What is the transfer tax in California?
California’s base transfer tax is the county documentary transfer tax of $0.55 for each $500 of consideration or value, which equals $1.10 per $1,000, or 0.11%. Revenue and Taxation Code § 11911, part of the Documentary Transfer Tax Act, lets every county impose it on deeds conveying realty when the consideration exceeds $100.
The tax is figured on the price exclusive of the value of any lien or encumbrance remaining on the property at the time of sale. If a buyer takes over your existing loan, the assumed balance isn’t part of the county tax base. A new loan the buyer takes out doesn’t reduce it.
Cities can levy a tax at half the county rate, $0.55 per $1,000, and § 11911(c) credits that city tax against the county’s. In most general law cities the total stays at $1.10 per $1,000. Charter cities, which include Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose, can set their own rates, and that’s where California’s transfer taxes get expensive.
Who pays the transfer tax in California?
The seller customarily pays the county transfer tax in most of California, including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Alameda, Santa Clara, San Diego and Orange counties, according to Fidelity National Title’s January 2026 California schedule. City taxes vary. The seller customarily pays the Los Angeles and San Francisco city taxes, while Oakland, Berkeley, Mountain View and San Jose taxes are customarily split between buyer and seller.
Custom is only a starting point. On a $6 million Los Angeles sale with ULA in play, who pays can swing a quarter of a million dollars, so negotiate it in the letter of intent and spell it out in the purchase agreement.
Escrow collects the tax and pays it when the deed records. The deed shows the tax amount, or the parties give a separate declaration, and the county recorder won’t record a taxable deed until the tax is paid.
City transfer taxes in California’s major markets
Most big California cities with their own transfer tax charge the rate on the entire price, not just the slice above a threshold. That creates cliffs: a sale one dollar over a tier boundary pays the higher rate on every dollar. The table shows city rates as published by the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder and Fidelity National Title’s January 2026 schedule; the county’s $1.10 per $1,000 is added in each of these cities.
| City | City transfer tax | Customary payer |
|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles | 0.45% ($2.25 per $500), plus ULA 4% above $5.4M and 5.5% at $10.9M or more | Seller |
| San Francisco (replaces county tax) | 0.5% under $250K; 0.68% to $1M; 0.75% to $5M; 2.25% to $10M; 5.5% to $25M; 6% at $25M+ | Seller |
| Oakland | 1% to $300K; 1.5% to $2M; 1.75% to $5M; 2.5% over $5M | Split |
| Berkeley | 1.5% up to $1.7M; 2.5% over $1.7M | Split |
| San Jose | 0.33%, plus Measure E 0.75% from $2.3M to $5M, 1% to $10M, 1.5% above | Split |
| Culver City | 0.45% under $1.5M; 1.5% to $3M; 3% to $10M; 4% at $10M+ | Seller |
| Santa Monica | 0.3% under $5M; 0.6% from $5M to $8M; 5.6% over $8M | Seller |
Measure ULA in 2026: rates, thresholds and what changed
Measure ULA is a Los Angeles city transfer tax of 4% on sales above $5,400,000 and below $10,900,000, and 5.5% on sales of $10,900,000 or more, for transactions closing after June 30, 2026. Voters approved it in November 2022, it has no end date, and it applies only inside the City of Los Angeles, not in separate cities such as Beverly Hills or Santa Monica.
The thresholds are adjusted every July 1 for inflation. The Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder lists $5,300,000 and $10,600,000 for the year that started July 1, 2025, and $5,150,000 and $10,300,000 before that. ULA is charged on the whole price, on top of the regular 0.45% city tax and the county’s 0.11%.
Several efforts to change ULA in 2026 didn’t pass. The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association withdrew its statewide initiative, which would have limited voter-approved local transfer taxes in charter cities, on June 25, 2026, as part of a deal with the governor and legislative leaders. In July the Los Angeles City Council dropped a planned November ballot measure to exempt new multifamily buildings and instead asked the Housing Department to draft a pilot tax credit for certain new projects. For a sale today, ULA applies as written.
Transfer tax on LLC and partnership sales in California
Selling the entity instead of the building doesn’t always avoid California transfer tax. In 926 North Ardmore Avenue, Inc. v. County of Los Angeles (2017), the California Supreme Court held that the documentary transfer tax can apply to a transfer of interests in a legal entity that owns real estate when the transfer causes a change in ownership of the property for property tax purposes.
Revenue and Taxation Code § 11925 covers partnerships. A transfer of a partnership interest isn’t taxed while the partnership continues to hold the property, but when a partnership terminates, it’s treated as having executed an instrument conveying the realty, and § 11925(d) exempts transfers that only change the method of holding title when proportional ownership stays the same.
So moving a building from your name into an LLC you own in the same proportions usually owes no transfer tax, while selling more than half of the LLC to a new owner can. Get the change-in-ownership analysis done before signing an entity deal, because it decides both the transfer tax and the Prop 13 reassessment.
Exemptions from the California documentary transfer tax
The state act exempts a set of transfers that matter to investors. City ordinances generally track them, but charter cities can differ, so check the city’s rules too.
- Gifts during life and transfers caused by death, under § 11930.
- Deeds to a lender as a result of or in lieu of foreclosure, under § 11926, except to the extent the consideration exceeds the unpaid debt, interest and foreclosure costs.
- Transfers that only change how title is held, with proportional interests unchanged, under § 11925(d).
- The balance of an existing loan the buyer assumes, which is excluded from the taxable amount under § 11911.
- Measure ULA has its own exemptions for certain nonprofit, community land trust and government buyers and sellers.
Does a 1031 exchange avoid California transfer tax?
No. A 1031 exchange defers federal and California income tax on your gain, but the deed into your buyer is a sale, and the county and city taxes apply in full. The same is true on the deed into your replacement property if it’s in California.
That’s why the transfer tax belongs in your exchange budget. A Los Angeles owner selling at $6 million and buying a $9 million building in San Francisco could pay city tax on both ends, and the replacement side would land in San Francisco’s 2.25% tier.
Worked example: transfer tax on a $2M, $5M and $6M California apartment sale
Take a 20-unit building selling for $2,000,000. In San Diego, which has no city tax listed in title schedules, the county tax is $2,200. In the City of Los Angeles, add the 0.45% city tax of $9,000 for a total of $11,200. In Oakland, the city’s 1.5% tier adds $30,000, for $32,200. In San Francisco, the 0.75% tier replaces the county tax and comes to $15,000.
At $5,000,000, the county tax is $5,500. Los Angeles totals $28,000, because $5,000,000 is below the ULA threshold. Oakland totals $93,000 at 1.75%. San Francisco jumps to $112,500, because $5,000,000 falls in the 2.25% tier; a $4,999,999 sale would pay $37,500 at 0.75%.
Now push the Los Angeles sale to $6,000,000. The county tax is $6,600, the city tax is $27,000, and ULA adds 4% of the whole price, $240,000, for a total of $273,600. The cliff is steep. After county, city and ULA taxes, a $5,500,000 sale nets the seller $5,249,200, about $110,600 less than a $5,390,000 sale nets at $5,359,816. The price has to reach roughly $5.63 million before the seller comes out ahead of selling just under the threshold, which is why Los Angeles sellers watch the line closely.
| Location and price | County tax | City tax | ULA | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| San Diego, $2,000,000 | $2,200 | None | None | $2,200 |
| Los Angeles, $2,000,000 | $2,200 | $9,000 | None | $11,200 |
| Oakland, $2,000,000 | $2,200 | $30,000 | None | $32,200 |
| San Francisco, $2,000,000 | Included | $15,000 | None | $15,000 |
| Los Angeles, $5,000,000 | $5,500 | $22,500 | None | $28,000 |
| San Francisco, $5,000,000 | Included | $112,500 | None | $112,500 |
| Los Angeles, $6,000,000 | $6,600 | $27,000 | $240,000 | $273,600 |
California compared with neighboring states
Outside its big cities, California’s 0.11% county tax is modest. Arizona has no transfer tax at all under its constitution, and Nevada’s Clark County charges $2.55 per $500, or 0.51%. Washington charges a graduated state excise tax of 1.10% to 3.00% on portions of the price, plus local tax.
| State | State or county rate | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| California | 0.11% county tax | Charter cities add up to 6% or more |
| Arizona | None | Constitutional ban on transfer taxes |
| Nevada (Clark County) | 0.51% | $2.55 per $500 |
| Washington | 1.10% to 3.00%, graduated | Local REET added |
How transfer tax fits into your total California selling costs
California taxes capital gains as ordinary income, at rates up to 13.3% for the highest earners, on top of federal capital gains tax of up to 20%, depreciation recapture of up to 25% and the 3.8% net investment income tax. On most sales those income taxes dwarf the transfer tax, except in ULA territory.
California also requires withholding at closing. Escrow generally withholds 3 1/3% of the sales price for the Franchise Tax Board on Form 593 unless an exemption applies or the seller elects the alternative calculation based on gain. Plan for that cash timing even when your final tax is lower.
For the buyer, a sale is a change in ownership under Prop 13, so property tax resets to roughly 1% of the price plus local assessments. A 1031 exchange defers the income taxes, and an installment sale or seller financing can spread them. Ask your CPA to put the transfer tax, the withholding and the income tax on one page before you set your price.
Selling your California apartment building to Skyline
Skyline Capital Investments buys apartment buildings with five or more units across California, including Los Angeles, the Inland Empire, San Diego, Sacramento and the Bay Area. We buy directly, can offer seller-carry terms and can close inside 1031 exchange deadlines.
Send us the property address and unit count through the form on this page, or call (469) 660-2977. We typically respond within 48 hours, and our offer states which transfer taxes and closing costs each side pays.
