North Texas home values expected to increase 10% to 20% over last year
NORTH TEXAS (CBSNewsTexas.com) – Property appraisal notices are starting to go out across North Texas this week, with another 10% to 20% increase in home values expected across the region over last year.
The latest increase could lead to yet another increase in property tax bills in the fall, if school districts, cities and counties, don't decrease their taxing rates.
The expected bump comes despite average sales prices in the area coming down off last spring's record high levels, which were boosted by bidding wars for homes.
But by this January, the date used for appraisals, prices were still above where they were in 2022, Jeff Law, the chief appraiser for the Tarrant Appraisal District wrote in an online market outlook. This "necessitates a raise in residential property values," he wrote.
A home at the average taxable value of just under $200,000 in Fort Worth would see taxes increase by as much as $490. Homes valued closer to the average sales price across the area in January 2022, of nearly $430,000, could see property tax increases of more than $1,100.
Sellers and realtors have been excited about the substantial gains in home prices and home equity over the last year, said Denton County realtor Aaron Layman.
"But along with that comes higher property tax bills, higher insurance costs, etc.," he said.
Owners who decide to protest higher values for this year, may find some helpful evidence in sales from the last quarter of 2022, and the first few months of 2023, Layman said. That's when prices had come down, and before they rebounded slightly this spring.
Prices have ticked up again this spring, Layman said, with inventories tight and potential sellers still on the sidelines with low mortgage rates.
