By Staff Report
After five consecutive years of declining property values, Hillsborough County appears to be heading for a rebound in 2013.
According to statistics of 2012 sales currently being compiled by the Hillsborough County Property Appraiser’s office, many of the county’s more than 460,000 parcels have seen a slight increase in their value. This increase would likely be reflected in this year’s Truth in Millage (TRIM) notices.
Although it’s still more than six months before the Appraiser’s Office sends out those TRIM notices to property owners, the overall value of real estate in Hillsborough County currently shows more than a 3 percent increase in value.
“I think this confirms the economy is indeed rebounding,” said Hillsborough County Property Appraiser Bob Henriquez. “One of the strongest indicators of the overall health of our economy is the housing market and this is good news for owners who have suffered through a number of years of declining property values.”
While property values appear to be on the rise in the county in 2013, there is a significant cap protecting homeowners with homestead exemption on how much of an increase they will see on the assessed value of their property this year. Thanks to the Save Our Homes amendment, the maximum increase on the assessed value of their homestead property is capped at 1.7 percent this year by the Florida Department of Revenue.
Assuming a property owner has not made any additions to their homestead property, this means the assessed value of their property cannot increase more than 1.7 percent over its assessed value from 2012. Assessed value is the market value of the property after the cap limit has been applied.
Last year’s TRIM notices reflected a 2.19 percent drop in the overall assessed values of the county’s properties compared to the previous year. And in 2011, those values dropped 4.27 percent compared to 2010. The county’s tax base has tumbled downward every year since 2008, with the biggest dip coming in 2009, when values fell nearly 13 percent compared to 2008.
In comparison, property values in the county increased 21.5 percent in 2006 compared to 2005.
