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MortgagePoint » Your Trusted Source for Mortgage Banking and Servicing News 78 May 2025 J O U R N A L Tax burdens have grown at a faster pace than assessment value, with Georgia, Maine, New Hampshire, and Wisconsin experiencing tax rate hikes. Texas saw tax burdens grow at a slower rate than assessment values, signaling a cut in the effective tax rate. Nebraska and Michigan have seen growth in home values at the same time that property taxes fell significantly, meaning that ef- fective tax rates there sharply decreased. The same is true for Washington, while Tennessee and Kentucky held steady year over year. As properties become more valuable, their tax obligations increase, and in some places, local governments are bumping up effective tax rates. In others, assessment values are out of line with the true market values of homes, which presents homeowners with an opportu- nity to save. Nearly 41% of properties could bene- fit from lowering their assessed value to their market value times their county's average assessed-to-market value ratio, keeping each property's effective tax rate the same. This large subset of the housing stock could see significant savings. The median property identified by this methodology could save over $539 per year, a 15.4% reduction of the median property tax bill of $3,500 in 2024. Realtor.com reports Texas, Califor- nia, and Illinois are three states that are relatively high in taxes, so even a slight change to assessment values could lead to significant tax savings. For the analysis, tax records from 2023 and 2024 are collected from proper- ties only where both years are available. Data is derived from the Realtor.com tax assessment database. Year-over-year changes are calculated at the property level and aggregated by state from there. Potential savings from property tax pro- testing are calculated by comparing the actual tax bill for a property for the most recent tax year against the product of that property's effective tax rate (actual tax bill divided by actual assessment value) and the property's hypothetical as- sessment value (market value multiplied by the average assessment-to-market value ratio for the property's county). Market values are the median of the most recent valuations from several valuation vendors. SNAPSHOT: 2025's TOP RENTAL MARKETS S oaring home prices, inflation, and heavy down payments are pushing more Americans toward renting as a long-term plan. Point2H- omes analyzed the 75 largest U.S. metros using 25 key indicators that highlight both economy/housing and community/ quality of life, also looking at attributes such as cost of living, job growth, local amenities, and community appeal. Key Study Findings » Richmond, Virginia, and Raleigh, North Carolina, were the top metros for Americans renting single-family homes, offering renters stability and comfort without the burden of ownership. » Pennsylvania and Virginia each claimed two top metros for single-family rent- ers—Pittsburgh and Allentown, Penn- sylvania-New Jersey were a close race, while Richmond and Virginia Beach led the way in their state. » The Omaha and St. Louis metro areas ranked best at financial factors by boasting lower renters' insurance and unemployment rate, and more than half their single-family renters can comfort- ably afford housing costs. » Oxnard, California, ranked best in terms of overall quality of life…but none of California's largest metros cracked the top best metros for single-family home renters. Single-family rental households have grown by 31% throughout the last two decades, outpacing the 21% increase in owner-occupied homes, per Census data. This has led to an all-time-high surge in build-to-rent homes, newly constructed properties specifically designed for renting. With renter households growing faster than homeowners nationwide, some metros manage to offer a mix of opportunity and quality of life. The East Coast claims half of the top 10 best met- ros for single-family home renters. Nearly one-third of U.S. renter households are single-family home renters, and long-term renting is on the rise: renters now stay for 10 years or more in the same house for rent. That's all due to a perfect storm of rising home prices, limited housing supply, high mortgage rates, and rental prices that deter renters from moving. Unable to save for a down payment, they end up renting longer, especially those looking for the space, privacy, and comfort of a single-family home. So, where can single-family home renters get the most out of their renting experience? The top three U.S. metros for single-family home renters include: » Richmond, Virginia (63.41 points): Richmond leads due to a combina- tion of desirable attributes: a lower unemployment rate, a comfortable number of bedrooms and vehicles per single-family renter household, and good air quality. Professionally speaking, it recorded the second-highest year-over-year job growth at 3.4% and is home to eight Fortune 500 companies. Richmond scores big in both Economy & Housing (4th place) and Community & Quality of Life (10th place). » Raleigh-Cary, North Carolina (63.15 points): Part of the Research Triangle, the metro is not only a hub for innovation and career growth, but it also currently has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country. It also happens to have some of the most single-family rental homes under construction, with plans to expand its build-to-rent inventory tenfold to meet rising rental demand. » Salt Lake City-Murray, Utah (62.93 points): This metro might have a higher cost of living, but more than 56% of renters can comfortably afford their monthly housing expenses. The area enjoys a low unemployment rate, job growth close to 2%, and an average