O'Connor discusses the Williamson Central Appraisal District 2025 Value Increases in Texas for residential and commercial property.
GEORGETOWN, TX, UNITED STATES, April 24, 2025 /
EINPresswire.com/ --
Williamson Central Appraisal District has released proposed noticed values for property tax assessments for 2025. The Williamson Central Appraisal District (CAD) increased residential property values by 6.3%, up from 4.1% in 2024. Commercial property values rose by 10%, a slight decrease from the 12.5% increase seen last year. While these adjustments account for both existing properties and new construction, they appear to be generally out of step with market trends reported by independent third parties.
Proposed Value Notices
Unlike most taxes, property taxes come with a rare opportunity — the chance to negotiate. The notices property owners receive from Williamson CAD are labeled “proposed” or “preliminary” for a reason: they’re not set in stone unlike other taxes. For example, when an owner files federal taxes, there’s no back-and-forth with the IRS about how much is owed. However, property taxes are different. If the owner believes the valuation is too high, they have the right to challenge it every year.
Why Property Taxes Can Be Challenged
The Williamson CAD faces the enormous task of assessing the value of every piece of real estate and taxable business personal property (BBP) across Williamson County. Due to limited staffing and resources, the district relies on a technique known as mass appraisal to determine property values.
Unlike the detailed appraisal process used when buying or refinancing a home—where an appraiser typically inspects the property in person—mass appraisals do not involve individual property visits. This means no one from the district is likely to walk through the owner's home, take measurements, or evaluate its current state.
Because this approach is inherently broad and often imprecise, the Texas Legislature has put a system in place that allows property owners to contest their annual tax assessments. Both lawmakers and appraisal officials recognize that it’s not feasible to deliver perfectly accurate valuations for every property each year, so the opportunity to review and dispute the assessed value exists by design.
Williamson County Residential Property Tax Reassessment
Williamson CAD estimates the value of homes has increased by 6.3% depending on when they were built, value, and square footage.
Home Market Value January 2024 – March 2025
In Texas, the notice market value is the appraised value of a property as of January 1st, as determined by the local appraisal district, in this case Williamson CAD. This value is based on the property’s market value, which is the price at which a property is purchased. Based on January 2025 sales, both houses that are overvalued and valued at or below market value is 50%. The 2024 notice market value for overvalued homes is $2.967 billion and for homes valued at or below is $2.930 billion.
Property Tax Revaluation by Value Range
The analysis of property tax assessments by value range in Williamson County reveals a different pattern compared to other counties studied so far, such as Fort Bend, Hays, and Nueces counties. In both Hays and Nueces, there is a clear relationship between home value and assessment increases: lower-value homes experience smaller increases, while higher-value homes see the largest jumps. In other words, assessment increases tend to rise along with property values.
While Williamson County generally follows this trend, there are notable exceptions. For instance, homes valued between $1 million and $1.5 million saw a 7.3% increase in assessed value, slightly lower than the 7.4% increase for homes valued between $500,000 and $750,000. Similarly, homes priced between $750,000 and $1 million experienced a 7.9% increase, compared to a 6.9% increase for homes valued above $1.5 million.
Tax Revaluation versus Home Size
For the 2025 property tax reassessment in Williamson County, there is a clear positive correlation between home size and the increase in property tax assessments. Homes under 2,000 square feet saw a modest 4.7% increase in taxable value—up from just 1.3% in 2024. Mid-sized homes, ranging from 4,000 to 5,999 square feet, experienced a moderate increase of 7.7%. In contrast, homes over 8,000 square feet had a 9.1% increase, which is actually lower than the 13.8% rise recorded in 2024. Overall, the average increase across all properties in 2025 stands at 6.3%, compared to 4.1% in the previous year.
Property Tax Revaluation by Year Built
Overall, in 2025, single-family home properties across all construction experienced significant increases in taxable value, according to estimates from Williamson CAD. The outlier is property built before 1960, which had a high increase of 6.6%. Properties built between 2001 to 2020 had a medium increase of 3.6%. The second highest increase was observed in properties built in 2021 and later, with taxable values rising by 6.2%.
Williamson County Commercial Property Revaluation
Williamson CAD’s assessment of commercial property values contrasts sharply with trends reported by Green Street, a respected Wall Street advisory firm. While Green Street indicates that commercial property values have declined by 21% since March 2022, Williamson CAD reports a 10% increase.
For the 2025 tax year, Williamson CAD increased the market value of all types of commercial properties, with the most significant hikes seen in apartments and warehouses. Overall, WCAD’s valuation increases averaged 10%, a slight drop from the 12.5% increase seen in 2024.
Warehouse and apartment properties experienced the steepest assessment hikes, rising by 24.4% and 11.8%, respectively. However, both figures are notably lower than the previous year’s increases—35.2% for warehouses and 29.7% for apartments. Land and office properties saw the smallest increases at 4.4% and 6.3%, while retail properties experienced a moderate rise of 9.1%.
In 2025, commercial properties across all construction vintages experienced significant increases in taxable value, according to estimates from Williamson CAD. Properties built between 1981 and 2000, which saw the highest increase in 2024 at 17.5%, experienced the lowest increase in 2025 at just 3.6%. Conversely, properties constructed before 1960 recorded the second-highest increase in 2025 at 14.4%, up from 6.9% the previous year. The most substantial increase was observed in properties built in 2021 and later, with taxable values rising by 30.6%.
Williamson CAD in 2025 describes a positive correlation between the quantity of property tax assessment increase and values. In 2025, properties valued between $500,000 and $1 million saw an increase in assessed value of 4.1%. Meanwhile, those with values exceeding $5 million experienced a significant rise of 11.7% in their assessed value. In contrast, homes worth more than $5 million had a 15.2% rise in assessed value for 2024.
In Hays County, Fort Bend County, and Webb County, we’ve observed an interesting trend: properties with lower values are experiencing more modest increases, while those valued over $5,000,000 are seeing significant growth. This pattern highlights the varying dynamics within the real estate market across these regions.
According to the graph, there appears to be a mixed correlation between the year an apartment was built and the level of property tax assessment increase in Williamson County for 2025. While apartments built before 1960 saw a significant jump in assessed value—rising by 38.7% after a previous decline of 20.7%—these properties only accounted for $3 million of the county’s total $14.8 billion in apartment value. On the other hand, properties built from 2001 onward experienced a modest increase of just 2.3%, whereas those built in 2021 or later saw a substantial 33.3% increase. Apartments categorized as “other” have no recorded year built, according to Williamson CAD.
According to estimates from Williamson CAD, the value of office buildings saw significant increases across most age ranges for the 2025 tax year. Office properties built between 1981 and 2000 experienced the smallest increase, with a rise of just 1.1%, bringing their total assessed value to 39%. In contrast, office properties constructed after 2021 and those built before 1960 both saw a 20.5% increase in value. The most dramatic jump was observed in properties classified as “Others,” which surged by 137.3%.
Retail property owners in Williamson County are seeing significant increases in property tax assessments for the 2025 tax year. According to Williamson CAD, properties built between 1981–2000 and 2001–2020 experienced the smallest increases, at 6.9% and 6.5%, respectively. In contrast, properties constructed in 2021 or later saw one of the highest increases at 19.6%, though slightly below the 24.1% spike seen in 2024. Properties built between 1961–1980 rose by 10.3%, while those built before 1960 had a slightly higher increase of 11.8%.
Warehouse buildings in Williamson County saw significant value increases across all construction periods, ranging from 6.7% to 32.4%. The most dramatic increases were for properties built before 1960 and those constructed in 2001 or later, which rose by 23.6% and 32.4%, respectively. This follows last year’s even steeper hikes for the same age groups, which saw increases of 33.2% and 39.9%. In contrast, warehouses built between 1981 and 2000 experienced the smallest uptick for 2025, with values rising by just 6.7%. Meanwhile, properties built from 2001 to 2020 saw a moderate increase of 11.6%.
Apartment owners in Williamson County saw a significant property tax increase in 2025. The Williamson CAD raised the taxable value of apartment buildings by 11.8% overall. The total market value climbed from $13.2 billion in 2024 to $14.8 billion in 2025.
Owners of office buildings in Williamson County—particularly those with medical and low-rise properties—are facing notable property tax increases in 2025. The Williamson CAD raised the taxable value of office buildings by nearly 6.3% overall. Low-rise office buildings saw the largest jump, with values increasing by 15.2%, while high-rise office buildings experienced a more modest 1.8% increase. Medical office buildings also rose in value by 12.5% in 2025, slightly down from the 13.1% increase recorded in 2024.
In 2025, Williamson County retail properties saw a total taxable value increase of 9.1%, according to the county’s property tax assessment. Malls experienced the smallest gain, rising just 5.2%—a sharp contrast to their dramatic 51% increase in 2024. Strip centers saw an 11.5% increase in 2025, down from 20.2% the previous year. The Williamson Central Appraisal District also raised the taxable value of neighborhood shopping centers by 9.3% and community shopping centers by 8.0%. Single-tenant retail buildings, which rose by 14.4% in 2024, experienced a more moderate 11.1% increase in 2025.
Williamson County warehouses saw the largest jump in property tax assessments for 2025. Mini warehouses, or self-storage units, rose by 17.7%, up from a 10.5% increase in 2024. Office warehouse properties experienced a significant rise of 27.8%, though that’s down from last year’s sharp 53.9% increase. Generic warehouse buildings, which make up only a small portion of the county’s warehouse inventory, increased by 24.4%.
Considering the Austin metro home prices in the last year, there was an increase of 0.1%, meanwhile the Williamson CAD increase was 6.3%. The home value for Austin metro area was $336,700 in 2024 and increased to $336, 990 in 2025.
Summary and Conclusions
Residential property tax assessments in Williamson County for the 2025 tax year are likely to face challenges, as they reflect noticeable changes from the 2024 figures, with most properties seeing increases. On average, residential values rose by 6.3%.
Commercial property owners are also expected to protest due to significant increases. While the Williamson Central Appraisal District (CAD) reported a 10% rise in commercial property values, independent firm Green Street estimates a 21% decline in commercial real estate values for 2025.
About O'Connor:
O’Connor is one of the largest property tax consulting firms, representing 185,000 clients in 49 states and Canada, handling about 295,000 protests in 2024, with residential property tax reduction services in Texas, Illinois, Georgia, and New York. O’Connor’s possesses 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 a team of 1,000 worldwide. O’Connor’s core focus is enriching the lives of property owners through cost effective tax reduction.
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Patrick O'Connor, President
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