{"id":6983,"date":"2024-05-12T16:56:10","date_gmt":"2024-05-13T00:56:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/huddlestontaxcpas.com\/?p=6983"},"modified":"2024-05-14T17:06:36","modified_gmt":"2024-05-15T01:06:36","slug":"property-taxes-home-ownership-seattle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/huddlestontaxcpas.com\/blog\/property-taxes-home-ownership-seattle\/","title":{"rendered":"Property Taxes: the Burden of Home Ownership in Seattle"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

For homeowners in Seattle<\/a>, the costs don’t stop after the staggering price of actually purchasing a house. In addition to shelling out hundreds of thousands for a roof over their heads, Seattle residents also face some of the highest property tax burdens of any major U.S. city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just how high are we talking? Data from the latest census shows the median Seattle homeowner paid over $6,800 in property taxes<\/a> in 2022 alone. That ranks as the fifth highest median property tax bill<\/strong> among the 50 most populous cities nationwide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rankings of the cities with the highest property taxes<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Only the notoriously expensive real estate markets of the Bay Area – San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland – surpassed Seattle’s property tax costs. The thriving tech hub of Austin, Texas took the fourth spot. At the other end of the spectrum were cities like Detroit ($1,300), Colorado Springs, and Phoenix, where typical homeowners paid less than a third of Seattle’s rates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To some extent, higher home values correlate with higher property taxes since the tax is based on a property’s assessed value. But that’s not the whole story, as tax rates themselves vary enormously between states and localities. Washington’s average rate of 0.87% in 2021 was actually lower<\/em> than 21 other states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But why is it so high?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Despite a relatively moderate state rate, Seattle stands out for astronomical property tax increases over the past decade. From 2010 to 2021, the median amount paid by Seattle homeowners skyrocketed 89% – nearly triple the rate of inflation over that period. Only six cities, all in California’s feverishly hot real estate market, saw sharper spikes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It’s not surprising the top six are all in California,” said John Wilson, King County assessor. “They’ve had both a superheated real estate market plus a scarcity of housing supply which also tends to drive up home values.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wilson cites similar supply shortages as a major factor propelling costs in Seattle. “The economy is producing far more jobs and far more demand for housing than the amount of housing that we’re building.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While some cities like Las Vegas and Detroit experienced under 10% property tax growth, Washington’s heavy reliance on these taxes compounds the affordability crisis<\/a>. The state lacks an income tax, shifting more of the burden to property and sales levies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“A lot of things have been moved out of the general fund budget and into voter-approved funding,” Wilson explains. Initiatives like Seattle’s recent $1 billion affordable housing levy get tacked onto existing property taxes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still more taxes to come<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

This November, Seattle voters will also consider a $1.4 billion schools operations levy spanning 2024-2027. If passed, it will further escalate property tax obligations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some relief is available for lower-income seniors and disabled residents who may qualify for exemptions. But for the average Seattle homeowner, paying the city’s hefty property tax freight has become an inescapable side of the real estate equation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Across the Puget Sound region, the exorbitant tax burdens are even more extreme in some of Seattle’s wealthy suburban enclaves. The median property tax in Sammamish ($9,676), Bellevue ($8,467), Redmond ($7,808), and Kirkland ($7,689) all exceed Seattle’s already lofty rates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this real estate climate, the American dream of homeownership comes with a sizable civic toll attached for Seattle-area residents. As home prices and taxes continue their upward surge, the costs of simply keeping a roof overhead grow more daunting by the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Seattle’s increasingly unaffordable housing landscape, the expertise of a skilled CPA can prove invaluable. A good accountant can help homebuyers and owners maximize their tax deductions and credits related to property taxes and mortgage interest. They can also provide guidance on tax-efficient financing strategies and long-term tax planning to ease the property tax burden over time. With home prices and taxes showing no signs of slowing, enlisting a CPA’s counsel is a wise move for anyone wading into Seattle’s treacherous real estate waters. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Image by Poyson<\/a> from Pixabay<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For homeowners in Seattle, the costs don’t stop after the staggering price of actually purchasing a house. In addition to shelling out hundreds of thousands for a roof over their heads, Seattle residents also face some of the highest property tax burdens of any major U.S. city. Just how high are we talking? Data from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6984,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-6983","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-taxes","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/huddlestontaxcpas.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6983","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/huddlestontaxcpas.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/huddlestontaxcpas.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huddlestontaxcpas.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huddlestontaxcpas.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6983"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/huddlestontaxcpas.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6983\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6985,"href":"https:\/\/huddlestontaxcpas.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6983\/revisions\/6985"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huddlestontaxcpas.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/huddlestontaxcpas.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6983"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huddlestontaxcpas.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6983"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huddlestontaxcpas.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6983"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}