The median home in El Paso has a property tax market value of $240,038 versus a sales price of $222,650, based on a review of 10,982 homes that sold in El Paso County from January 2022 through March 2023. O’Connor completed a review of home sales and assessments as well as commercial assessment for El Paso and 17 other counties to date. The median home is over-assessed by $17,388, which is equivalent to $469 in property taxes before protests, exemptions, and tax rate compression.
More than 7 in 10 Over-Assessed
29% of homes in El Paso are valued at or below market value while 71% of El Paso homes have a 2023 tax assessment higher than market value, based on the study of 10,982 homes referenced above.
Most Appraisal District in Texas have valued Houses over 100% in 2023
Fifteen of eighteen appraisal districts review to date have valued houses at more than 100% of market value. This is a record event in Texas. Never since Texas became a state have homes been broadly valued in excess of market value. Individual tax entities generated values until ~1980 and were substantially below market value. Appraisal districts came into being ~1980 and have typically valued houses at 93 to 99% of market value. In ratio studies in other year, typically more homes are assessed below market value than above market value.
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El Paso County single family homes are up in assessed value across all value ranges with highest increase for properties between $1M to $1.5M and properties over $1.5M.
Assessments for El Paso County residential properties are up the most for larger homes, with those over 8,000 sq. ft. experiencing the greatest hike of 16.8%.
There is a 2.7% gap between the sale prices of homes in the El Paso metro area and the assessed values from El Paso County for 2023.
Single family homes in El Paso County built before 1960 are up 13%, but homes built in 2001 and later are seeing even higher assessment increases of 13.4%.
Commercial Tax Assessments Held Flat as Commercial Values Plummet
El Paso has the lowest level of increase for commercial property by far at 3.6%; the next lowest level is 19% (see table by county below) The average increase in commercial property tax assessments is 29% for 2023. However, values clearly fell since early 2022. 10-Year-Treasury rates were 1.75% in January 2022 versus 3.55% in early January 2023. This large increase in interest rates has led to a large increase in cap rates and has reduced commercial real estate sales by 70 to 80%. Most sales are distressed as owners are standing on the sideline while interest rates and cap rates evolve.
El Paso is the only county so far to reduce tax assessments for apartments, retail, and hotels.
El Paso County Commercial Property 2023 Assessment % Increase by Property Type
| Property Type | 2022 Final Market Value | 2023 Notice Market Value | Increase% |
| Apartment | $2,695,469,062 | 2,504,232,446 | -7.1% |
| Office | $1,433,017,096 | $1,632,613,017 | 13.9% |
| Retail | $1,684,014,774 | $1,632,805,530 | -3.0% |
| Warehouse | $759,670,090 | $846,240,618 | 11.4% |
| Hotel | $502,026,400 | $475,171,622 | -5.3% |
| Land | $869,719,254 | $1,138,074,941 | 30.9% |
| Total | $7,943,916,676 | $8,229,138,174 | 3.6% |
Commercial Property Tax Assessment Increases for 2023 by County
| Property Type | ||||||
| County | Apartment | Office | Retail | Warehouse | Hotel | Total |
| Brazoria | 69% | 44% | 75% | 84% | 43% | 66% |
| Bexar | 23% | 14% | 26% | 23% | 17% | 22% |
| Collin | 46% | 15% | 25% | 28% | 50% | 32% |
| Dallas | 35% | 19% | 14% | 12% | 54% | 27% |
| Denton | 63% | 29% | 33% | 103% | 64% | 60% |
| El Paso | -7% | 14% | -3% | 11% | -5% | 4% |
| Fort Bend | 47% | 33% | 36% | 24% | 19% | 31% |
| Galveston | 34 | 5% | 38% | 1% | 21% | |
| Hidalgo | 58% | 10% | 18% | 31% | 71% | 25% |
| Lubbock | 29% | 14% | 29% | 40% | 26% | 23% |
| Montgomery | 28.6% | 4.5% | 7.2% | 11.1% | 4.1% | 14% |
| Nueces | 20% | 15% | 14% | 19% | 27% | 19% |
| Williamson | 37% | 15% | 22% | 49% | 25% | 27% |
| Harris | 25% | 13% | 16% | 24% | 18% | 20% |
| Average | 37% | 18% | 26% | 35% | 34% | 29% |
Most El Paso County commercial property has experienced minimal assessment increases or even some decline in values, property constructed in 2001 and later has a small rise in value of 2.7%
El Paso County commercial property in the $1M to $5M value range is showing a slight uptick in taxable value at 1.9%. Property valued less than $500K is up by only 1%.
As a whole, commercial apartment property in El Paso county has decreased in assessed value for 2023. The percentage of decreased assessed value varies by year of construction, with apartments built between 1981 and 2000 having the greatest decrease.
El Paso County office property built 2001 and later is counter trend with assessed values up by more than 23%. Properties built between 1981 and 2000 have also increased in the double digits, with values up 16.2% for 2023.
Commercial retail property in El Paso County, like apartment property has shown an overall decrease in assessed values for 2023.
Warehouse property owners may be upset to find they are the exception to the overall trend of decreasing assessments. Owners of warehouses built in 2001 and since are experiencing assessed value increases of over 22%.
El Paso County commercial owners of medical offices are likely to be angry to see their assessed value has spiked by 42.8% when overall commercial values are down.
When you drill down by apartment sub type, practically all El Paso apartment owners are finding their 2023 assessed values to have declined.
The only subtype of retail commercial property to see an increase in assessed values for 2023 in El Paso County are single tenant properties.
Another exception to the overall decline in El Paso County assessed values for 2023 is seen in warehouse properties. Mini warehouse owners are shocked to see the steep increase of 48.4%.
The tax protest deadline is May 15th. A record number of property tax protests are likely due to the over-valuation of homes and large increases in commercial property tax assessments.
If you are a residential or commercial property owner in El Paso County and your assessment has increased, you do not have to accept the new appraisal value, it is your right to appeal. Even if you don’t see an increase, it never hurts to protest because your value can’t go up as a result of an appeal. Don’t pay more than your fair share. Record levels of property tax protest are expected to follow. The deadline to file a property tax protest is May 15th.
About O’Connor:
O’Connor is among the largest property tax consulting firms in the United States, providing residential property tax reduction services in Texas, Illinois, and Georgia, as well as commercial property tax reduction services across the United States. O’Connor’s team of professionals possess the resources and market expertise in the areas of property tax, cost segregation, commercial and residential real estate appraisals. The firm was founded in 1974 and employs more than 600 professionals worldwide. O’Connor’s core focus is enriching the lives of property owners through cost effective tax reduction.
Property owners interested in assistance appealing their assessment can enroll in O’Connor’s Property Tax Protection Program ™ . There is no upfront fee, or any fee unless we reduce your property taxes, and easy online enrollment only takes 2 to 3 minutes.
