In 2022, Amy Bohlke and her husband, Christopher, were told their Hollywood Park home had a value of $375,000. This year, the appraised value rose by 8.8% to $408,130, despite the fact that nothing about the property had changed in the past year, Bohlke said.

Their story is similar across much of Bexar County, where average home values rose by almost 11% from the previous year, according to Bexar Appraisal District data.

While single-family residential values continue rising in the San Antonio area, the appraisal district’s preliminary figures for 2023 are lower than the average 28% jump many local taxpayers countywide saw in 2022.

Taxable values result in revenues the taxing entities use to mainly support basic services.

Scott Griscom, the Bexar Appraisal District’s assistant chief appraiser, told Community Impact that this year values in the local residential real estate market are calming down compared with last year when many homeowners experienced sticker shock upon seeing their appraisals.

Griscom said the average 28% increase in valuations in 2022 prompted protests from 178,415 homeowners—a record number for the district. But home sales prices and valuations are not surging as high this year, he added.

“We’re seeing things are starting to moderate. That’s one of the reasons why we didn’t have as many high increases this year as we did last year,” Griscom said.

Protesting appraisals

The Bohlkes said they are appealing the appraisal of their 52-year-old, 1,862-square-foot home this year. Amy Bohlke said the house has not undergone any significant renovations save for a few interior fixes or upgrades. Popcorn ceilings and wood-grain wall paneling are among the features on the inside of the Bohlkes’ home.

“It just has a lived-in look and feel,” Bohlke said.

Bohlke said by protesting her appraisal, she hopes the appraisal district will better understand the characteristics of her home and those of her neighborhood.

“I’ve seen some of these houses gutted over the years. People around me have sold homes for $400,000 but put in $200,000 in improvements. Why am I paying a premium?” Bohlke said. “My home insurance and property taxes now exceed my mortgage. At what point does it stop?”

Hollywood Park lies within five ZIP codes where the preliminary 2023 average homestead value is $512,597—11.6% higher than the $459,482 average appraisal found among the same five ZIP codes in 2022, according to appraisal district data.

Griscom said the appraisal district received appeals from 13,624 properties in the same five ZIP codes before May 15, the appraisal district’s deadline for taxpayers to formally file a protest of their 2023 market value. That number is down slightly from the 13,729 homeowner appeals from the same area in 2022.

Countywide, total appraisal protest numbers this year stand at 171,572—down from 178,415 last year, Griscom said.

“I’d love to see things return to normal to be honest. Our protest number set records last year,” Griscom said, referring to the district receiving fewer than 140,000 protests per year in 2019, 2020 and 2021.

How appraisals work

Griscom said the appraisal district encourages taxpayers to protest their appraisals if they feel they have the evidence that could lead to a reduction in their home values.

Here, Griscom said, the appraisal district can directly educate taxpayers on what goes into assessing property values and formulate a clearer picture of the property in question.

Griscom said the appraisal district is required by state law to value each property at 100% of existing market value characteristics and factor the sales prices of comparable properties in the area.

“We also break the county down into what we consider comparable neighborhoods. We look at it on a granular level to determine what the market’s doing, and we adjust values to the maximum in the market,” Griscom said.

Griscom said a stabilization or decline in local home sales prices in late 2022 and the start of 2023—compared with area home sales prices earlier in 2022—helped provide a general idea of the type of residential real estate market the appraisal district would be evaluating this year.

San Antonio Board of Realtors officials said this May was the third straight month the San Antonio area saw a drop in median home prices—from $388,593 in May 2022 to $324,750 in May 2023.

“We saw home prices, to start the first half of this year, slow down a little bit,” Griscom said.

Calls for tax relief

Griscom said homeowners have until May 15 or 30 days after they get an appraisal notice to protest their home value.

Griscom said when a taxpayer files a protest, they must mark on a Bexar Appraisal District form their reason, which is usually what they believe to be an incorrect appraisal or that their home value is unequal compared with surrounding properties.

Griscom also urged taxpayers to check with their respective taxing entities, such as the city of San Antonio or the town of Hollywood Park, to see if they are eligible to apply for available property tax relief.

Several local governments recently approved tax relief measures, including San Antonio doubling its homestead exemption from 10% to 20%.

With this increase, a home originally valued at $300,000 would get a $60,000 reduction before taxes, representing $164 in additional tax bill savings, city officials said.

San Antonio officials, including District 10 Council Member Marc Whyte, said as the local population grows and more properties are added to tax rolls, local governments, such as the city of San Antonio, are working to maintain or lower their tax rates and offer more tax relief measures while collecting more revenue to support requested city services.

San Antonio officials said they are considering a $0.12 cut in the $0.54161 per $100 valuation property tax rate for fiscal year 2023-24, which begins Oct. 1, 2023.

“We must now work in collaboration with all the other taxing entities, including our friends at the county and state levels, for additional property tax relief that will ensure our neighbors are not priced out of their homes,” Whyte added.

Bexar County commissioners on June 20 unanimously approved a 5% homestead exemption to reduce taxpayers’ burden on the Bexar County Hospital District/University Health portion of their tax bill.

In May, Alamo Colleges District trustees approved a 1% homestead exemption for all county homeowners, and increased the exemption for seniors, surviving spouses and disabled homeowners to $50,000.

In February, Hollywood Park City Council voted 4-1 to raise the city’s senior tax exemption from $5,000 to $20,000.

Despite local leaders’ concerns about how the expanded exemption could affect the town’s revenues, Council Member Glenna Pearce said residents deserve additional tax relief.

“I think we’re all on the same page that we want to stay solvent and fiscally healthy, but it’s on us to also look out for our residents,” Pearce said.

On a statewide level, Gov. Greg Abbott in mid-July signed legislation that will enable Texas voters to approve a total of $18 billion in tax cuts during the state’s Nov. 7 elections.

The proposals call for applying $12.6 billion from the state’s budget surplus toward reductions in school taxes, expanding homestead tax exemptions, capping nonhomestead appraisals and eliminating franchise taxes for certain smaller businesses.