Cost of registering property (% of property value) by country
Cost is recorded as a percentage of the property value, assumed to be equivalent to 50 times income per capita. Only official costs required by law are recorded, including fees, transfer taxes, stamp duties and any other payment to the property registry, notaries, public agencies or lawyers. Other taxes, such as...
What the numbers show
Cost of registering property (% of property value) is currently reported for 51 countries. The highest value is 21.3% in Congo; the lowest is 0.7% in Egypt.
The median across all reporting countries is 8.2%, and the mean is 9.1%.
The gap between the highest and lowest reporting country is a factor of about 30.
Over the past decade 5 countries rose and 40 fell. The largest increase was in Namibia (up 36.6%), and the largest decrease in Egypt (down 89.7%).
Cost of registering property: full country ranking
| # | Country | Latest | Year | 10-year change | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Congo | 21.3% | 2012 | down 5.8% | falling |
| 2 | Nigeria | 20.8% | 2012 | down 23.2% | falling |
| 3 | Senegal | 20.2% | 2012 | up 3.6% | rising |
| 4 | Cameroon | 19.1% | 2012 | down 2.6% | flat |
| 5 | Chad | 17.9% | 2012 | down 5.3% | falling |
| 6 | Guinea | 14.2% | 2012 | down 7.2% | falling |
| 7 | Cote d'Ivoire | 13.9% | 2012 | unchanged | flat |
| 8 | Namibia | 13.8% | 2012 | up 36.6% | rising |
| 9 | Liberia | 13.1% | 2012 | down 3.0% | flat |
| 10 | Djibouti | 12.9% | 2012 | down 3.0% | flat |
| 11 | Burkina Faso | 12.6% | 2012 | down 39.1% | falling |
| 12 | Equatorial Guinea | 12.5% | 2012 | unchanged | flat |
| 12 | Togo | 12.5% | 2012 | down 10.1% | falling |
| 14 | Mali | 12.0% | 2012 | down 44.2% | falling |
| 15 | Benin | 11.8% | 2012 | down 2.5% | falling |
| 16 | Sierra Leone | 11.6% | 2012 | down 31.8% | falling |
| 17 | Niger | 11.0% | 2012 | down 31.7% | falling |
| 17 | Central African Republic | 11.0% | 2012 | down 42.7% | falling |
| 19 | Mauritius | 10.6% | 2012 | down 32.5% | falling |
| 20 | Guinea-Bissau | 10.5% | 2012 | down 11.0% | falling |
| 20 | Madagascar | 10.5% | 2012 | down 8.7% | falling |
| 20 | Gabon | 10.5% | 2012 | unchanged | flat |
| 20 | Comoros | 10.5% | 2012 | down 21.1% | falling |
| 24 | Eritrea | 9.1% | 2012 | down 1.1% | flat |
| 25 | Sao Tome and Principe | 9.0% | 2012 | down 28.6% | falling |
| 26 | Zambia | 8.2% | 2012 | down 15.5% | falling |
| 27 | Mozambique | 8.0% | 2012 | down 70.3% | falling |
| 28 | Lesotho | 7.9% | 2012 | down 15.1% | falling |
| 29 | Zimbabwe | 7.8% | 2012 | down 56.9% | falling |
| 30 | Gambia | 7.6% | 2012 | unchanged | flat |
| 31 | Algeria | 7.1% | 2012 | down 5.3% | falling |
| 31 | Eswatini | 7.1% | 2012 | unchanged | flat |
| 33 | Seychelles | 7.0% | 2012 | down 41.2% | falling |
| 34 | Democratic Republic of Congo | 6.7% | 2012 | down 32.3% | falling |
| 35 | Tunisia | 6.1% | 2012 | unchanged | flat |
| 36 | South Africa | 5.9% | 2012 | down 47.8% | falling |
| 36 | Morocco | 5.9% | 2012 | down 9.2% | falling |
| 38 | Rwanda | 5.6% | 2012 | down 42.3% | volatile |
| 39 | Botswana | 5.1% | 2012 | up 4.1% | flat |
| 40 | Mauritania | 4.7% | 2012 | down 30.9% | falling |
| 41 | Tanzania | 4.4% | 2012 | down 40.5% | falling |
| 42 | Kenya | 4.3% | 2012 | up 7.5% | rising |
| 43 | Cape Verde | 3.7% | 2012 | down 53.2% | falling |
| 44 | Malawi | 3.6% | 2012 | up 2.9% | flat |
| 45 | Burundi | 3.3% | 2012 | down 77.1% | volatile |
| 46 | Angola | 3.1% | 2012 | down 73.3% | falling |
| 47 | Sudan | 2.8% | 2012 | down 22.2% | falling |
| 48 | Ethiopia | 2.1% | 2012 | down 54.3% | falling |
| 49 | Uganda | 1.9% | 2012 | down 61.2% | falling |
| 50 | Ghana | 1.2% | 2012 | down 60.0% | falling |
| 51 | Egypt | 0.7% | 2012 | down 89.7% | volatile |
Regions and income groups
Aggregates are excluded from the country ranking above so that a region can never outrank a country.
About this data
Cost is recorded as a percentage of the property value, assumed to be equivalent to 50 times income per capita. Only official costs required by law are recorded, including fees, transfer taxes, stamp duties and any other payment to the property registry, notaries, public agencies or lawyers. Other taxes, such as capital gains tax or value added tax, are excluded from the cost measure. Both costs borne by the buyer and those borne by the seller are included. If cost estimates differ among