Florida homeowners didn’t vote for higher property tax bills, but they’re getting them anyway.
A historic wave of in-migration caused the hike.
Gov. Ron DeSantis called lawmakers into a special session last week and pushed through a resolution to put a constitutional amendment before voters in November that would more than quadruple the state’s homestead property tax exemption.
Lawmakers blessed the proposal with modifications to protect school funding.
DeSantis is asking voters to solve the tax bill problem created when companies and employees arrived in droves from high-cost Northeast cities, notably New York City, during the COVID-19 pandemic. The influx overwhelmed existing housing supply and drove up home values for longtime residents.
Even though state and local tax rates barely budged, a protracted period of rising property values ratcheted up tax assessments.
It is not the first time DeSantis has used state power to override local housing decisions. When the migration wave exposed a crippling supply shortage, he signed legislation stripping local governments of zoning control to clear the way for more development targeting workforce housing.
That addressed supply.
But for homeowners already sitting on assessments inflated by the state’s nation-leading pandemic-era domestic in-migration, adding new supply doesn’t amount to property tax relief.
Florida is not alone. Across the Sun Belt — Texas, Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Arizona — the same migration dynamic reshaped housing markets and sent tax bills climbing even where local governments cut rates.
Florida, however, is the first to take the fight directly to voters with a constitutional remedy.
New York adds to the squeeze
If Florida voters approve the amendment, New Yorkers who flocked to the Sunshine State would face higher taxation pressure from both directions.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani proposed a pied-a-terre tax on luxury second homes. Gov. Kathy Hochul pushed the state legislature to pass it into law as part of the state’s new budget just before Memorial Day weekend.
Those who never made Florida their official domicile won’t qualify for the expanded homestead exemption. Local governments scrambling to offset lost revenue may have little choice but to raise rates on non-homestead properties — the homes those part-time Floridians own.
But New Yorkers who made Florida their permanent home could land a property tax break, one offset by holding on to a home in the Big Apple. New Yorkers have long chosen Florida for a vacation home or permanent move, citing the high cost of living in the Northeast.
“The Northeast is expensive to live in because that’s where all the people are,” Gary Bingel, a state and local tax expert with Eisner Advisory Group, a New Jersey-based consulting firm, said in an interview with The Builder’s Daily.
He said moving to Florida is now tantamount to “creating the same problems people are moving away from.”
Florida’s pain by the numbers
Between 2020 and 2022, Florida home prices surged more than 50%, driven largely by buyers relocating from New York — the top source of new Florida residents — along with Georgia and Texas.
Since then, prices have stalled. Florida’s average home value fell 3.7% over the past year as new construction added more supply than the market could absorb. Florida’s in-migration has subsided as housing costs rose.
“The affordability picture has changed in Florida almost more than anywhere else in the country,” Eric Finnigan, vice president of demographics research at John Burns Research & Consulting, told the Wall Street Journal.
Assessed home values haven’t returned to pre-in-migration-surge means. Under Florida’s Save Our Homes recapture rule, assessed values continue climbing by up to 3% annually even when market prices fall — until the two figures converge, according to St. Johns County Property Appraiser Eddie Creamer’s explanation posted on the county’s website.
Most Florida counties held millage rates steady or even lowered them. Marion County commissioners voted in September 2025 to cut the countywide rate. Homeowners there still saw their bills climb.
Tax bills in cities statewide increased an average of about 50% over the past several years.
At a news conference announcing the amendment, DeSantis noted Florida’s economy has grown from $1.1 trillion to $1.85 trillion during his seven years as governor.
“That’s a really significant increase in a seven-year period,” he said. “We’ve done close to $10 billion in tax relief since I became governor.”
He said the rise in home values made property taxes a much bigger burden for millions of Floridians.
“Fortunately, because we’ve had success, we have the ability to do something about it,” he said.
Florida’s amendment goes to voters
DeSantis proposed a broader exemption than what the Legislature passed.
The amendment would replace the current $50,000 homestead exemption with a phased increase — rising to $150,000 in 2027 and $250,000 in 2028 — for homeowners who establish Florida residency on or before Dec. 31, 2026. The relief is reserved for primary residences. Second-home and investment-property owners do not qualify.
The school board levy is carved out entirely, the key concession lawmakers extracted before giving DeSantis his supermajority vote.
New residents arriving after Dec. 31, 2026, receive the existing $50,000 exemption for four years before qualifying for the full break.
The amendment cuts the annual assessment cap on non-homestead commercial properties from 10% to 5% beginning Jan. 1, 2027. It needs 60% voter approval to take effect. Renters — who occupy about a third of Florida’s housing units — get no relief.
New York tightens the vise
Just before Florida lawmakers put the amendment on the ballot, New York passed a budget instituting the pied-a-terre tax on non-primary residences within New York City.
“New York City is the greatest city in the world, and the people who call it home should not be left carrying the burden alone,” Hochul said in a statement announcing the tax.
The law rolls out in two phases. Phase 1 runs from July 1, 2026, through June 30, 2028. It covers one- to three-family homes valued at $5 million or more, and condos and co-op units valued at $1 million or more.
Phase 2 begins July 1, 2028, and runs through June 30, 2031. The threshold for condos and co-ops rises to $5 million, aligning with single-family homes, under a new comparable sales-based valuation method the city must develop.
Tax rates on condos during Phase 1 range from 4% on units valued between $1 million and $3 million to 6.5% on units above $5 million. Single-family home rates range from 0.8% to 1.3% depending on value.
The city’s Department of Finance must notify affected owners by Aug. 30. The measure is projected to generate between $340 million and $500 million annually.
The path forward
New York City’s program is set. Florida’s amendment must be sold to voters.
A dispute has already begun. Cities and counties are questioning how they cover budget gaps for services and infrastructure when their key revenue source shrinks.
“Money has to still come from somewhere,” Bingel said, adding it could mean higher tourism or sales taxes. “It’s not as straightforward as everybody says. There’s always some sort of trade-off.”
Ken Johnson, a real estate professor at the University of Mississippi, told The Builder’s Daily that a national recession presents the greatest risk for the amendment, noting it could “drain state and county coffers to the point that essential services could not be delivered.”
Otherwise, property owners could gain a significant financial benefit.
“But that is a ‘big if’ as recessions are cyclical, and it is not a matter of ‘if’ but rather ‘when’ a recession will hit,” Johnson said.
