The short version
Selling a house in Baltimore City costs more at settlement than selling almost anywhere else in Maryland, because the city levies its own transfer tax on top of the state one. Add the recordation tax and you are looking at three separate government charges on the same transaction before anyone talks about commission.
This page lists every line, with the rate and the government source next to it. Where a rate could not be verified from an official source, it says so instead of guessing.
Every line at a glance
The rates below are the verified ones. The lines with no rate are the ones that genuinely have no published rate, and this page is not going to invent one.
| Line item | Rate | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Maryland state transfer tax | 0.5 percent of consideration, or 0.25 percent when the buyer is a first time Maryland home buyer | Md. Code, Tax-Property Section 13-203 |
| Baltimore City transfer tax | One and one half percent of the taxable basis | Baltimore City Code, Article 28, Section 17-2 |
| Recordation tax | $5 for each $500 or fractional part of $500, which is 1 percent | Baltimore City Code, Article 28, Section 16-1 |
| Yield tax, sales over $1 million | 15 percent of the recordation tax collected plus 40 percent of the city transfer tax collected | Baltimore City Code, Article 28, Section 17.1-2 |
| Agent commission | Fully negotiable and not set by law. No standard rate exists | National Association of Realtors |
| Ground rent redemption | Lump sum from the annual ground rent, plus a $70 expedited or $20 regular SDAT filing fee | Maryland Department of Assessments and Taxation |
| Property tax proration | Calculated from $2.248 per $100 of assessed value, Fiscal 2027 | Baltimore City Department of Finance |
| Nonresident withholding | 8.75 percent for individuals, 8.25 percent for entities, effective July 1, 2025 | Comptroller of Maryland |
| Title and settlement charges | Set by the provider. No published schedule | Ask your settlement agent in writing |
Transfer tax: you pay it twice in Baltimore City
Two separate transfer taxes apply to a Baltimore City sale.
Maryland state transfer tax. The statute sets the rate at 0.5 percent of the consideration payable, under [Md. Code, Tax-Property, Section 13-203](https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=gtp§ion=13-203&enactments=false).
Baltimore City transfer tax. The city adds its own. The Baltimore City Code sets it at one and one half percent of the taxable basis, under [Baltimore City Code, Article 28, Section 17-2](https://codes.baltimorecity.gov/us/md/cities/baltimore/code/28/17-2).
Together that is 2 percent of the sale price in transfer tax on a normal Baltimore City sale. On a $200,000 house that is $4,000, and it is due at settlement regardless of how much equity you have.
There is one exception worth knowing. When the buyer is a first time Maryland home buyer purchasing a principal residence, the state rate drops to 0.25 percent and the statute says that transfer tax shall be paid entirely by the seller. So a buyer who qualifies cuts the state rate in half and hands the whole reduced amount to you.
Who pays which half
Allocation is a contract term, not a fixed rule. Buyers and sellers commonly split transfer and recordation taxes evenly in Maryland, but the sales contract controls and it can put all of it on either side.
Read that clause before you sign anything. It is one line of the contract and it can move thousands of dollars.
Recordation tax
The recordation tax is charged on the instrument being recorded. Baltimore City sets it at $5 for each $500 or fractional part of $500 of the actual consideration, under [Baltimore City Code, Article 28, Section 16-1](https://codes.baltimorecity.gov/us/md/cities/baltimore/code/28/16-1), which the [Baltimore City Department of Finance](https://www.baltimorecity.gov/finance/our-work/public-info/recordation-tax) states the same way. That works out to 1 percent.
There is a local carve out. Section 16-2 of the same article provides a partial exemption for owner occupied residences that exempts the first $22,000 of consideration from the recordation tax. Whether it applies to your sale depends on the buyer’s occupancy, so ask your settlement agent to confirm it against your contract.
The yield tax on sales over $1 million
Baltimore City adds a surcharge called the Yield Tax on higher value transactions. It applies to transactions whose value exceeds $1 million, and it is assessed at 15 percent of the amount collected under the recordation tax subtitle and 40 percent of the amount collected under the transfer tax subtitle, under [Baltimore City Code, Article 28, Section 17.1-2](https://codes.baltimorecity.gov/us/md/cities/baltimore/code/28/17.1-2).
Most rowhome sales never reach it. If yours does, budget for it early, because it is a meaningful number on top of an already high closing cost stack.
Agent commission
If you list, commission is usually the single largest line on your settlement statement. There is no standard rate. Broker fees and commissions are fully negotiable and are not set by law, and since the industry practice changes that took effect on August 17, 2024, your written agreement has to disclose the amount or how it will be determined. That is stated directly by the [National Association of Realtors](https://www.nar.realtor/the-facts/what-the-nar-settlement-means-for-home-buyers-and-sellers).
We are not going to print a percentage here. Any figure you see quoted as typical is a market observation, not a rate you owe. Ask for yours in writing before you sign a listing agreement. If you sell directly for cash there is no commission at all, which is the single biggest structural difference between the two routes. The full comparison of a cash offer against listing runs both to a net number, including the cases where listing still wins.
Ground rent redemption
Baltimore has thousands of properties held under a ground lease, where you own the house and someone else owns the land under it and collects an annual ground rent. If your property has one, it has to be addressed before settlement, usually by redeeming it and recording a Certificate of Redemption.
The redemption price is a lump sum calculated from the annual ground rent, capitalized at a statutory rate that depends on when the ground lease was created. Older leases and newer leases capitalize differently, which is why two properties on the same block can have very different payoffs.
The [Maryland Department of Assessments and Taxation](https://dat.maryland.gov/realproperty/Pages/Ground-Rent.aspx) runs the Ground Rent Registry and the redemption process. SDAT states the application fee is $70 for expedited processing, quoted at roughly five weeks, or $20 for regular processing, quoted at roughly nine weeks, with a $20 fee for a duplicate Certificate of Redemption. That timing matters. If you are trying to settle in three weeks and the ground rent has not been started, the redemption is your bottleneck, not your buyer. The ground rent explainer walks through the whole sequence.
Your Baltimore City water bill
Unpaid water charges do not stay a personal debt. Metered water is one of the municipal lien types that can attach to the property and be carried into the city’s tax sale process. The [Baltimore City Bureau of Revenue Collections](https://www.baltimorecity.gov/finance/our-work/bureaus/collections/final-bill) states that eligible liens go to tax sale once combined debts reach $250 for a property that is not owner occupied, or $750 for an owner occupied property.
In practice your settlement agent orders a final reading and either pays the balance from your proceeds or holds an escrow until the final bill arrives. Either way it comes out of your side.
If a water balance has already gone far enough to become a lien, read how a Baltimore water bill follows the property and how the Baltimore tax sale process works, because the timeline stops being about your sale and starts being about the city’s calendar.
Property tax proration
Maryland property taxes run on a fiscal year from July 1 to June 30, so taxes are prorated at settlement between you and the buyer based on the closing date. If you have paid the year in advance you get credited back for the portion after closing. If you have not, you owe your share up to it.
Baltimore City sets the real property tax rate at $2.248 per $100 of assessed value for Fiscal 2027, per the [Baltimore City Department of Finance](https://www.baltimorecity.gov/bbmr/city-tax-rates). That rate is what the proration is calculated from, and it is one of the higher municipal rates in the state, which is why the proration line on a Baltimore settlement statement is larger than sellers expect.
Title, settlement, and document charges
These are the smaller lines and they are set by the companies involved rather than by law: the settlement or closing fee, document preparation, courier and wire fees, a lien certificate from the city, deed preparation, and recording charges at the Circuit Court for Baltimore City.
There is no published schedule and no standard number, so we are not printing one. Ask your settlement agent for a written estimate early. They will give you one, and it is the only way to build a real net sheet.
If you live outside Maryland
This one catches out of state sellers constantly, especially people who inherited a Baltimore property. Maryland withholds income tax at settlement on the sale of real property by a nonresident, and the deed cannot be recorded without it.
Effective July 1, 2025, the rate of withholding is 8.75 percent for nonresident individuals and 8.25 percent for nonresident entities, per the [Comptroller of Maryland](https://www.marylandcomptroller.gov/content/dam/mdcomp/tax/legal-publications/alerts/tax-alert-rate-change-to-withholding-on-sale-of-real-property-by-a-nonresident.pdf).
This is withholding, not a final tax bill. If you owe less than was withheld you claim the difference back, and the Comptroller has a certificate process for a full or partial exemption using Form MW506AE, which has to be applied for before settlement rather than after. If you are selling an inherited Baltimore house from another state, the out of state seller guide covers what to line up before you get to the table.
What comes off the top before you see anything
Everything above assumes there is money left. Before any of it, settlement pays off what is secured against the property: your mortgage payoff including interest to the closing date, any second mortgage or home equity line, judgment liens, unpaid city charges, and any contractor lien recorded against the house.
If those payoffs exceed the sale price, you have a different problem than closing costs, and selling a house with a lien on it is the place to start.
What a cash sale takes off this list
A direct cash sale does not make the city or the state disappear. Transfer tax, recordation tax, and the tax proration still exist and someone still pays them, and any buyer who claims otherwise is not describing a Maryland transaction.
What it does remove is the commission, the pre listing repair spend, the buyer credits negotiated after an inspection, and every additional month of carrying costs. Our side is $0 commission and $0 fees. Ask us, or anyone else, to put the tax allocation in writing so you can see the real net before you agree to anything.
Build your own net sheet
- Start with the offer price.
- Subtract the mortgage payoff and any recorded liens.
- Subtract 2 percent for combined state and city transfer tax, then adjust for how your contract splits it.
- Subtract 1 percent for recordation tax, adjusted the same way.
- Subtract commission if you are listing, at the rate written in your agreement.
- Subtract ground rent redemption if the property has one, plus the SDAT filing fee.
- Subtract the final water bill and your share of the prorated property tax.
- Subtract the written estimate from your settlement agent for title and document charges.
- If you are a nonresident, subtract the Maryland withholding at the current rate.
What is left is your number. That is the figure to compare between routes, not the offer price. What your Baltimore house is actually worth covers the top of that calculation, the iBuyer comparison covers where service fees change the arithmetic, and how our process works covers the sequence from first number to settlement.
You should see the number before you commit to anything. Run your address through REBA and you will get a real valuation in minutes, with no obligation and no phone call required. The full Baltimore selling guide covers every route from here.
Before you act on this
This page is general information about how these processes work in Maryland. It is not
legal, tax, or financial advice, and your situation may turn on details this page cannot
know. Talk to a Maryland attorney or a licensed tax professional before you make a decision
you cannot reverse. If you are facing foreclosure, you can also speak with a HUD approved
housing counselor at no cost.
Questions people ask
What is the transfer tax when you sell a house in Baltimore City?
Two apply. Maryland charges a state transfer tax of 0.5 percent of the consideration under Tax-Property Section 13-203, and Baltimore City adds its own at one and one half percent of the taxable basis under City Code Article 28, Section 17-2. Combined that is 2 percent of the sale price.
Does the buyer or the seller pay transfer tax in Maryland?
It is a contract term. Buyers and sellers commonly split transfer and recordation taxes, but the sales contract controls and can assign all of it to either side. One exception is written into statute: when the buyer is a first time Maryland home buyer, the reduced state transfer tax is paid entirely by the seller.
How much is recordation tax in Baltimore City?
Baltimore City charges $5 for each $500 or fractional part of $500 of the actual consideration, which works out to 1 percent. City Code Section 16-2 also provides a partial exemption for owner occupied residences that exempts the first $22,000 of consideration. Ask your settlement agent whether it applies.
Do I have to redeem the ground rent before I sell?
If the property is subject to a registered ground lease it has to be addressed at settlement, and redemption is the usual route. SDAT charges $70 for expedited processing at about five weeks or $20 for regular at about nine weeks, so start it early or it becomes the thing holding up your closing.
What happens to my unpaid Baltimore water bill when I sell?
It is settled out of your proceeds. Metered water is a municipal lien type that attaches to the property, and the city says eligible liens reach tax sale at $250 in combined debt for a non owner occupied property or $750 for an owner occupied one. Your settlement agent orders a final reading.
I live out of state. What does Maryland withhold when I sell?
Effective July 1, 2025, Maryland withholds 8.75 percent for nonresident individuals and 8.25 percent for nonresident entities on the sale of Maryland real property, and the deed cannot be recorded without it. It is withholding, not a final tax, and there is a pre settlement exemption application on Form MW506AE.