Property appraisal notices are being sent out in North Texas this week, and home values are expected to increase anywhere from 10% to 20% year-over-year.
An increase in home values means higher property tax bills for residents in the fall if school districts, cities, and counties do not decrease their tax rates.
The increase in property values comes amid lower average sales prices of homes, with home prices returning to earth after hitting record highs in 2022.
Denton County Realtor Aaron Layman told CBS News that while home sellers and realtors are pumped about the elevated values of homes across the area, “along with that comes higher property tax bills, [and] higher insurance costs.”
Over the past five years, Texas saw the fifth-highest increase in average property tax paid, with Dallas seeing the most significant increase of any major city in the country, according to the Dallas Business Journal.
Texas has the sixth-highest real estate property taxes in the nation.
Texans were paying an average of $3,049 on their property taxes in 2016, and that figure increased to $4,061 by 2021.
Dallas’ average property tax bill was $2,851 in 2016 but increased 63.8% to $4,671 in 2021.
By comparison, the average property tax bill in the U.S. increased 19% over the same time frame.
Homes in Fort Worth that average a taxable value of around $200,000 could see property taxes increase by $490, while homes valued near the average sale price of $430,000 in January 2022 would see a property tax increase of roughly $1,100, according to CBS News.
Texas Republican lawmakers have made lowering the property tax burden in the state a priority in the recent legislative session. Two competing bills aimed at lowering property taxes are in the works, but the bills have different approaches on how to lower property taxes.
House Bill 2 proposes to lower the home value appraisal cap from 10% to 5%, while Senate Bill 3 instead proposes to increase the homestead exemption from $40,000 to $70,000.