NEW-BUILD PROPERTY

Reduced notary fees on new-build property: what to know before you buy

One of the most concrete financial advantages of buying new-build: purchase costs two to three times lower than on resale property.

A significant gap between new-build and resale property

On resale property, notary fees — which actually comprise taxes, disbursements and the notary's own fee — represent on average 7 to 8% of the sale price. On new-build property, this same cost represents only 2 to 3% of the purchase price. On a €400,000 property, the difference amounts to a saving of between €20,000 and €24,000.

Resale property

Acquisition costs of around 7 to 8% of the sale price, made up mainly of transfer duties (DMTO), collected by the département and the local municipality.

New-build property

Acquisition costs reduced to 2 to 3% of the purchase price, thanks to a lower land registration tax rate and the absence of additional VAT on this item.

Why this difference?

Two main reasons explain this gap:

The land registration tax, which makes up the bulk of notary fees on resale property, is calculated at a reduced rate on new-build property (around 0.7% compared with nearly 5.8% on resale property in most départements).
The price of a new-build property already includes VAT (20%): since this tax has already been paid as part of the sale price, it is not counted a second time in the transfer-fee calculation.

Good to know: "notary fees" is a shorthand term. They comprise duties and taxes paid to the State (the largest share), disbursements (costs the notary advances on the buyer's behalf) and the notary's own fee, which is regulated and proportional to the property's price.

What these fees actually cover

Acquisition costs break down into three categories: duties and taxes (the largest share, paid to local authorities and the State), disbursements (costs the notary advances to obtain administrative documents and carry out formalities), and the notary's own fee (set by a regulated national scale).

An advantage to weigh alongside new-build property's other strengths

Beyond reduced fees, buying new-build property comes with developer guarantees (ten-year structural guarantee, completion guarantee, two-year guarantee), current energy performance, and often lower maintenance costs in the medium term. All of these factors should be weighed when calculating the real cost of a project, beyond the purchase price alone.

This article is for general information purposes only. The rates and amounts cited are national averages that may vary by département and property type; we recommend checking the exact calculation with the notary handling your purchase.