NJ Realty Transfer Fee: What Sellers Actually Pay at Closing
What is the NJ Realty Transfer Fee and who pays it?
New Jersey's Realty Transfer Fee is a closing cost paid by the seller when a deed is recorded. It's calculated on a sliding scale based on the sale price — roughly 0.4% on the first $150,000 and climbing in tiers. As of 2025, sellers also owe a supplemental Graduated Percent Fee on residential sales over $1 million (formerly a buyer-paid 'mansion tax'). Certain seniors, blind, disabled, and low-income housing sellers qualify for reduced rates or exemptions.
Key takeaways
- ✓ The seller pays NJ's Realty Transfer Fee (RTF) at closing — the title company or closing attorney calculates and remits it.
- ✓ Base rates are tiered: $2.00 / $500 of consideration on the first $150,000, $3.35 / $500 from $150,000–$200,000, $3.90 / $500 from $200,000–$350,000, then continuing to scale above $350,000.
- ✓ As of 2025, the 1% supplemental fee on residential sales over $1 million flipped from the buyer to the seller — and it climbs to 3.5% on sales above $3.5 million.
- ✓ Partial exemptions exist for senior citizens (62+), blind persons, disabled persons, and low- and moderate-income housing — and 16 categories of full exemption are listed on Form RTF-1.
- ✓ RTF is separate from federal capital-gains tax, the NJ nonresident 'exit tax,' and agent commissions; see our broader taxes guide for the full closing-cost picture.
If you’re selling a house in New Jersey, the Realty Transfer Fee is the closing cost that surprises people the most. It’s not the largest — agent commissions and mortgage payoff are usually bigger — but it’s the one most sellers don’t see coming until the closing statement lands in front of them. This guide explains how it actually works, what the rates are, who qualifies for an exemption, and the 2025 change that flipped a significant fee from the buyer to the seller.
General information about NJ home-sale taxes and fees. Not legal or tax advice — confirm your specifics with a closing attorney, CPA, or the NJ Division of Taxation.
What the RTF is
The Realty Transfer Fee (RTF) is a state fee New Jersey charges when a deed is recorded. The seller (the grantor) pays it at closing — it comes directly out of the sale proceeds on the closing statement, calculated and remitted by the title company or closing attorney to the county on the seller’s behalf. The amount depends on the sale price (called the “consideration” in the deed), not on whether the buyer is paying cash or getting a mortgage.
The authoritative source is the NJ Division of Taxation Property Sale Realty Transfer Fee page, and the NJ Realty Transfer Fees FAQ page covers exemptions in detail.
The base rates (sales up to $350,000)
For most Camden County, NJ home sales, the base RTF is calculated as a dollar amount per $500 of consideration, in tiers:
| Sale-price tier | RTF rate (per $500) | Effective rate |
|---|---|---|
| First $150,000 | $2.00 | 0.40% |
| $150,000 – $200,000 | $3.35 | 0.67% |
| $200,000 – $350,000 | $3.90 | 0.78% |
The fee on each tier is calculated separately and added. Worked example for a $250,000 sale:
- First $150,000 × $2.00 / $500 = $600
- Next $50,000 × $3.35 / $500 = $335
- Next $50,000 × $3.90 / $500 = $390
- Total RTF: $1,325
Sales above $350,000 continue to scale through additional tiers. Rather than reproducing the full schedule (which has been updated periodically), the simplest move is to ask your title company for an exact figure once you have a sale price — or check the official NJ schedule directly.
The 2025 change: the supplemental fee on $1M+ residential sales
This is the part most online NJ-RTF content hasn’t caught up on yet.
Through 2024, residential sales above $1 million carried a separate 1% supplemental fee paid by the buyer (the grantee) — colloquially called the “Mansion Tax.” A buyer purchasing a $1.2M home in Haddonfield, for instance, wrote a check for $12,000 at closing for that fee, on top of the seller’s RTF.
Effective 2025, New Jersey restructured that fee as a Graduated Percent Fee imposed on the seller (the grantor). The new tiered structure:
| Sale-price tier | Graduated Percent Fee (seller-paid) |
|---|---|
| $1,000,000 – $2,000,000 | 1% |
| $2,000,000 – $2,500,000 | 2% |
| $2,500,000 – $3,000,000 | 2.5% |
| $3,000,000 – $3,500,000 | 3% |
| $3,500,000 and above | 3.5% |
If you’re selling a property above $1 million — common in higher-end Camden County submarkets like Haddonfield, Cherry Hill, or parts of Voorhees — this fee comes out of your proceeds, on top of the base RTF. Source: NJ Treasury — Change to Controlling Interest Transfer Tax (CITT) and the Graduated Percent Fee Policies PDF.
A seller closing a $1.5M sale today should expect roughly $15,000 in Graduated Percent Fee on top of the base RTF — money that used to come from the buyer’s side of the table.
Exemptions and reduced rates
New Jersey offers several partial exemption categories (reduced RTF rates) and 16 full-exemption categories. The most common reduced-rate categories:
- Senior citizens (age 62 or older). Applies only to a one- or two-family residence the seller owns and actually occupies. If the property is held as joint tenants and any co-owner doesn’t independently qualify, the exemption is disallowed. The partial exemption applies only to the portion of the sale attributable to the residence and the immediately surrounding land.
- Blind persons. Same one- or two-family owner-occupancy rules as the senior exemption.
- Disabled persons. Same rules.
- Low- and moderate-income housing. Defined to align with HUD standards (generally 80% or less of regional median household income).
- New construction. A separate partial-rate category.
Full exemptions cover 16 separate transfer types listed in the instructions to Form RTF-1, including certain transfers between spouses, transfers pursuant to a divorce decree, transfers into or out of a revocable trust, and transfers between related entities — among others. The complete list with eligibility is on the official RTF FAQs page.
The forms
You don’t fill these out yourself in a typical sale — the title company or closing attorney handles them — but it helps to know what’s being filed with your deed:
- Form RTF-1 (Affidavit of Consideration for Use by Seller). Required whenever a full or partial exemption is being claimed. Lists the 16 full-exemption categories and the partial-exemption categories.
- Form RTF-1EE. The standard affidavit for non-exempt transfers, including the buyer-side acknowledgement.
- Form RTF-3. Used for specific transfer types that don’t fit the RTF-1 or RTF-1EE flow.
All three are published as PDFs on the NJ Division of Taxation site and updated periodically.
How the RTF fits with other NJ home-sale costs
The RTF is one of several costs that come out of a seller’s proceeds at closing. The full picture for most Camden County sales:
- NJ Realty Transfer Fee (this guide) — base rate plus any Graduated Percent Fee on $1M+ sales.
- Federal capital-gains tax — usually $0 for primary residences thanks to the $250K-single / $500K-married IRS exclusion. See taxes when selling a house in NJ for the full breakdown.
- NJ nonresident “exit tax” — an estimated income tax payment if you’ve moved out of state, reconciled on your NJ return. Deep dive: NJ Exit Tax: What Nonresident Sellers Actually Pay (And How to Get It Back).
- Agent commissions — typically 5–6% of the sale price in a traditional listing.
- Mortgage payoff — paid directly from proceeds to the lender.
- Other closing costs — title insurance (usually buyer-paid), recording fees, attorney fees.
A guide that ties the recording side together with the deed itself: Quitclaim Deeds in NJ, which covers when a quitclaim is the right tool and which RTF exemptions commonly apply to those transfers.
What a cash sale changes (and doesn’t)
A cash sale doesn’t change the RTF — it’s owed on the deed recording, not on how the buyer is paying. The amount is the same whether your buyer is bringing financing or writing a check.
What a cash sale does change is everything around it: no agent commission (typically 5–6%), no buyer-side closing costs you’re paying for, no repair credits, no months of carrying costs while the home sits on the market, no inspection-driven renegotiation. The RTF is one line on the closing statement; in a traditional sale, it’s often a small fraction of what comes off the top.
If you’re trying to figure out what you’d actually net on a Camden County sale, request a no-obligation cash offer and we’ll walk through the numbers — including the RTF — line by line.
General information about New Jersey transfer taxes and fees. Not legal, tax, or financial advice. Rate brackets and exemption rules are set by NJ statute and revised periodically; the NJ Division of Taxation Realty Transfer Fee page is the authoritative current source.