As we previously discussed in an earlier blog, Harris County saw an increase in taxable value across the board. Harris County is the largest county in Texas and is one of the economic centers of the United States, so it is to be expected that value will increase annually. The problem lies when that value is overinflated by appraisal districts, such as the Harris Central Appraisal District (HCAD). While HCAD is necessary for the funding of government services, these taxes must be accurate or property owners could suffer from unfair taxation.

Property tax appeals are the only recourse that property owners have to being overvalued. These are being deployed more and more every year in Harris County. Informal appeals are over, but formal appeals have just begun. These numbers are not final, as there are still a lot of appeals and hearings before the appraisal review board (ARB) to get through. Still, it should be obvious that property tax protests are already delivering returns to those property owners that put forward the effort to file them.

Harris Residential Values Cut by 2%

Harris County homes saw their taxable value increase by a staggering 6.7% in 2025. While homes valued at over $1.5 million saw their valuations increase by over 16%, it was homes valued between $250,000 and $500,000 that contributed most to the total value. This caused a spate of property tax appeals to be launched against the values. Overall, 2.1% of value has been reduced thanks to property tax appeals. With a 4% reduction, homes worth over $1.5 million saw their taxable value cut by $2.53 billion. Homes worth between $250,000 and $500,000 saw their values reduced by 1.6%, producing a savings of $2.81 billion. Overall, property tax appeals have saved Harris County homeowners $9.13 billion in value.

When broken down by the size of properties, reductions do not look so lopsided. Reducing their value by 2.1%, homes between 2,000 and 3,999 square feet saved the most taxable value with $4.67 billion. Homes between 4,000 and 5,999 square feet cut values by 3.3%, or $1.88 billion. Homes between 6,000 and 7,999 square feet and those over 8,000 square feet saw their values reduced by 4.1% and 3.7% respectively. Even the most modest homes were able to benefit from property tax appeals, reducing value by 1.1%.

Homes built during the 2001 to 2020 housing boom account for 39% of all taxable residential value in Harris County. Informal property tax appeals managed to cut these values by 2.4% or $4.14 billion. This is a significant number of reductions for the most important block of properties in the county. Residences constructed between 1981 and 2000 were the second-largest group and managed to reduce their taxable value by 2.1% or $1.97 billion. While the smallest block of homes, new construction managed an impressive reduction of 2.8%, which translates to $888.55 million.

Appeals Save Harris County Businesses $5 Billion

Commercial properties in the Houston area experienced an even sharper rise in their taxable value than residences did. With an increase of 7.7%, Harris County businesses were set for the largest tax bills in their history thanks to a combined value of $176.28 billion. Informal tax appeals were able to counter this meteoric rise somewhat by reducing market value by 2.9%, which means around $5.16 billion. Businesses worth over $5 million accounted for $132.91 billion of the total value, but this was reduced by 3.4% to $128.33 billion. As commercial property tends to focus more on ARB hearings, this number is sure to be whittled down even further in the coming months, with lawsuits potentially driving it down even more in the next few years.

As with most urban counties, apartments make up the largest chunk of taxable value in Harris County. So far, property tax appeals have been able to reduce apartment values from $67.27 billion to $65.25 billion, a cut of 3%. Offices were the second-most valuable property and saw a reduction of 4%, which meant a decrease of $1.60 billion. Retail and warehouses managed to appeal their values down by 2.8% and 2.0% respectively, totaling $1.14 billion in savings. Hotels saw their taxable value jump by over 22% but were able to stop some of the bleeding by netting 2% in reductions with appeals.

83% of all property value in Harris County was constructed between 1961 and 2020, with 38% of the total being built between the boom years of 2001 and 2020. With appeals rolling in, it is little wonder that these timeframes saw the most reductions. Those built between 2001 and 2020 have seen a reduction of 2.7% so far, which works out to be about $1.84 billion. Those built between 1981 and 2000, and those built between 1961 and 1980 each save over $1 billion in taxable value. New construction got back a solid reduction of 3.8%, or $321.66 million.

Tax Protests Save Apartments $2 Billion

Apartments represent the largest source of taxable commercial value in Harris County and consequently saw some of the most aggressive appeals. Apartments saw their total value raised by 7.3%, though this has been somewhat countered by appeals achieving a reduction of 3%. Like most Harris County commercial properties, the majority of apartment value was constructed in the era of 2001 to 2020, which constitutes 45% of all value. These apartments have currently achieved a reduction of 2.6%, or $873.03 million. New construction now accounts for 9% of all apartment value and has skyrocketed with a taxable increase of 43% to start 2025. This has since been reduced by 4.1% or a taxable value of $242.15 million.

HCAD divides apartments into several subtypes for assessment purposes. Of the $67.27 billion in taxable value, $39.92 billion was accounted for by garden apartments. After appeals, these were reduced by 3.2% to $38.66 billion. Mid-rise apartments were the No. 2 source of value with $18.77 billion, before getting cut by 3.1% thanks to appeals. High-rise apartments are the fastest-growing apartment type in Harris County with a 2025 value spike of 11.30%. This was somewhat curtailed by appeals, being reduced by 2.4% for a savings of $133.44 million.

Protests Reduce Harris County Office Value by 4%

Before appeals, the taxable value of offices totaled $39.99 billion. This dropped by 4% to $38.39 billion through property tax protests, with more savings set for the near future. 44% of the current office value was built between 2001 and 2020, as with most commercial properties in Harris County. This segment of apartments was reduced by 3.5% thanks to informal appeals, translating to around $615.33 million. Offices built between 1961 and 2000 were granted $931.72 million in reductions. New office construction saw a value increase of 10.7% in 2025, while reductions have only equated to 1.3% so far.

The majority of office value in Harris County is concentrated in high-rise buildings, as evident to anyone that has seen Houston’s skyline. HCAD set the value of high-rises at $26.06 billion, but taxpayers have been able to cut this down by 4.7% so far, saving around $1.21 billion in value. While the other two subtypes, medical offices and low-rise buildings, accounted for a much smaller combined portion of the total value, they managed to save 1.5% and 3.7% respectively. In total, property tax appeals have saved office owners $1.60 billion.

Houston Retail Saves $631 Million

For organization purposes, HCAD divides retail properties into several subtypes. The most valuable of these are strip shopping centers, which were valued at $7.84 billion before appeals. Thanks to informal appeals, strip centers were reduced by 2.7% to $7.63 billion. Community and neighborhood shopping centers were both reduced by 3.6%, which equated to around $349.64 million in saved value. Shopping malls and single-occupancy retailers achieved small reductions of 1.2% and 1.5% respectively.

Informal Appeals Benefit Warehouses in Harris County

Warehouses are always a dependable source of commercial value and Harris County is no different. Warehouses were appraised by HCAD to be worth a total of $25.55 billion in 2025, but early property tax appeals were able to lower this by 2%. When broken down by time of construction, warehouses hold to the same pattern as all of the other commercial properties we have examined, with those built between 2001 and 2020 being ahead in value by a small margin. These warehouses were able to get a reduction of $178.34 million thanks mostly to informal appeals. Warehouses built between 1961 and 2000 were similar in scale and received combined reductions of $268.28 million.

HCAD divides warehouses into three general subtypes, with the largest being standard warehouses. These generic warehouses were initially valued at $15.93 billion, but were appealed for a reduction of 2%, or $311.52 million. Mini warehouses and office warehouses were valued at very similar totals, with mini warehouses being $4.77 billion while office warehouses were at $4.84 billion. They received appeal reductions of 2.8% and 1.4% respectively.

Haris County Appeals Paying Dividends

Be it commercial or residential, Harris County property set records for value in 2025. While property values and taxes have been constantly moving upward, so have protests. As a greater number of taxpayers join the process, these appeals will have a bigger impact. As we have seen, informal appeals alone have had a strong effect in blunting some of the cost spikes. Informal appeals are an important part of the process, but they are not the only options to protect property.

Harris County and the rest of Texas are currently in the season for formal appeals. These hearings are held in front of a three-person ARB, where taxpayers and HCAD must compete to see whose evidence is stronger. These hearings are short, so arguments must be brisk, succinct, and convincing. These hearings will go on for months, until every single case is heard. ARB hearings were often the exclusive playground of commercial properties, but homes are becoming quite common. They provide an excellent opportunity for the property owner that wants to improve upon their informal win.

Filing property tax protests annually is important. We at O’Connor have been doing them for 50 years and know the importance of appealing annually to get the best deal. If you are going through the ARB process, you can still bring us on board to be your representative. We have helped over 185,000 clients in the past year alone and continue to grow every year. Our Property Tax Protection Program™ is free to join, and you will never be charged a dime unless we can lower your taxes. From informal appeals, ARB hearings, to even a lawsuit, we will be your champion.