Among the costs of homeownership, property tax may be the easiest to overlook. Prospective home buyers already have to think about their down payment, closing costs, and monthly mortgage payment. So, checking into what their potential property-tax bill might be can end up an afterthought. But it shouldn’t be. Mostly because it can be a fairly significant amount, depending on where you’re buying. So what should you expect? Well, according to ATTOM Data Solutions’ most recent analysis, the average property tax for a single-family home was $3,719 in 2020 – a 4.4 percent increase over the year before. That’s the biggest annual increase in four years. Todd Teta, ATTOM’s chief product officer, says today’s home buyers are lucky, since low mortgage rates offset some of the increase. “Fortunately for recent home buyers, they have mortgages with super-low interest rates that somewhat contain the cost of homeownership,” Teta said. “But the latest tax numbers speak loud and clear about the continuing pressure on both recent and longtime homeowners to support the rising cost of public services.” It also speaks to the importance of checking local property tax rates when calculating the cost of buying a home. (source)
