The cost to finance a home purchase went up this year, and new regulations were blamed. The state with the highest costs wasn’t even among the five-worst last year, while 2013’s lowest cost state is now among the five highest.
Average costs to finance a single-family home purchase this year are $2,539. Costs were calculated based on a $200,000 loan amount and a 20 percent down payment.
Included in the total home financing cost is $1,877 in lender origination fees and $662 in third-party fees.
The findings were reported by Bankrate.com based on a survey of 10 lenders in each state and Washington, D.C. The numbers are based on costs for the largest city in each state.
Excluded from third-party fees were costs for title insurance, title search, taxes, other government fees and escrow fees.
Fees increased from 2013, when the total was $2,402. Last year’s total included $1,730 in origination fees and $672 in third-party fees.
“New mortgage regulations are the biggest reasons why closing costs went up over the past year,” Bankrate.com Senior Mortgage Analyst Holden Lewis explained in the report.
At the top of the list among all states was Texas, where borrowers paid an average of $3,046 in total fees.
Pushing the Lone Star State to the top were its lender origination fees of $2,280 — also higher than any other state.
Texas wasn’t even among the top-five states in last year’s report.
Alaska followed with total fees of $2,897.
No. 3 New York had total closing costs of $2,892. New York also was not among the top-five states in the 2013 report.
In the fourth position was Hawaii, where fees totaled $2,808. The Aloha State, which was No. 1 last year, had this year’s highest third-party fees: $799.
No. 5 Wisconsin had total fees of $2,706.
Wisconsin had a radical transformation from 2013, when it was the least expensive state in the nation.
This year’s least expensive state was Nevada — where total costs were $2,265.
