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Costs, Taxes & Rules

What buying or selling actually costs in Massachusetts, with every figure linked to its official source.

Cost and tax pages

Boston residential exemption: who qualifies and how to apply

Boston's residential exemption lowers the property tax on a home you own and occupy as your principal residence by excluding part of its value from taxation. For fiscal year 2027 the application deadline is April 1, 2027, and buyers who recorded a deed and moved in between January 1 and June 30, 2026 may now qualify.

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Closing costs in Massachusetts: what buyers and sellers pay

Buyers in Massachusetts pay lender charges, title insurance, their attorney, Registry of Deeds recording fees and prepaid taxes and insurance. Sellers pay the deed excise tax ($2.28 per $500 outside Barnstable County), mortgage discharge recording, their attorney, the smoke and CO certificate and any agreed commission.

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Massachusetts deed excise tax (transfer stamps)

Outside Barnstable County, the Massachusetts deed excise tax is $2.28 for every $500 of the sale price, or fraction of $500 (about $4.56 per $1,000). The person who signs the deed, the seller in a sale, pays it when the deed is recorded.

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Massachusetts homestead declaration: protection, cost and how to file

Every Massachusetts owner-occupant gets an automatic $125,000 homestead exemption under M.G.L. c. 188. Recording a declaration of homestead at the Registry of Deeds raises it to $1,000,000, and the Suffolk and Middlesex South registries charge $35 to record one.

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Property tax rates in Boston and nearby cities and towns

Boston's fiscal year 2026 residential tax rate is $12.40 per $1,000 of assessed value, according to the Massachusetts Division of Local Services. Nearby FY2026 residential rates run from $6.67 in Cambridge to $12.62 in Everett, and every community sets a new rate each fiscal year.

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