Closing Costs in Los Cabos: What a Buyer Actually Pays in 2026

The transfer tax went up, and most guides still say 2%

This is the single most important number on the page, so it goes first.

The property acquisition tax — ISABI in Baja California Sur, often written ISAI elsewhere in Mexico — is now 3%. Los Cabos raised it from 2% to 3% effective January 1, 2025, becoming the first municipality in the state to do so, and the increase was harmonised across all five BCS municipalities — Los Cabos, La Paz, Loreto, Comondú and Mulegé — effective January 1, 2026.

On a MXN 20,000,000 purchase that is roughly MXN 200,000 more than the figure still printed on a great many broker websites. A reduced rate of 1.5% applies to transfers by donation or succession between spouses and direct relatives.

The 3% is not charged on the price, and not on all of it

Two details that almost every published guide omits, and both of them change the number.

First, the base is the highest of three values, not the contract price: the price agreed in the transaction, the fiscal or cadastral value, or the commercial value determined by appraisal. The appraisal used for this purpose may not be more than 90 days old. If the cadastral or appraised value comes in above your negotiated price, the tax is calculated on that higher figure.

Second, there is a deduction before the rate applies. Under the general rule the taxable base is reduced by the equivalent of five annual UMA before the 3% is calculated. The annual UMA for 2026 is MXN 42,794.64, so the deduction is MXN 213,973.20.

Which means the effective rate is never quite 3%:

The notary calculates and remits the tax. These are worked examples from the published rate and the 2026 UMA, not a quotation.

The notary does not charge a percentage

You will read that the notary charges “about 1%”, or 2%. That is not how the fee is built. Baja California Sur uses a progressive schedule (arancel) expressed in UMA, so the effective proportion falls as the transaction value rises.

Calculated from the schedule published by the Colegio de Notarios de Baja California Sur, updated to the 2026 UMA and including IVA on the notarial service. Orientation figures, not a quotation from any particular notary’s office.

Taxes, government duties, certificates and appraisals are not part of the notary’s fee and should appear as separate lines on your estimate. If they are bundled into one number, ask for the breakdown.

Public Registry inscription of the transfer or of the trust rights is charged at 3.25 per thousand — 0.325% — plus fixed duties, certificates and any additional acts.

What the buyer pays, line by line

Budget 5% to 8% as a foreign buyer of a residential property. With title insurance, financing, powers of attorney, translations or any legal complication, the total can approach or exceed 9%.

Note the three different kinds of number in that table, because they behave differently. Legal obligations are set by statute and are not negotiable. Published schedules are calculable in advance. Market references are neither — they are quotes, they vary between providers, and they should be obtained in writing.

The percentage is also regressive. The SRE permit, the avalúo and the registry duties are the same on a MXN 5,000,000 condo as on a MXN 40,000,000 villa, and the notary schedule falls as value rises. Modelling only the three legal items above — tax, notary and registry — gives 4.21% at MXN 5,000,000 and 3.81% at MXN 40,000,000. Smaller purchases land at the high end of every range quoted on this page.

What the seller pays

The two large seller-side items are income tax on the gain (ISR), withheld and remitted by the notary at closing, and the brokerage commission plus its IVA.

For a seller resident abroad the Income Tax Law provides for withholding of 25% of the gross proceeds with no deduction, with an option to calculate on the gain instead where the legal conditions are met. Which is cheaper is not intuitive and the conditions are not automatic. It has its own guide: capital gains tax when you sell in Los Cabos.

There is no mandatory commission rate in Los Cabos. Commission is contractual, and the MLS BCS operating policies expressly let each brokerage set the rate on its own listings. Anyone quoting you a percentage as though it were the market’s law is quoting you their own.

The seller also clears any outstanding predial, HOA dues and utilities to the closing date.

Annual property tax after you close

Predial in Los Cabos is low by US and Canadian standards, and the reason is structural rather than a matter of rate. It is charged on the cadastral value set by the municipality, not on market value, and the cadastral value is typically a small fraction of what the property would sell for. That mechanism, not the percentage, is what makes the bill small.

Published effective rates for the region are commonly cited in the region of a few tenths of one percent of cadastral value per year, but the rate schedule and the cadastral value are both municipal and property-specific, so the only figure worth acting on is the one on the account for the property you are buying. Ask for the current predial receipt during due diligence — you need it anyway to confirm the account is paid to date.

Los Cabos announced a 20% discount for payment in January and February 2026, and 10% in March. An early-payment discount is offered most years and is worth calendaring.

Do not project a US property tax bill onto a Los Cabos purchase. The annual carrying cost here is far more likely to be driven by HOA dues than by predial.

What actually changes your total

• Whether a new trust or an assumed one. Assuming the seller’s existing fideicomiso can save most of the setup cost. See the fideicomiso guide.
• The taxable value the notary uses, which drives the 3%.
• Which notary. Fees are not uniform, and in Mexico the buyer customarily chooses.
• New construction versus resale. Pre-construction purchases can carry IVA and developer closing charges that a resale does not.
• Whether you take title as an individual or through a corporation.

Nine things you will read that are not true

Every one of these appears on published Los Cabos buyer pages. None of them survives contact with the statute.

• “Closing costs are exactly 5%” — or 7%, or any single figure. There is no legal percentage covering all closing costs.
• “The notary charges 1%” — the schedule is progressive and runs from roughly 1.01% down to 0.50%.
• “The Public Registry costs 1%” — it is 3.25 per thousand, 0.325%, plus fixed duties.
• “The tax is 3% of the purchase price” — it is 3% of the highest of price, cadastral value and appraisal, after the 5 UMA deduction.
• “The closing agent replaces the notary” — a closing coordinator has no notarial authority and does not represent you legally unless separately retained as your attorney.
• “Your 5–10% escrow deposit is a closing cost” — the deposit is credited against the purchase price. The escrow fee is the cost.
• “Escrow is required by law” — it is not, and that is not a reason to skip it. In BCS escrow is the standard closing method precisely because it sits outside Mexican law: the funds are held in the US under a US contract. See escrow and title.
• “The fideicomiso renews automatically, forever” — the initial term is up to 50 years and an extension may be requested. See the fideicomiso guide.
• “The SRE permit and the bank fee are the same charge” — one is a federal duty of MXN 21,650, the other is the trustee bank’s own pricing.

Ask for this before you sign anything

The sum of a written, itemised estimate for your specific property is your closing cost. A percentage published on the internet — including the ones on this page — is not.

Take this table to your notary and your closing coordinator and ask them to fill it in. Every row should show an amount, a currency, whether IVA is included, who collects it, and whether it is mandatory or optional. A line that cannot be filled in yet should say so, rather than being folded into someone else’s number.

If someone resists producing this, that is information too. There is no legitimate reason a buyer should be asked to wire funds against a percentage.

These are planning figures, current as of August 2026. They are not a closing statement. Ask the notary for a property-specific estimate before committing funds, and have it reviewed by an independent Mexican attorney and tax professional.