Kentucky does levy a state real estate transfer tax, imposed under KRS 142.050. The rate is $0.50 per $500 of the property's value (or fraction thereof) — equivalent to about 0.1% of the sale price. Example: on a $200,000 home, the tax is $200; on a $300,000 home, $300. The tax is collected by the county clerk and must be paid before a deed can be recorded, so in practice it is settled at closing. It applies to the actual consideration paid (or, for gifts/nominal-consideration deeds, to estimated fair market value), and is collected only once per transaction in the county where the property (or the greater part of it) is located. Statutory exemptions include transfers by gift, between spouses, by partition, tax-delinquency sales, foreclosures, business mergers/consolidations, and transfers to/from trustees or for debt security purposes.
Buyers: roughly 2%-5% of the purchase price in closing costs (loan origination fees, appraisal, inspection, title insurance, prepaid items, etc.) — e.g., $5,000-$15,000 on a $300,000 home. Sellers: notably higher, roughly 6%-9% of the sale price once real estate commissions are included (commissions alone average around 5.6%-5.7% combined for both agents), plus the state transfer tax, recording fees, title/attorney fees, and any negotiated buyer concessions or repair costs.
Who typically pays: Kentucky convention follows the common "grantor pays" rule: the seller customarily pays the state real estate transfer tax, since it's assessed on the deed/grantor at recording. Sellers also typically cover the real estate commission (for both listing and buyer's agents), owner's title insurance, and deed preparation/attorney fees. Buyers typically pay their own loan-related costs (origination fees, appraisal, credit report, private mortgage insurance if applicable), lender's title insurance, recording fees for the mortgage, and prepaid items (property tax/insurance escrows, prepaid interest). As with most states, all of this is negotiable between the parties and can shift with local market conditions or as a negotiating concession.
No widely-documented county- or city-level "mansion tax" or additional local transfer tax surcharge was found in Kentucky comparable to states like New York or Pennsylvania — KRS 142.050 sets a single statewide rate collected by the county clerk. Some secondary sources note that cities/counties or HOAs may impose separate small local recording or transfer-related fees, but no specific named county/city surtax on transfer tax itself was substantiated in sources reviewed (this is a point of "some sources allude to local variation without specifics" — worth flagging as low-confidence/needs case-by-case county clerk verification if precision matters for a specific county). The $0.50/$500 rate and grantor-pays convention were corroborated by the Kentucky statute text (via Justia summary and legislature.ky.gov), a Kentucky county clerk's office page (Henderson County), and multiple 2026 real estate industry sources (HomeLight, ListWithClever, iBuyer), so confidence in those two core facts is high.
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.