
Central Florida property values continue to skyrocket
Property values across Central Florida are soaring this year, fueled by billions of dollars of new construction, according to the region's property appraisers.
The booming values will help boost tax rolls as local governments begin preparing budgets for the next fiscal year, which starts Oct. 1. And it may add fuel to a GOP-boosted argument that Florida homeowners are paying too much property tax.
'Interest rates are relatively high, and we've certainly seen a slow down in residential sales,' said David Johnson, Seminole County's property appraiser. 'But what we have not seen is a decline in the values, or what people are selling their houses for.'
At this time every year, property appraisers are required to provide local governments, school districts and other taxing authorities with their 'Best Estimates of Taxable Values' reports.
The reports released last week show that every local government in the region is seeing jumps in taxable values this year, with several cities looking at double digit increases.
In Orange County, Windermere leads the list with taxable values rising to just over $1.2 billion in total. That's up slightly more than 19% compared to last year.
Helping to fuel that rise, Windermere voters last February agreed in a special election to annex the gated Chaine du Lac community that abuts the town's western side, adding hundreds of new properties.
Windermere's increase was followed by Apopka — the county's second-largest city — which is estimated to see a nearly 14% jump from last year to nearly $8.2 billion worth of total taxable value in 2025.
In Seminole, Sanford is forecast to have nearly $6.7 billion in taxable property values this year, a 10.85% jump from 2024. Sanford — the second largest city in Central Florida's three-county region behind Orlando — is the only Seminole government to have a double-digit percentage increase.
A large part of that surge in Sanford is the result of recent construction of homes and apartments within the city, Johnson said.
'They've built thousands of single-family homes by Celery Avenue [near the Orlando Sanford International Airport],' he said.
In Osceola County, St. Cloud is forecast to see taxable values rise to nearly $6 billion in 2025, a whopping nearly 15% increase from 2024, according to that county's Property Appraiser's Office.
'There's a lot of new construction,' Osceola's Property Appraiser Katrina Scarborough said regarding St. Cloud. 'And we're one of the fastest growing counties in the country.'
Kissimmee's taxable values are expected to rise to $6.9 billion in 2025, a 10.5% increase from last year.
Lake's smallest cities saw the largest increases in the county, in large part because of an explosion of new home construction. Montverde led the list with a 24.6% jump from 2024 to a total estimated taxable value of nearly $212 million. That was closely followed by Mascotte, which is forecast to have a 21.8% increase from last year to nearly $602 million.
Several straight years of rising taxable values across the region have pumped billions more dollars into the coffers of local governments. For example, Orange County's budget has grown by $1.7 billion in the last five years.
That's spurred Gov. Ron DeSantis and other Republicans to recently push for either cutting or completely eliminating property taxes. DeSantis claims that Florida counties and cities are taking advantage of that largesse in tax revenues by expanding, while struggling property owners pay for it. He is advocating a $1000 property tax rebate to every Florida homeowner this December, followed by structural changes to the tax later.
But the state House and Senate, at loggerheads over the budget they need to pass by June 30, have yet to take up any property tax changes this year.
The taxable value of a property is the amount used by local governments to calculate and set property tax rates. Market value, on the other hand, is the price a property would likely sell for in the current real estate market. Market value is influenced by the condition of the property, its location and surroundings. Florida law caps the taxable value of a homeowner's primary residence, limiting the rise in taxes.
In Orange County, the estimated total market value for 2025 is $345.8 billion, an increase of 4.6% from 2024.
In Seminole, the 2025 market value is just over $87 billion, which is a nearly 4.2% increase from 2024. In Osceola, the market value is nearly $70 billion, a surge of nearly 4.3% from 2024, while in Lake, the market value is $68.4 billion, a 6.3% jump from last year.
According to the Orlando Regional Realtor Association, there were more than 12,000 homes on the market across Central Florida in May. It takes on average about 76 days for a home to sit on the market before it is purchased. As of Thursday, the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate was about 6.87%, and 5.95% for a 15-year fixed rate, according to Zillow.com
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles

Associated Press
an hour ago
- Associated Press
Can schools like St. Bonaventure and FIU thrive in college athletics without the big bucks?
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — As schools prepare to begin sharing millions with their athletes, there is no avoiding the reality that if you're not a Power Four school, you're at a disadvantage. With major conferences running the show, St. Bonaventure and Florida International don't even have a seat at the table. FIU and St. Bonaventure aren't necessarily worried about a head-to-head fight over top players with deeper-pocketed schools. The priority has become survival and finding a balance between athletics ambition and financial sustainability. Adrian Wojnarowski spoke candidly about the challenges he faced during his inaugural season as the general manager of the St. Bonaventure men's basketball team. Solidifying a recruiting class that would improve the team and embrace the school culture was not easy. After July 1, when lucrative paychecks will pretty much become mandatory for blue-chip prospects, it's not going to get any easier. With some 2,000 undergraduate students, the Bonnies are outnumbered in resources and revenue when competing even against other Atlantic 10 teams like VCU, Dayton, and Saint Louis. Wojnarowski, ESPN's former lead NBA reporter, thinks he has identified a formula for locating the ideal prospect. To him, St. Bonaventure is a landing spot for international players adjusting to a new culture and college life, transfers who may have fallen short at a high major and need development, or those looking to move up to a mid-major. He admits the school upstate New York could be a pit stop on a player's journey. 'I want them to see that our environment, our coaching staff, our small school, especially for international players coming over, what I really try to sell is your adjustment to American college life,' he said at the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics and Affiliates Convention this week. 'I think for a lot of kids, it's easier in a school with 1,900 students than a school with 19,000. And you'll come to have two great years with us, and then you'll probably end up at schools with 19,000 or 29,000,' he said. 'And so you're selling, for us, we're your first step on the way to somewhere else, or the other one to me is we're the place to come when you've got to get the basketball right.' If the plan goes awry and a recruit slips away, one thing the former NBA insider refuses to do is blame the money. 'Fundraising is hard, creating new revenue streams is hard, but the one thing that I try to stay away from with us is not saying, 'Oh, we didn't get him because they offered more money,' and using that as a crutch all the time. I really examine when we lost a player,' Wojnarowski said. 'Are we being honest with ourselves in saying that we did everything outside the economics to make our case to this person?' FIU has more than 40,000 undergraduates, but the athletic department is using a similar philosophy, pinpointing advantages and opportunities to come from the settlement instead of the negatives. Similar to St. Bonaventure, FIU doesn't expect to come close to the $20.5 million revenue-sharing cap available over the next year. For a competitive edge, unlocking new revenue streams is fundamental. 'To compete, from a revenue standpoint, you have to think outside the box of your conventional fundraising and targeting donors,' senior associate athletic director Joseph Corey said. 'That's why you're looking at concerts being held at different venues, different festivals to generate extra revenue to bring in, different revenue streams, and not just fundraising going after the same donors. You've got to go beyond that in order to be able to compete.' Being based in Miami has its perks. Proximity to celebrities is one of them. In August, FIU secured a 10-year partnership with Pitbull, the singer and rapper who coins himself 'Mr. 305.' 'We did the partnership with Pitbull – Pitbull Stadium. He's on tour, but part of the deal was that he would be collaborating with us and doing events for us from a fundraising standpoint,' Corey said. 'You've got to think outside the box. Especially in a city like Miami, it's about the experience too.' Schools unlocking creative revenue streams is something that can be expected. FIU competes in Conference USA alongside teams like Liberty, Louisiana Tech, UTEP, Kennesaw State and Jacksonville State. The football team went 3-5 in 2024, finishing sixth in the conference. The men's basketball team finished last with a 3-15 conference record. It's hard to sell donors on losing teams. 'Let's call it what it is, FIU's not going to be able to keep up with the Alabama's of the world, the Georgia's, Michigan, or Texas, but what can we do? We can be the best in our conference. That is our goal,' Corey said. 'Let's be the best in our conference and really compete there because once you're at the top of your conference, that means more revenue in other areas. Everyone wants to donate to a winner.' ___ AP college sports:


Washington Post
2 hours ago
- Washington Post
Worker who leaked plans to build golf courses in Florida parks files whistleblower suit
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A former worker who leaked information about plans by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis' administration to build golf courses and hotels in Florida state parks has filed a whistleblower lawsuit. James Gaddis alleges that the Florida Department of Environmental Protection retaliated against him for sharing details of the proposals, which caused bipartisan outrage and sparked protests . Ultimately the plans were scuttled.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
A Floridian in Paris: Gov. DeSantis headed to Air Show in France
Gov. Ron DeSantis will fly to France next week to attend the 55th International Paris Air Show as part of a trade and business development mission, his office said June 11. 'Florida's focus on manufacturing, aviation, and the space industry already makes it a global leader in aerospace,' DeSantis said in a statement. 'Our efforts on this trip will be to promote further investment in our state and bring more high-paying jobs to Florida.' The show will run June 16–18. According to DeSantis' office, 15 Florida-based companies will attend the show, and the trip will include Florida Secretary of Commerce Alex Kelly, Secretary of Transportation Jared Perdue, Secretary of State Cord Byrd, Space Florida President Rob Long, University of Central Florida President Alexander Cartwright and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University President Barry Butler. There will be 'multiple project announcements, a Florida-focused business roundtable' and a 'ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Florida Pavilion,' the release from DeSantis' office says. In addition to drawing investment in Florida, the trip is also geared toward helping Florida companies boost their access to global markets. But the threat of increased tariffs by President Donald Trump could loom over the mission. Trump initially said he'd impose a 50% tariff on goods from the European Union, but on May 25 – six days before they were set to take effect – he announced he was pushing the deadline back to July 9. The delay would give the U.S. and the EU more time to reach a trade deal. This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: A Floridian in Paris: Gov. DeSantis headed to Air Show