Property Tax Blog

Here's what Jim Robinson the Chief Appraiser had to say about 2009 property tax values......

 The Harris County Appraisal District (HCAD) began mailing 2009 residential value notices on March 20. Out of 860,000 homes on which valuation was complete on March 20, only 16% were showing an increase in their January 1 market value. Of the remainder, 45% had a reduction in market value and 39% had the same market value as in 2008.

In many, but certainly not all residential neighborhoods in Harris County, we saw declining sales prices during the final months of 2008 and the first two months of 2009. In neighborhoods where foreclosures had become the predominant sales type, considerable weight was placed on foreclosure sales as an indicator of market value.

However, in neighborhoods where few if any foreclosures have occurred, foreclosure sales are not considered to be indicative of the market and their consideration, in such instances, is disallowed by Texas law.

The greatest impact of foreclosures, and the largest number of decreases in the January 1, 2009, market value, occurred in neighborhoods with homes in the $100,000 and under price range. Overall, homes valued at $250,000 or less experienced the highest percentage of actual value reductions, while neighborhoods with homes valued at $500,000 or more received the highest percentage of actual value increases.

There are about 140,000 homes on which 2009 valuation isn’t yet complete. This includes homes with new construction as of January 1 and about 55,000 that sustained varying levels of damage during Hurricane Ike.

Value notices on the majority of these remaining residential properties, as well as for commercial and industrial real property, will be mailed beginning in April. Because business owners have until April 15 to file annual renditions on their personal property assets such as inventory and equipment, business personal property notices won’t be mailed until around June 1.