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WilCo's real estate value sees massive boost
The value of real estate in Williamson County just say its second largest increase ever. These numbers will eventually impact property taxes.
WILLIAMSON COUNTY, Texas - The value of real estate in Williamson County just saw its second-largest increase ever.
"I wonder how many counties in Texas are seeing a $9 billion growth in total market value?" said Williamson County Judge Bill Gravell at commissioners' court.
Chief Appraiser for the Williamson Central Appraisal District, Alvin Lankford, points to growth for the more than $9 billion increase.
"The population growth," said Lankford. "We're one of the fastest growing counties in the state of Texas, if not the nation. The city of Georgetown, I believe, was announced as one of the fastest growing cities in the nation, so it's just the amount of people that are moving here, so we kind of expect the amount of growth we are seeing."
The value of real estate in Williamson County rose by more than $9 billion this year.
Altogether, new and existing real estate is now worth about $171 billion, a more than 5 percent increase from last year.
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Potential corridor coming to WilCo
Williamson County is working on a long-range transportation plan to deal with growth. But, a potential corridor could cut through homes and farmland in the eastern part of the county.
Although $9 billion may sound like a lot, Lankford said it actually only comes in second place for the biggest yearly increase for the county.
"2022 was a banner year," said Lankford. "It was the largest growth we've ever seen in new value as well as existing value. I think residential homes went up close to 47 percent in one year, and that's existing properties."
This time around, the value of existing properties, including homes and commercial buildings, remained relatively flat.
But new homes took the cake, making up a third of that $9 billion, with 7,000 new homes county-wide.
New commercial properties also rose to $1.5 billion.
"A majority of it was new value, but most of it was new value, but there was some change in the existing value as well," said Lankford.
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The value of real estate is just a part of the equation when it comes to property taxes.
So Lankford can't quite calculate what these numbers might mean for homeowners yet.
"It's really too early to tell what this will mean for taxes this year, but it is the kind of process that we're in," said Lankford.
But in the coming years, he predicts some of the trends might change.
"Until something happens to those interest rates where they come back down, I would imagine we're kind of going to see a leveling effect where we'll continue to not grow a lot in value for existing improvements," said Lankford.
Lankford said the total market value of real estate in 2023 has actually decreased by 12 percent, thanks to interest rates.