How Much Is the Mortgage Recording Tax in Westchester?

The Mortgage Recording Tax in Westchester is 1.3% of your loan size. Yonkers has a higher Mortgage Recording Tax rate of 1.8%. If you’re paying cash, you do not have to pay any Mortgage Recording Tax.

Institutional lenders typically contribute 0.25% towards the Mortgage Recording Tax. This means that the effective Mortgage Recording Tax rate in Westchester is 1.05% of your loan size as opposed to 1.3%. Similarly, the actual Mortgage Recording Tax rate paid by purchasers in Yonkers is 1.55% as opposed to the headline rate of 1.8%.

However, expect to pay the full Mortgage Recording Tax Rate of 1.3% in Westchester (or 1.8% in Yonkers) if you’re working with a non-institutional lender (private lender, hard money lender, etc.) or a commercial bank. These types of institutions do not ordinarily pay any portion of the Mortgage Recording Tax.

In addition to the Mortgage Recording Tax, buyers in Westchester must also pay a mortgage recording fee which is around $200. The title insurance company which typically handles the recording of both the mortgage and the deed normally adds a recording service fee of around $50 on top of the recording fee itself.

The Mortgage Recording Tax is one of the largest home buyer closing costs in Westchester along with the Mansion Tax. 

Overall buyer closing costs in Westchester are roughly 3% if you’re financing and 2% if you’re paying cash. Fortunately, Westchester buyer closing costs are lower than in NYC.

The largest buyer closing costs in Westchester include the Mansion Tax, Mortgage Recording Tax and title insurance. 

Click on the sections below to learn more about the Mortgage Recording Tax in Westchester.

How to avoid the Mortgage Recording Tax in Westchester

How to calculate the Westchester Mortgage Recording Tax

How much is the Mortgage Recording Tax in Yonkers?

Does the Westchester Mortgage Recording Tax apply to new construction

Westchester Mortgage Recording Tax vs. NYC Mortgage Recording Tax

The easiest way to avoid the Mortgage Recording Tax when buying a home in Westchester is to work with a buyer’s agent who offers a broker commission rebate.

A buyer agent commission rebate is a rebate on the commission that a buyer’s agent receives from the seller for representing you on the purchase.

In essence, your buyer’s agent will rebate you a portion of the commission paid to them by the seller. If the buyer agent commission is 3%, a buyer’s agent who offers a rebate may give you back two-thirds, i.e. 2% of the purchase price. This equates to a rebate of $20,000 on a $1 million home purchase.

The rebate you receive can reduce or fully eliminate your Mortgage Recording Tax bill when buying a home in Westchester.

Learn more and sign up for Hauseit’s Westchester buyer agent commission rebate program by visiting this page.

To calculate the Westchester Mortgage Recording Tax, multiply your loan size by 1.3% and deduct $30 if you’re buying a one or two family dwelling.

Here’s an example of how to calculate the Mortgage Recording Tax in Westchester:

Remember that institutional lenders typically contribute 0.25% towards the Mortgage Recording Tax (MRT). In the example above, the lender would pay $2,000 (0.25% of the loan size) and the borrower would pay $8,370 (1.05% of the loan size) for a total MRT of $10,370 (1.3% of the loan amount).

For mortgages of $10,000 or less on one or two family homes, the Mortgage Recording Tax rate in Westchester is 1%.

The Westchester County Clerk states that “In calculating the tax, amounts of $50.00 or below can be rounded down to the lower hundred and amounts of $50.01 should be rounded up to the next hundred.”

The Mortgage Recording Tax rate in Yonkers is 1.8%. This is considerably higher than the prevailing rate of 1.3% in the rest of Westchester County.

Here’s to calculate the Mortgage Recording Tax on a purchase in Yonkers:

Keep in mind that institutional lenders typically contribute 0.25% towards the Mortgage Recording Tax (MRT). In the example above, the lender would pay $2,625 (0.25% of the loan size) and the borrower would pay $16,245 (1.55% of the loan size) for a total MRT of $18,870 (1.8% of the loan amount).

For mortgages of $10,000 or less on one or two family homes, the Mortgage Recording Tax rate in Yonkers is 1.5%.

The Westchester Mortgage Recording Tax applies to both existing homes and new construction properties. 

Keep in mind that buyer closing costs are typically higher for new construction to begin with.

This is because it’s customary for the purchaser to pay some closing costs which are traditionally covered by the seller, including transfer taxes and seller attorney fees.

The Westchester Mortgage Recording Tax of 1.3% is considerably lower than the prevailing rates in NYC.

The Mortgage Recording Tax in NYC is 2.05% for loans below $500k and 2.175% for loans of $500k or more.

In both Westchester and NYC, institutional lenders typically contribute 0.25% towards the Mortgage Recording Tax.