Colorado has NO traditional state-level real estate transfer tax. A 1992 constitutional amendment (TABOR era) froze existing local transfer taxes and banned any new state or local transfer taxes from being created. Instead, the state levies a "documentary fee" on recorded deeds equal to $0.01 per $100 of consideration (i.e., $0.10 per $1,000, or 0.01% of sale price) — a nominal recording fee, not a meaningful ad valorem transfer tax. On a $500,000 home this is only $50. Deeds under $500 in consideration, and government/gift/inheritance/probate transfers, are exempt from the fee.
Buyers: roughly 2%-5% of purchase price (loan origination/lender fees, appraisal, inspection, title/escrow, recording fees, prepaids for insurance and property tax). Sellers: closing costs excluding commission run about 2%-3% of sale price; once real estate agent commissions (~5.5%-6% combined, historically) are included, sellers' total transaction costs typically run 6%-10% of sale price.
Who typically pays: By longstanding local custom (not statutory requirement), the SELLER conventionally pays the state documentary fee at closing, though some sources note the recording party (often handled on the buyer's side) technically triggers the fee — in practice it is negotiable and set by the purchase contract. Sellers customarily cover the real estate commissions for both listing and buyer's agents. Buyers customarily cover their own loan-related fees (origination, appraisal, mortgage insurance) and typically pay for the owner's/lender's title policy split varies by locality. In the dozen mountain resort towns with local Real Estate Transfer Taxes (RETTs), that tax is typically paid by the buyer per local ordinance/contract convention.
Important local variation: while there is no statewide ad valorem transfer tax, roughly a dozen Colorado mountain resort municipalities have voter-approved Real Estate Transfer Taxes (RETTs) that predate the 1992 TABOR freeze (grandfathered in) and are NOT nominal: Telluride 3%, Aspen 1.5% (0.5% Wheeler Opera House + 1% affordable housing, with a $100,000 exclusion on the housing portion), Vail 1%, Breckenridge 1%, and similar taxes in Snowmass Village and other resort towns — these are genuine percentage-of-sale-price taxes, unlike the negligible statewide documentary fee. Outside these specific mountain towns, no other Colorado city or county imposes a real transfer tax — only the flat statewide documentary fee applies. No general "mansion tax" exists at the state level in Colorado.
Facts on this page reflect research current as of 2026-07-05. Programs, rates, and laws change — confirm current figures with the relevant state agency before relying on them.