Most Williamson County homeowners saw a marginal uptick in their home appraisals as the county’s appraisal district mails out notices in April, according to the Austin American Statesman.
Williamson County property appraisals rose for another consecutive year, continuing a more than decade-long trend that has occurred previous to the coronavirus pandemic.
The average market value of a Williamson County home is $300,306, or a 1.5 percent percent increase from last year’s average market value of $295,935. Williamson Chief Appraiser Alvin Lankford, according to the newspaper, said a continuing population boom in Central Texas has contributed to that increase.
State law mandates that home appraisals are based on market conditions on Jan. 1 of the same year they are made. As of that date, Lankford noted that the county was riding an economic boom.
Conditions have been so good, in fact, that Lankford said a record-breaking 8,500 homes were built in the county last year, according to the paper. Williamson County Association of Realtors President Kriston Wood attributed the local growth to business-friendly laws, proximity to Austin and general affordability.
Last year, Lankford said his office received more than 60,000 home appraisal protests. This year, he said appraisers made an effort to make conservative appraisals, hopefully mitigating that influx of work. Still, he said he is unsure what the conditions under a global pandemic will mean for how many protests will be filed this year, or how they will be completed.