Post By homes4sale in Real Estate Taxes
A real estate transfer tax increase was approved this year, and the added expense will be paid for by the seller. When you buy a Chicago home, you are required to pay $7.50 per $1,000 of the sale price. However, as of April, the seller is required to pay an additional $3 per $1,000 in transfer taxes on the property sale. The new cost was originally going to be added to the buyer’s expense, but Chicago City Council voted to make the tax increase a responsibility of the seller instead.
Before the new transfer tax was instated, Chicago home sellers had to pay $1.50 per $1,000 of the property sale to the county and state. So, on a condo that sold for $200,000, the seller would previously have had to pay $300. Now, the seller is accountable for another $600 on top of the $300. And the buyer still needs to shell out $1,500 in transfer taxes when buying a $200,000 condo or house in Chicago.
Why raise the real estate transfer tax at all, you ask? The city was looking for a way to assuage the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) funding problems. Income from the new tax is used to supplement the city’s transportation department, which would have had to shut down bus routes otherwise.