ASSESSING APPRAISALS Prior to 2021, the median appraisal value for a single-family home in Williamson County rose by between 1%-7% each year for the past ve years. In 2021, the average appraisal value jumped by more than 17%. Williamson County Leander ISD
due to the homestead exemption and caps on how much revenue a taxing entity can make from property taxes in a year. Residential rami cations Lankford said property valuations increased between 6%-10% in William- son County for about a decade prior to 2021. Then, in 2021, home values rose 17% on average—the largest increase to date—Lankford said. “We saw a pretty signi cant increase for 2020 into 2021, and we’ve seen a much larger increase—doubling that— from 2021 to 2022,” Lankford said. “It’s unprecedented, to say the least.” Despite increases in property tax appraisals expected to rise by 40% in some areas, the homestead exemption caps the amount a property’s taxable value can increase in a year at 10%, according to the WCAD. To qualify for the homestead exemption, the prop- erty must be a person’s primary place of residency, according to the Texas comptroller. Additionally, property values are only one factor in the tax formula. The other is property tax rates, which are set by taxing entities, including school districts, cities and counties, during their annual budgeting process. A 2019 Texas law capped the reve- nue counties and cities can make from property tax increases to 3.5% with- out needing voter approval, according to the Texas Association of Counties.
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"What people don’t realize is that we are a mere re ection of the market sales transactions that happen in Wil- liamson County,” Lankford said. “Our job is to appraise at the market level that we are seeing.” Williamson County real estate professionals said these property value increases are not surprising given current real estate conditions— low inventory coupled with a high demand for houses have continued to drive prices up. “The concern we have as Realtors is if we continue to have a low num- ber of new active listings, but also increasing demand, then we are going to see steep increases again in valua- tions,” said Realtor Drew Gri n, who works primarily in Northwest Austin, Lakeway, Round Rock, Cedar Park and Georgetown. In January, the median price of a home sold in Williamson County was $460,000, up 42.53% from the median sales price in January 2021, according to data from the Austin Board of Realtors. These steep increases in home sales prices and, subsequently, prop- erty values could a ect homeowners’ property taxes for the coming year, experts said. However, Lankford said the increase in what a person owes in property taxes is unlikely to be propor- tional to the increase in home value
$400K $350K $200K $250K $300K 0
+17.82%
+2.23%
+18.69%
+5.73%
2018 SOURCE: WILLIAMSON CENTRAL APPRAISAL DISTRICT COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER 2019 2017 2016
2020 2021
Additionally, Realtor Kiersty Lombar said demand for houses in Williamson County has also been driven by the rel- ative a ordability of the county com- pared to neighboring Travis County, which saw median home sales prices of $530,000 in January, according to ABoR data. “The location is terri c being that Austin is right next to Williamson County and it has been such an epi- center of growth over the last decade,” Lombar said. Housing inventory levels have also been at record lows. In January, Wil- liamson County had 0.3 months of housing inventory, according to ABoR data. According to the Texas A&M Real Estate Research Center, six months of inventory is considered a balanced housing market. Todd LaRue, a development consul- tant, said despite rising costs on their end, developers are continuing to pur- sue housing projects in the county. “Williamson County is a pro-busi- ness, pro-growth county,” LaRue said. “There is quite a bit of high-qual- ity community development in the pipeline.”
A 2.5% cap was also implemented for school districts. Therefore, Lankford said if the tax- able value of homes in a jurisdiction increases by 10%, the property tax rate will have to decrease so that total reve- nue does not exceed these limits. Despite these caps, Gri n said 10% increases in the taxable value of a property adds up over time. ABoR President Cord Shi et said tax rates and potential property tax bill payments are something buyers are taking into account when deciding where and whether they are able to purchase a home. “Added expenses of property taxes can price someone out of an area,” Shi et said in an email. “It is import- ant to work with a Realtor that can help you understand that your housing pay- ment isn’t just principle and interest; it’s those things plus insurance, taxes, potentially mortgage insurance, any [HOA] fees and more.” Market conditions Williamson County has seen an in ux of technology jobs, with Apple planning to move the rst phase of employees into its new $1 billion cam- pus in 2022 and Samsung announcing a $17 billion facility in eastern William- son County.
WHOQUALIFIES FOR THE HOMESTEAD EXEMPTION?
Property owners may qualify for the general homestead exemption and homestead cap if the property is their primary residence.
For more information, visit communityimpact.com .
CALCULATING PROPERTY TAXES The assessed value of a property is only half of the equation used to calculate the property taxes a homeowner owes. The other half is the tax rate. The following tax rates apply to scal year 2021-22.
ENTITY
TAX VALUE
Cedar Park
$0.432
Leander
$0.479699
Leander ISD
$1.337
ASSESSED VALUE X TOTAL TAX RATE 100
= PROPERTY TAXES OWED
Williamson County
$0.440846
SOURCES: TEXAS ASSOCIATION OF COUNTIES, TEXAS COMPTROLLER’S OFFICE, WILLIAMSON CENTRAL APPRAISAL DISTRICT COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER
*THIS LIST IS NONCOMPREHENSIVE AND DOES NOT INCLUDE MUNICIPAL UTILITY DISTRICTS OR EMERGENCY SERVICES DISTRICTS.
DID YOU KNOW?
In 2019, state lawmakers passed legislation capping the amount of revenue local entities can make in property taxes from existing properties at 3.5% for cities and counties and 2.5% for schools.
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