by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
Realtors and those associated with the real estate industry may claim the local real estate market has been on a bit of a slide. However, according to a report recently issued by the Duval County Property Appraiser, things are actually going very well the past 10 years. And, there’s no indication the future isn’t bright.
“Jacksonville has a very resilient real estate market,” said Property Appraiser Jim Overton. “The activity may have slowed some, but the prices have not slowed down much. The median price of a home has fallen only slightly.”
The report isn’t just an indicator of the health of the area real estate market. It’s also a detailed explanation of exactly how and where the tax dollars generated by residential and commercial real estate appraisals and transactions go. Of the City’s $900 million-plus budget, nearly half was generated by property taxes alone. In fact, if you look closely at the numbers, your property taxes (49.4 percent of the budget) went almost exclusively to paying for public safety (48.9 percent of the budget).
Looking at other major cities across the state, Jacksonville has by far the lowest millage rate — a formula used to determine the exact tax on specific properties. In Duval County, the millage rate in 2006 was 18.1825. Compare that to other counties: Orange, 19.9190; Hillsborough, 23.4370; Miami-Dade, 24.6443; and Pinellas, 26.1552.
“The local taxing authority has been very aggressive about reducing the millage rate,” said Overton. “We continue to not push on assessments in an effort to keep the millage rate low.”
Perhaps one of the most telling stats in the report is the growth of the county’s operating taxable value of property over the past decade. Since 1997, the value has more than doubled from $24.6 billion in ‘97 to $52.5 billion last year. Much of that can be attributed to new home construction and sales, especially the past three years. While the growth was steady from ‘97 until 2004 ($40.4 billion) and 2005 ($45.6 billion), Overton said that theme is prevalent all over the state due to several other factors including the lack of a personal income tax and other factors that have made Florida such a desirable place to live and retire to.
“A lot of cities in Florida can say that based on what the market is doing. There’s a lot of demand for Florida real estate,” said Overton. “I’m not sure how many in the country can say that. I’d think not many.”
While Overton doesn’t prefer to estimate how quickly Jacksonville will crack the $100 billion mark, he did say, “I don’t see the trend changing much.”
Other items from the report:
• Local taxes accounted for $424 million of the Duval County School System’s budget. However, that figure is only 28.29 percent of the school system’s overall budget. The state pays for 58.5 percent of the budget.
• Last year, there were 73,289 real estate transactions processed in Jacksonville. Ten years ago, that number was 39,354. Tops in the state is Miami-Dade County with 133,228.
• The median price of a home in Jacksonville last year was $180,000. That’s up $3,100 from 2005.
• In 2006, there were 232,620 single family homes in Jacksonville with a total market value of just over $39 billion.
• According to the report, new construction in 2005 added more than $2.2 billion to the taxable value of the 2006 tax roll.
• Last year, the total market value of all taxable property in Duval County was just over $70 billion. That same property had a taxable value of just over $47 billion.
• The company with the largest group real estate assessment in 2006 was Flagler Development Company, which has multiple properties worth over $234 million.
• BellSouth Telecommunications tops the tangible personal property list with over $375 million worth of taxable property.
The graph on the left shows the operating taxable value of property in Duval County over the past 10 years in billion of dollars while the chart on the right shows the percent increase over those same 10 years.