closing costs in Massachusetts?
About 2% to 5% of the purchase price. At the statewide median sale price of $690,000, that's roughly $13,800 to $34,500, midpoint near $24,150. On a $350,000 purchase the same range is $7,000 to $17,500.
Who pays the transfer tax in Massachusetts, the buyer or the seller?
Customarily the seller. Massachusetts' deed excise tax is $2.28 per $500 of price, or 0.456%, which comes to $3,146 on a $690,000 sale. That allocation is set by your purchase and sale agreement rather than by statute, so it can be negotiated either way.
Do I need a lawyer to close on a house in Massachusetts?
Yes. A licensed attorney must conduct the closing and analyze the closing documents, per the Supreme Judicial Court's 2011 ruling in Real Estate Bar Association for Massachusetts, Inc. v. National Real Estate Information Services. That attorney is usually the lender's, so retaining your own counsel is a separate choice.
Does Massachusetts charge a mortgage recording tax?
No. There is no mortgage recording or intangible tax here. Registries of deeds charge flat fees, so a $552,000 loan — the size behind a 20%-down median purchase — triggers no percentage-based government charge.
Why are Cape Cod closing costs higher?
Barnstable County's 15 member towns add a 2% land bank surcharge on top of the standard deed excise. On a $690,000 purchase that's $13,800, and no statewide figure here includes it.
How much cash do I need to buy a $690,000 home in Massachusetts?
With 20% down you'd finance $552,000 and bring $138,000 down, plus roughly $24,150 in closing costs at the midpoint — about $162,150 in all. A smaller down payment cuts the first number substantially, but not the second.
What to do next
Put your real target price into the Massachusetts payment calculator, which builds in the state's property tax and insurance figures so you get an all-in monthly number, not principal and interest alone. Then work backward from the cash you have: down payment plus 2-5% of price.
- Massachusetts mortgage payment calculator
- Massachusetts affordability calculator
- Massachusetts first-time buyer calculator
- How to buy a home in Massachusetts
- First-time home buyer programs explained
Every figure on this site is sourced and dated, and you can see exactly where each one comes from on our methodology page.
The figures above are illustrations drawn from CalculatorByState's sourced dataset. They are statewide averages, not county-level quotes, and Barnstable County's land bank surcharge in particular is excluded from every number here. Your own costs depend on your address, lender, closing attorney, and contract. For advice specific to your situation, consult a licensed real estate professional, mortgage lender, or attorney in Massachusetts.