costs in Texas.
In a recent article by Houston Business Journal, Paul Takahashi reported:
Closing costs are an oft-overlooked part of buying a home. These settlement fees are often determined by the lender and type of mortgage buyers choose. However, closing costs often vary by location, according to a new report.
SmartAsset, a New York City-based financial technology company, analyzed closing costs in each county across the country, and ranked top 10 counties in each state with the lowest closing costs as a percentage of a median home’s value.
Fort Bend County — which covers several municipalities, including Katy and Sugar Land — has the lowest closing costs in the Houston area, according to SmartAsset. Homebuyers in this southwest Houston county pay on average $3,636 in closing costs, according SmartAsset.
In Texas, Fort Bend County ranked No. 6 among the top 10 cheapest counties for closing costs, according to SmartAsset. The county moved up two spots from SmartAsset's 2015 ranking.
SmartAsset calculated its rankings by tallying up closing costs — including the mortgage tax, transfer tax and other fixed and variable fees — and comparing them to the median home value in each county. SmartAsset assumed the closing costs would be on a 30-year fixed mortgage with a 20 percent down payment.
In Texas, closing costs represented on average about 2.5 percent of a median home’s value, a slight increase from 2.1 percent in 2015. In Fort Bend County, closing costs represented on average about 1.9 percent of a median home’s value, according to SmartAsset.
Kendall County, located north of San Antonio, had the lowest closing costs as a percentage of the home value in Texas. In Kendall County, closing costs represented on average about 1.5 percent of a median home’s value, according to SmartAsset.
Although homebuyers in these counties can save the most in closing costs across the state, Texas homebuyers face some of the nation's highest closing costs, according to reports.