Over the past week both the Travis County and Williamson County Central Apprail Districts have released their valuations.  This week Patrick Brown, the chief appraiser for Travis County, announced that the average value of a single-family residence dropped an average of 2.8% from $287,732 to $279,763.  Because commercial values increased, the overal drop in valuation for the county was less than 0.5%.  Brown noted that the last time the values decreased was during the 1980s.

In Williamson County, chief appraiser Alvin Lankford stated that for the second year in a row, the average value of a house in Williamson County fell.  The average price in 2009 was $188,588 compared to $186,184 this year, an average decline of 1.27%.  Not all properies declined, however.  Approximately 62% declined, 28% increased, and 10% were about the same.  For those that declined, the average decline was 4.46%.  Because of growth in Williamson County (2,800 new homes and 150 new commercial properties) the net taxable value actually increased 2.9% to $34.6 billion.

If you have received your 2010 property tax appraisal and feel that it is higher than it should be, be sure to attend one of my workshops on how to protest your assessment.  For more information on the workshops (held on May 11 in River Place and May 13 in Steiner Ranch), visit http://www.RealEstateInAustin.com/Tax-Assessment-Protest-Workshop.