Calculator
What closing actually costs
Buyer-side transaction costs in Colombia usually land between 2% and 4.5% of the purchase price. This shows you where that money goes, as a range rather than a single confident number — because several of these items genuinely vary by department and by local custom.
Converted at TRM 3,121.07 · 12 August 2026
Off by default. In Colombia the broker's commission is customarily paid by the seller, so most buyers pay nothing here.
What each line is
| Line item | What it is | Rate |
|---|---|---|
| Derechos notariales | The notary's fee for drawing and authorising the escritura. Customarily split with the seller. | ≈0.30% total |
| Impuesto de registro | Departmental tax on registering the transfer. National law sets the band; your department picks the rate inside it. | 0.5–1.0% |
| Estampillas & boleta fiscal | Departmental and municipal stamps. Antioquia sits at the higher end of this range. | 0.5–1.0% |
| Derechos de registro | The registry office's own fee for recording the deed on the folio de matrícula. | ≈0.5% |
| GMF (4×1000) | The financial transaction tax, charged on money moving through a Colombian account. Easy to forget, impossible to avoid. | 0.4% |
| Legal — estudio de títulos | Your lawyer's title study and closing work. The one line you should never cut. | 0.4–1.0% |
These are estimates, not a quote. Notaries and registry offices publish their own tariffs, departmental rates change, and some fees are fixed amounts rather than percentages, so small purchases carry a proportionally heavier load. Ask your notary and your lawyer for their actual figures before you budget to the peso. What this tool is good for is catching a broker who tells you closing costs are “about 1%”.
What is not on this list
- Broker commission. Customarily paid by the seller in Colombia. If a buyer's agent asks you for a fee, that is a negotiation, not a standard.
- Retención en la fuente. A withholding applied on the sale — the seller's cost, not yours. It becomes relevant when you are the one exiting.
- Your first year of carrying costs. Predial, administración, utilities and insurance are ownership costs rather than closing costs, and for an amenity building the administración is usually the number that surprises people most.
- Currency spread. The difference between the TRM and what your bank or transfer service actually gives you is a real cost that never appears on a closing statement.
Someone quoting you a very different number?
Send me the breakdown you were given. Wildly low closing-cost estimates usually mean something has been left out, and wildly high ones sometimes mean a fee is being invented.