we don't have that sort of fee in the US in most jurisdictions.  I remember it pissing me off when we bought a house in the UK.   But you got to pay somewhere/somehow and I could hardly cry poverty at the time.

Still transaction costs are ugly.  We often pay far higher real estate commissions (5-6%) + loan fees, title insurance etc such that between buyer and seller as much as 10% extra is spent.

100% agree that step changes are stupid as someone said in this thread.