Ask a buyer arriving from Manhattan what they expect on closing day, and most describe the process they just finished on their last deal there: a title company runs the settlement, a closer slides documents across a conference table, and the whole thing wraps in under an hour. Connecticut does not work that way, and buyers who assume it will are the ones who get surprised twice. Once by the process, and once by the number at the bottom of the settlement statement.
Connecticut is one of a handful of states where a title company cannot run your closing at all. Only a Connecticut-licensed attorney may conduct the closing and issue title insurance, a requirement written into state law under Public Act 19-88. An out-of-state title company, however large its name, cannot step in to close a Greenwich purchase. Buyer and seller are also required to retain separate attorneys, since Connecticut's ethics rules treat one lawyer representing both sides of a real estate sale as a conflict of interest. Funds move through the closing attorney's IOLTA trust account rather than a dedicated escrow company. To a Connecticut resident, none of this is unusual. To a buyer used to New York's closing table, it's a structural surprise, and it's usually the first one they hit.
The attorney-run closing is the part buyers notice. The tax tier they're already in is the part that costs more.
That second part is where the real planning gap sits, and it starts with a number most buyers never think to question: the town median.
The Median Describes a Market Most Buyers Here Aren't Shopping In
Greenwich's median sale price sat at $1,850,000 as of August 2026, according to SmartMLS data, with the town's broader median home value closer to $1,650,000. Both figures sit safely under the $2.5 million line where Connecticut's top conveyance tax rate applies, and a buyer skimming a market report could reasonably conclude the state's so-called mansion tax is someone else's problem.
It isn't, not for the properties this market is actually known for. Greenwich isn't one price point wearing a single zip code. A Byram cottage and a Belle Haven waterfront estate share a town line and little else, and the boutique, service-forward residences buyers consider at the upper end, including the 13 manor and carriage-house residences at The Field Point Greenwich on Field Point Road, sit well above that town-wide median by design. For that buyer, the question was never whether they'd trigger the top tier. That was decided the moment they started looking. The real question is how much the marginal structure adds as the price climbs, and who ends up writing the check.
The Tax Doesn't Jump. It Climbs in Steps.
Connecticut's conveyance tax has been tiered since July 1, 2020, when the legislature added a third bracket for high-value sales. The state portion works like an income tax bracket, not a cliff. Each slice of the price is taxed at its own rate, not the whole sale price at the top rate.
- The first $800,000 of the sale price is taxed at 0.75%
- The portion between $800,000 and $2.5 million is taxed at 1.25%
- Anything above $2.5 million is taxed at 2.25%
On top of the state tax, Greenwich adds its municipal conveyance tax of 0.25% of the full sale price, the standard rate most Connecticut towns charge. A short list of cities, including Stamford, Norwalk, Bridgeport, Hartford, New Haven, and Waterbury, are authorized to charge up to 0.50%. Greenwich is not one of them.
Here's what that produces at three price points that map to how this segment of Greenwich actually trades:
| Sale Price | State Conveyance Tax | Municipal Tax (0.25%) | Total | Effective Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $2,000,000 | $21,000 | $5,000 | $26,000 | 1.30% |
| $5,000,000 | $83,500 | $12,500 | $96,000 | 1.92% |
| $10,000,000 | $196,000 | $25,000 | $221,000 | 2.21% |
The effective rate keeps climbing toward, but never quite reaching, 2.25%, because the two lower brackets are fixed dollar amounts that matter less as the sale price grows. A buyer who mentally budgets one percent for closing costs, because that's roughly what a median-priced transaction would owe, will come up tens of thousands of dollars short once the price crosses $2.5 million. For this part of the Greenwich market, that's the starting line, not the ceiling. Your closing attorney will calculate the exact figure at contract, since the math above is illustrative rather than a substitute for that calculation.
Who Actually Writes That Check
By long custom, not by statute, the seller pays Connecticut's conveyance tax at closing. The purchase and sale contract can allocate it differently if both sides agree, and in a slower market that split sometimes gets renegotiated. Greenwich in the summer of 2026 is not that market. SmartMLS figures for July 2026 put the town at 30 average days on market, 2.5 months of inventory, and homes selling at 106.3% of list price, conditions that describe sellers fielding competitive offers rather than conceding line items. A buyer walking into a negotiation expecting to split or shift the conveyance tax should expect that request to land differently here than it might in a softer market or a lower price bracket.
None of this is a reason to avoid the purchase. It's a reason to build the real number into an offer strategy before the offer goes in, not after the attorney sends the settlement statement.
Why This Matters for a Boutique Purchase Like The Field Point
A limited collection built around ownership-level finishings and hotel-grade service sits, by definition, in the price range where the top conveyance tier applies, and The Field Point Greenwich is a clear example. The property's own history runs through this same set of Connecticut rules. The former Homestead Inn at 420 Field Point Road sold in 2021 to The McDevitt Company and the Glazer family office for what the town's tax card listed as $7.5 million, and the Greenwich Planning and Zoning Commission approved its conversion into individually sold suites in March 2023. Every transfer tied to that site, past and future, runs through the same attorney-closing framework and the same tiered tax described above. A buyer considering a residence there isn't an exception to Connecticut's closing rules. They're the reason the rules read the way they do.
Common Questions
Does the buyer or the seller pay Connecticut's conveyance tax? By custom, the seller pays at closing, though the purchase contract can assign it differently if both parties agree in writing.
Is Greenwich one of the towns that charges a higher municipal conveyance tax? No. Greenwich charges the standard 0.25% municipal rate. The higher 0.50% rate is reserved for a specific list of towns designated as targeted investment communities, including Stamford, Norwalk, Bridgeport, Hartford, New Haven, and Waterbury.
Can my New York attorney or an out-of-state title company handle my Greenwich closing? No. Connecticut law requires the closing and any title insurance policy to be handled by an attorney licensed in Connecticut. An out-of-state firm can advise you, but it cannot conduct the closing itself.
The number on a market report and the number on a settlement statement are rarely the same figure, and in Greenwich the gap between them is wider than most buyers expect. If you're weighing a purchase at The Field Point Greenwich or elsewhere in town, New England Land can walk you through what your specific price point actually costs to close, not just what the median suggests it should. Request a private consultation and residence details before you write an offer.
