North Dakota has NO real estate transfer tax at the state level, and no evidence of any county or city imposing one either — it is one of roughly a dozen U.S. states with zero real property transfer tax. Confirmed independently by ListWithClever's 2026 research (sourced from the ND State Tax Department, Feb 2026), PropertyShark's 2025 by-state transfer tax survey, and the landcan.org state transfer tax summary chart, none of which lists any ND state, county, or municipal transfer tax. Some generic closing-cost articles include boilerplate language like "some cities and counties also charge their own transfer taxes" but this appears to be templated text reused across state pages — no actual ND locality with a transfer tax could be identified in any source, including the North Dakota Century Code (Title 47, Ch. 47-10, Real Property Transfers). Instead of a transfer tax, ND requires: (1) a real estate transfer/consideration disclosure certified on the face of the deed, and (2) county auditor certification that property taxes are current before the county recorder will accept the deed — these are administrative/compliance requirements, not taxes.
Seller closing costs (excluding realtor commission) average about 2.75% of sale price per 2026 ListWithClever data (e.g., ~$5,900 on a $215,000 home). When real estate agent commissions (~5.8% average combined) are included, sellers' total costs run roughly 6-10% of sale price. Buyer closing costs (loan-related fees, appraisal, inspection, lender's title policy, escrow fees, prepaid interest, recording fees) typically run in the commonly cited national range of roughly 2-5% of the purchase price, though ND-specific buyer-side aggregate percentages were less consistently reported across sources than seller-side figures.
Who typically pays: North Dakota closing cost allocation is contract-driven/negotiable rather than fixed by law or rigid custom, but common local convention per multiple title-industry and closing-cost sources: Buyer typically pays — recording fees for the deed and deed of trust/mortgage, lender's title insurance policy, loan origination/underwriting fees, appraisal, credit report fee, home inspection, escrow/settlement fees, and prepaid interest. Seller typically pays — real estate agent/broker commissions, recording fees to clear/remove encumbrances (e.g., releasing existing liens), escrow fees, and in many (not all) transactions the owner's title insurance policy, though this is explicitly negotiable and varies by county/market. No statutory rule mandates any of this split — it is set by the purchase agreement.
No well-known county- or city-level ND transfer tax variation was found — unlike some states (e.g., MN's netted local variations or big-city "mansion taxes" like NYC/Chicago), North Dakota appears to have uniform non-taxation of transfers statewide, with only minor flat-fee variation in county recording costs. Recording fees are modest and flat: $20 for a standard deed (up to 6 pages), $65 for longer deeds, plus small per-page/per-section surcharges for very long or multi-parcel deeds. Sources: North Dakota Century Code Title 47 Ch. 47-10 (ndlegis.gov); ListWithClever 2026 ND closing cost and transfer tax guides (data attributed to ND State Tax Department, Feb 2026, and Zillow, April 2026); PropertyShark 2025 real estate transfer tax by-state survey; landcan.org state transfer tax summary chart; iBuyer.com and Houzeo 2026 ND closing cost/title insurance guides. Given the mix of primary legal code and secondary aggregator/blog sources, the "no transfer tax" fact is high-confidence (corroborated by primary ND statute and multiple independent third-party surveys), while the precise percentage figures for closing costs are moderate-confidence, industry-estimate figures from real estate marketing sites rather than government data.
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.