Houston - Real estate taxes

The total rate of  property taxes will be determined by the location of your property. Before exemptions, tax rates range between 1% and 5% of the assessed value.

For owner-occupied residential property receiving a homestead exemption, appraised value may be lower than the property’s market value because of what the law refers to as the “homestead cap.”

Under current law, while a homestead property’s January 1 market value isn’t capped, that property’s appraised value is capped at a maximum increase of 10% each year.

For example, the January 1 market value of a capped residence might be $200,000. However, if that home were appraised at $175,000 on January 1 of the prior year, this year’s appraised value would be $192,500 ($175,000 x 1.10).

A residential property qualifies for the cap the year after the year the owner first receives his or her homestead exemption on the property. In our present economy, there are likely to be situations where the market value of a home may have decreased as of January 1, 2009, but the 2009 appraised value may still increase because it was capped last year at less than the current market value.

For more information refer to the official Harris County Appraisal District website