Closing Costs in South Dakota 2026: Buyer & Seller Guide

· ✓ Last verified Sep 30, 2026 · March 23, 2026 · by AskDoss Editorial Team ·Home Buying · 5 min read

South Dakota’s deed fee is fifty cents for each $500 of value or fraction of $500, and SDCL 43-4-21 says the grantor, the party conveying title, pays it. The county register of deeds charges $30 to record a deed or a mortgage of up to 50 pages. Title insurers must hold to their approved rates, with no rebate or discount (SDCL 58-25-13).

Fifty cents per $500, owed by the grantor

The whole rule is one sentence in SDCL 43-4-21: “A fee is hereby imposed at the rate of fifty cents for each five hundred dollars of value or fraction thereof upon the privilege of transferring title to real property in the State of South Dakota, which fee shall be paid by the grantor.” The only source note on that section is the 1968 session law, so the rate has not been amended since it was enacted.

  • Base. “Value” means “the amount of the full consideration therefor paid, or to be paid” for any deed that is not a gift, and consideration “includes like-kind exchanges of property” (§ 43-4-20).
  • Rounding. Every started $500 counts. A $325,000 sale is 650 units, so the fee is $325. At $325,100 it is 651 units, or $325.50.
  • Collection. The register collects the fee “based upon the value declared” when the deed is offered for recording (§ 43-4-24) and sends it each month “to the credit of the county general fund” (§ 43-4-25).

None of the other sections in §§ 43-4-20 to 43-4-26 names a different payer. If your purchase agreement says something different about this fee, read that clause before you sign.

Which deeds skip the fee

Section 43-4-22 lists nineteen exempt transfers. Five of them:

  • (3) a transfer made “solely in order to provide for or to release security for a debt or obligation”. That covers a mortgage and its release;
  • (5) husband and wife, or parent and child, “with only nominal actual consideration”;
  • (16) “an absolute gift without consideration of any kind”, between any individuals;
  • (17) transfers under a decree of divorce, annulment or separate maintenance, or under a settlement agreement approved or adopted by that decree;
  • (18) any transfer “for which no consideration was given”.

An exempt deed must carry the words “exempt from transfer fee” and name the subdivision it relies on (§ 43-4-23). Intentionally falsifying the value, or knowingly claiming an exemption that does not apply, so that too little or no fee is paid, is a Class 1 misdemeanor (§ 43-4-26).

The certificate of value that goes with the deed

Under SDCL 7-9-7(4), a register may not accept a deed or contract for deed dated after July 1, 1988 without a certificate of value. It lists buyer and seller, the legal description, “the actual consideration exchanged”, any relationship between the parties, and the payment terms if the price was not paid in full at the sale. A transfer on death deed is exempt from it (§ 7-9-7(5)).

The same form can spare a buyer a second filing. An owner-occupied property tax classification lasts only “until such time as the property ownership is transferred” (§ 10-13-40). If the house already has that classification, the new owner-occupant may meet the certificate requirement “by completing and filing the certificate of value required pursuant to § 7-9-7 at the time of the transfer.” Otherwise the owner-occupant certificate goes to the county director of equalization “by March fifteenth.”

$30 per document at every register of deeds

The fee is set by state law, not by each county. SDCL 7-9-15(1) charges “for recording deeds, mortgages, and all other instruments” the sum of “thirty dollars for the first fifty pages plus two dollars for each additional page or fraction thereof exceeding fifty pages.” Minnehaha County’s fee list shows the same $30 for a deed and for a mortgage. A deed and a mortgage, each 50 pages or shorter, cost $60 to record. Five dollars of each recording fee goes into the county’s modernization and preservation fund (§ 7-9-26); that $5 comes out of the $30, not on top of it.

Title premiums come from filed rates, and a local abstracter countersigns

  • Every title insurer must file its “manual or schedule of rates or premiums” with the director of the Division of Insurance (§ 58-25-7). No rate change is allowed “unless and until” it is filed and approved (§ 58-25-9), and policies must follow the approved filings except for special or unusual risks with no filing (§ 58-25-12).
  • Under § 58-25-13, an insurer “may not deviate” from its approved rates or allow an insured “a rebate or discount”. Each insurer files its own schedule (§ 58-25-7).
  • No insurer may issue a title policy on South Dakota property unless an abstracter who meets the registration and title-plant rules in that county countersigns it (§ 58-25-16). The countersignature verifies that the abstracter gave the insurer a report based on an examination of record title (§ 36-13-26.1).
  • The Abstracters’ Board of Examiners sets abstracters’ fees by rule, including the countersigning fee. Exceeding that schedule is a Class 2 misdemeanor (§ 36-13-25).

Brokers furnish the closing statements

The license law puts this on the brokers: “The listing broker shall furnish a closing statement to the seller. The selling broker shall furnish a closing statement to the buyer” (§ 36-21A-75).

Some covenants charge a private transfer fee on each resale. Under § 43-4-49, any private transfer fee obligation recorded or entered into after June 30, 2011 “is void and unenforceable”, and no older one “is presumed valid and enforceable.” Homeowners’ association fees are excluded from the definition (§ 43-4-47(7)), so § 43-4-49 does not reach them.

SD Housing’s Fixed Rate Plus: a 0% second mortgage

SD Housing (the South Dakota Housing Development Authority) offers downpayment and closing-cost help of “three (3) or five (5) percent of the first mortgage loan” through its Fixed Rate Plus loan, which “will include a second mortgage at 0% interest rate, due-on-sale or satisfaction, no payments, and no additional fees.” It is a loan, not a grant. On a $280,000 first mortgage, 3% is $8,400 and 5% is $14,000, and for the 3% option SD Housing says rates “are slightly higher than the standard fixed-rate loan.”

First-time buyers must not have “owned a home in the past three years” (a previous home not permanently affixed to a foundation, such as a mobile home, does not count, and SD Housing points veterans to a “Veterans Waiver”), must have income at or below SD Housing’s limits, and the “purchase price must be $410,000 or less”. Repeat Homebuyer participants “can also access downpayment and closing cost assistance.” You apply through a participating lender. (SD Housing pages read September 24, 2026.)

South Dakota closing questions

What is the transfer fee on a $365,000 house?

$365. That is 730 units of $500 at fifty cents each, and SDCL 43-4-21 puts it on the grantor.

Is there a transfer fee on my mortgage?

No. § 43-4-22(3) exempts transfers made solely to provide or release security for a debt. Recording the mortgage still costs $30 for up to 50 pages under § 7-9-15(1).

My parents are deeding me their cabin for a token sum. Is there a fee?

Not if the deed qualifies. Parent-to-child transfers “with only nominal actual consideration” are exempt under § 43-4-22(5), and the deed must say “exempt from transfer fee” and cite subdivision (5).

Can the title insurer knock something off the premium?

No. § 58-25-13 bars any deviation, rebate or discount from the insurer’s approved rates. What you can compare is each insurer’s filed schedule.

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