BY RACHEL LELAND
Average housing prices by year in Bay Area
How it happened
What’s next?
Clear Lake League City Galveston County
Galveston
$431,334
Following in the footsteps of county regulators, Bay Area cities like League City are trying to determine how to regulate short-term rentals in their own jurisdictions. “It’s been very difficult and very challenging [to track short-term rentals],” Polk said. “Getting in touch with where they are, who they are ... is a huge obstacle in and of itself.” To get a clear picture of how many short-term rentals operate in League City, city staff will begin using Rentalscape, the same short-term rental compliance tool Galveston uses, in July 2024, Polk said. “You will not be under the radar anymore,” Polk said. “It’s going to be a really transparent system once it turns on. League City is serious about working through this and making it really easy for people to comply.”
McKinney said the county has established 975 short-term rental business personal property accounts with a preliminary market value of $14 million. All property owners have the right to protest by the deadline on their appraisal notices. Gillespie, Blanco and Kerr counties use the same appraisal practice, McKinney said. The move is the appraisal district’s attempt to make the county’s real estate market equitable at a time when buying a single-family home has become unaffordable to some, McKinney said. The new appraisal method will help “level the playing field” as these short-term rentals are “skyrocket- ing” in value, she said, causing higher tax burdens on single-family homes. “Furnished short-term rentals typically sell for more than single-family homes,” McKinney said. McKinney confirmed that appraisal notices had been sent out and property owners should expect to receive them in the upcoming weeks. Meanwhile, revenue can also be brought in by
$578,951
$300K $400K $500K $600K $200K $100K $0
$388,531
$422,513
NOTE: LATEST PRICES AS OF MAY. SOURCE: TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY TEXAS REAL ESTATE RESEARCH CENTER/ COMMUNITY IMPACT
way of hotel occupancy tax, which League City requires short-term rental hosts to pay. However, a 2023 audit done by League City showed the city didn’t require booking platforms to send the tax revenue to the government. This caused the city to miss out on about $85,000 in revenue between 2020 and 2022, city data shows.
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BAY AREA EDITION
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