Maryland levies a state real estate transfer tax of 0.5% of the sale price (Md. Code, Tax-Property § 13-203), reduced to 0.25% for first-time Maryland homebuyers purchasing a principal residence. This is separate from and in addition to a county-level recordation tax (charged per $500 of consideration on the deed/mortgage, rates vary by county, roughly equating to 0.5%-1.4%+), and many counties/cities layer on their own local transfer tax as well. So the real total "transfer tax burden" in Maryland is state transfer tax + county recordation tax + (in some jurisdictions) a local/city transfer tax, stacked together.
Buyers: roughly 2%-5% of purchase price (one 2026 estimate put it near 4.7% on a ~$442,400 median-priced home, about $21,000). Sellers: roughly 3%-4% of sale price excluding agent commissions; including a typical ~5.4% real estate commission, total seller-side costs run roughly 6%-10% of sale price.
Who typically pays: By local custom (not statute), the combined state transfer tax and county recordation tax are typically split 50/50 between buyer and seller — each customarily pays about 0.25% (half of the 0.5% state tax) plus half the recordation tax. This split is a negotiable convention set by the sales contract, not a legal requirement. One statutory exception: when the buyer is a first-time Maryland homebuyer, the buyer's share of the state transfer tax is reduced to 0.25%, and by law the seller must pay the remaining state transfer tax share (seller cannot shift that portion back to the buyer). Local transfer taxes and recordation taxes on top of the state tax are subject to their own customary or negotiated splits, which vary by jurisdiction.
Significant local variation exists: county recordation tax rates differ widely (examples found: Talbot County $6.00/$500 ~1.2%; Frederick County $7.00/$500 ~1.4%; Cecil County $4.10/$500; Prince George's County $2.75/$500; Montgomery County tiered from $4.45/$500 up to $11.35/$500 for higher loan amounts). Baltimore City is the most notable outlier/"mansion-tax-like" case: it stacks a 1.5% city transfer tax on top of the 0.5% state transfer tax and a 1% county-equivalent recordation tax, and adds "yield taxes" (an extra 0.15% recordation yield tax and 0.6% transfer yield tax) on transactions over $1,000,000 — pushing combined rates to roughly 3.75% on large deals, the highest combined rate in the state. Montgomery County and other jurisdictions also impose their own separate local transfer tax in addition to the recordation tax. All figures came from multiple 2026-dated sources (Gordon Feinblatt LLC, Maryland Courts recording-fee pages, county government sites, ListWithClever, HomeLight, LegalClarity) that were cross-checked; no figures were invented.
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.