Home owners who have owned five to 15 years had the highest effective property tax rates while those who have owned more than 20 years had the lowest, according to the U.S. Property Tax Rates Report for 2014, conducted by RealtyTrac. The report provides average property taxes and effective property tax rates for single-family homes among more than 1,000 counties nationwide.
Read more: Property Taxes at a 20-Year High
For home owners who have owned between 10 and 15 years, the average effective property tax rate was 1.35 percent, while home owners who have owned between 5 and 10 years it was 1.34 percent. The average effective property tax rate was 1.18 percent for home owners who have owned less than a year and 1.15 percent home owners who have owned more than 20 years, finds the report.
“State laws like Prop 13 in California give a property tax advantage to home owners who have owned for a longer time, but the bell curve in effective property tax rates in the middle of the years-owned spectrum indicates that many who purchased during the housing bubble — or in the years leading up to the housing bubble — may be paying taxes based on a still-inflated valuation of their properties,” says Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac. “These home owners should consider appealing their property’s assessment if that is an option available to them in their county.”
The report also found that higher-end homes accounted for more than half of all property tax dollars nationwide. Single-family homes valued $300,000 and higher comprised 25 percent of all single-family homes nationwide, but the property taxes paid on those homes accounted for 54 percent of all property taxes collected nationwide.
The following states had the highest average property taxes in dollars for single-family homes, according to the report:
New York: $15,625
New Jersey: $8,108
New Hampshire: $5,795
Connecticut: $5,646
Hawaii: $5,024
On the other hand, the states with the lowest average property taxes in dollars for single-family homes are:
Alabama: $618
West Virginia: $931
New Mexico: $1,096
Tennessee: $1,116
Indiana: $1,418
Source: “Property Taxes Highest for Home Owners Who Have Owned Between 5 and 15 Years, Own High-End, or Low-End Homes,”
