Property values rise nearly 9% in Broward County, for another year of growth

Once again, property values in Broward County are on the rise. Last year saw an 8.8% increase in taxable property value, with new construction valued at a combined $3.3 billion, according to a new county report that includes the growth of individual cities such as Fort Lauderdale and Hollywood. The previous year saw double-digit growth of 11.2%.

Broward County Property Appraiser Marty Kiar said last year’s increase speaks to the health of the county, which he attributed to the influx of people moving into Broward, something that has spurned demand in a part of South Florida with low inventory. Municipalities will use that information to set their tax rates.

But Walter Duke, a private-practice real estate appraiser, cautioned that such growth can be a “double-edged sword,” saying that residents with low-interest-rate mortgages or those who already outright own a home are “sitting pretty” while younger people looking to save for a home may be at a disadvantage because of housing prices, expensive insurance and interest rates, on top of higher property taxes.

“I think that’s just sort of the flip side of the positive aspects of good organic growth ... is the fact that it just becomes a little bit more expensive in an area that already has its challenges with regard to housing affordability and workforce housing and whatnot,” said Duke, a former Dania Beach mayor.

Kiar said Broward County has a challenge in that land is hard to come by as new residents move to the county.

“In Broward County, we’re really built out. There is not a whole lot of land to build on. The only places where you can really build is in Fort Lauderdale and others where they’re building straight up,” Kiar said, referring to construction of multistory buildings. “So when you have a place that’s really sought after to live, and at the same time, you don’t have a whole lot of inventory and you have a lot of demand, it actually is what increases the value. We’ve had a lot of new construction, for example, in downtown Fort Lauderdale, and others put on the tax roll that’s increasing values, too.”

Fort Lauderdale, for instance, saw a 7.8% increase in taxable property value. Last year, the city brought in more than $521 million in new construction, Kiar said. Overall, Fort Lauderdale has a $58 billion taxable value, according to the report.

Jenni Morejon, president and CEO of the city’s Downtown Development Authority, said the downtown area made up 20% of the city’s overall property value. In less than a decade, she said, the assessed value of downtown Fort Lauderdale has doubled, which results in new real estate taxes.

“To that extent, we have almost tripled in the amount of real estate taxes that are given to local governments,” Morejon said, adding that $140 million in real estate taxes comes from downtown Fort Lauderdale annually — a threefold increase from 10 years ago.

Morejon said half of the new apartments that have been built in Broward County since 2020 have been built in downtown Fort Lauderdale, which is only a 2.2-square-mile area.

“It’s really just a very small piece of the pie of the overall city of Fort Lauderdale land,” she said. “Of the city boundary, it’s just about 6%, but it makes up 20% of the entire city’s property value.”

Fort Lauderdale’s growth is part of a resurgence in development of eastern cities, including Hollywood, Oakland Park and Pompano Beach, Morejon said. Duke agreed, saying that growth in the 1960s, ‘70s and ‘80s began east and worked its way out west, noting that Broward is landlocked by the Everglades.

“We’re really built out in Broward County. We’re out of land — there’s not really a situation, other than a couple of small remaining farms, where we can build acres and acres of residential single-family subdivisions,” said Duke.

That’s led to more development of multifamily residential buildings back east, he said.

“We are out of land so you’re seeing sort of a move back to a densification of Broward County, to a more vertical development scenario, if you will. Eight stories, 100 units is a typical affordable housing community in Broward County,” he said. “So, I think, as you move back east, people want to be downtown, they want to walk to restaurants and services and be close to jobs and employment generators.”

Still, Duke noted that the county’s western suburbs are doing well post-pandemic, especially as people are working from home and making use of suburban services, restaurants and stores. Duke pointed to Plantation as “one of the best suburban office markets in the region.”

“A lot of that has to do with all of the external amenities that you have out there: You’ve got shopping, retail, restaurants, and services and goods,” he said, using Plantation Walk as an example.

Like Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood has also seen substantial growth, with several affordable housing developments in the pipeline in the past year, Duke said. Hollywood has about $131 million in new taxable property value, with an overall taxable valuation of about $25 billion, a 9.2% increase from last year.

Duke noted that the positioning of the two cities puts them at even more of an advantage from a development perspective as they sit near transit hubs such as the Brightline, Tri-Rail and the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport and boast having some of the best beaches in the country, which makes them desirable for growth.

Duke noted that Fort Lauderdale and Hollywood have had to reinvest taxpayer dollars into housing affordability projects and public-private partnerships that support and promote more affordable housing.

“So it is something that can be reinvested back into the community to make it more affordable,” he said.

Kiar said residents will receive their “Truth in Millage” notice, which will show the proposed amount of taxes residents will be asked to pay, on Aug. 12. More than 400,000 property owners in Broward County have a homestead exemption, and the assessed value of those properties cannot increase more than 3%, he said.

Kiar urged residents who are not homesteaded to reach out to him or their elected officials should they have concerns.

“If they’re not getting every exemption, they’re entitled to call me,” he said. “And if [they’re] concerned about their property taxes, definitely go to the city commission meetings and county commission meetings and let their local elected officials know whether you agree with the tax rate or don’t.”