Atlanta sees fifth-largest property tax increase in US, per report

Property taxes are becoming more expensive, especially for homeowners in metro Atlanta.

Atlanta had one of highest spikes in property taxes in the country last year, according to a recent report from national real estate data provider Attom Data Solutions LLC.

Property taxes for single-family homes in metro Atlanta increased by an average of 15.2% from 2022 to 2023, per Attom's findings. Metro Atlanta had?the fifth-largest year-over-year average tax increase in the country, according to the report, which includes data on?metro areas with populations of one million or higher.

Across the United States, homeowners paid roughly $24 billion more in single-family property taxes last year compared to the year before. This represents an increase of 7%, the highest in the past five years.

How Atlanta property taxes compare to other metro areas

Despite seeing significant hikes over the past 12 months, property tax rates across Southern metro areas are relatively low compared to some Northeastern and Midwestern markets.

Illinois, New Jersey and Connecticut were home to some of the highest effective property tax rates in the country last year. Counties in the Chicago metro area, for example, saw rates as high as 2.5%, according to Attom's 2023 national breakdown of property tax rates by county. Effective tax rates in metro Atlanta counties mostly hovered around 1%.

But these rates are still lofty compared to the tax rate extended to the typical American homeowner.

All but one of metro Atlanta’s core five counties, Cobb, exceeded the national average tax rate of 0.87%, per Attom's county breakdown.

Homeowners in Fulton and Gwinnett counties paid the most in property taxes among all the Georgia counties assessed by Attom last year, contributing an average of $6,931 and $4,276, respectively.

Fulton and Gwinnett each brought in more than a billion dollars in property taxes in 2023. They also had the highest concentrations of single-family homes in the state.

How Georgia lawmakers are looking to counteract rising rates

Rising property taxes for homeowners have prompted recent action from state legislators.?

The Georgia House of Representatives passed a Senate-sponsored bill last month that, if implemented, would place a 3% cap on property tax increases for homeowners approved for a homestead exemption.

The motion could improve housing affordability for prospective buyers in Atlanta, where elevated mortgage rates and a competitive market make the path to homeownership challenging.

Fixed 30-year mortgage rates averaged 6.82% as of April 4, per Freddie Mac, and a typical home in Atlanta’s city limits is valued at $390,373, according to an estimate from Zillow Group Inc. (Nasdaq: ZG).

Georgia voters will decide the amendment’s fate in a statewide referendum this November. If approved by a majority vote, the proposed changes would take effect on Jan. 1, 2025.