Orlando property taxes outpaced home values in new report

Orlando property taxes grew faster than home values between 2022 and 2024, according to a comparison covered by News 6 on October 26, 2026. The Deltona-Daytona Beach metro showed the same pattern, giving Central Florida rental owners a reason to revisit their expense budgets. But the findings describe historical changes in owner-occupied housing, not measured tax increases for rental properties.

What the Orlando property taxes comparison found

News 6 reported that the Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford metro ranked 25th in the comparison. Growth in median property taxes exceeded growth in median home values by 4.6 percentage points during the study period.

Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach ranked 21st, with a gap of 5.8 percentage points. Those figures describe the difference between two growth rates. They are not the percentage increases in tax bills, and they are not changes in property-tax rates.

Lakeland-Winter Haven ranked first nationally in the comparison. There, median property taxes increased 28.1%, while median home values increased 14.2%.

The underlying ConsumerAffairs analysis, updated October 14, 2026, compared the 100 most populous US metros using American Community Survey one-year estimates. It ranked the difference between percentage growth in median real estate taxes paid and median home values.

This is newly covered research about an earlier period. It is not an announcement of a new tax increase, a new tax rule or a program launch.

The local pattern differed from the national picture

Nationally, median home values increased 12.4% between 2022 and 2024, while median property taxes increased 10.6%, according to ConsumerAffairs. In that national comparison, values grew faster than taxes.

Taxes nevertheless grew faster than values in 46 of the 100 metros studied. Orlando and Deltona-Daytona Beach were among them.

For an owner, the useful distinction is between a broad trend and a property-specific expense. The metro results provide context for a budget review, but they do not tell you what happened to the bill for a particular rental home.

Nor should the rankings become a forecast. Orlando’s position does not establish what an owner will owe next year, and Daytona’s larger gap does not establish that every property there experienced a larger increase.

A metro ranking is a reason to check your tax bill, not a substitute for it.

Keep the historical period attached whenever you discuss these findings. A comparison covering 2022 through 2024 should not be described as a measurement of current rental-property costs.

What the dataset can and cannot tell landlords

The most important limitation concerns which properties the tax measure covers. Census Reporter identifies the population for table B25103 as owner-occupied housing units. That means the findings should not be labeled a survey of rental-property taxes or presented as landlords’ measured expense increases.

The Census Bureau’s metadata identifies the measure as median real estate taxes paid in dollars, with separate estimates for homes with and without mortgages. It is not a tax-rate measure.

ConsumerAffairs also cautions that revised metro boundaries in the 2024 American Community Survey may account for some measured changes relative to earlier years. That caveat matters when interpreting a metro’s position in the ranking.

Together, these limits support a narrow conclusion: median taxes paid grew faster than median home values in the two local metros during the comparison period. They do not establish the cause of an individual bill change, the increase for a rental portfolio or the tax expense of a prospective purchase.

Use the report to ask better questions about your records, rather than to fill gaps in those records with a regional number.

What to check in your rental budget this week

Start with each property’s actual annual tax bills and the tax expense recorded in its operating budget. Compare them directly. If the budget does not match the bill, identify the difference before making a broader decision about the property’s expenses.

Keep this review property by property. Do not apply the Orlando or Daytona growth gap across your rentals as a budgeting adjustment. Neither figure measures the tax increase for those homes.

Next, check the property record for factual errors, including square footage and property characteristics. Keep any questions tied to the specific record rather than assuming the metro report explains an apparent discrepancy.

If taxes are escrowed, ask the mortgage servicer to explain any difference between the annual tax bill and the escrow amount collected. Request an explanation grounded in your account rather than trying to reconcile it with a metro median.

Everyday tip: Put each rental’s annual tax bill beside its budgeted tax expense and write down any difference before changing the budget.

Use your landlord tax records as the starting point for this review. The goal this week is a clear record of the actual expense, the budgeted amount and any unanswered questions.

For a disputed assessment or questions about legal options, talk to a Florida attorney. The research does not resolve a parcel-level dispute.

Keep purchase and rent decisions separate from the ranking

If you are evaluating a rental purchase, use parcel-specific tax information rather than these metro medians. Treat the report as background for your expense review, not as the tax estimate in your purchase analysis.

The same restraint applies to rent decisions. Do not use this report alone to justify an increase. Review the property’s actual expenses, comparable rentals and lease terms separately.

A rental pricing and market analysis can be part of that separate review. Keep the questions distinct: what does this property cost to operate, and what do comparable rentals indicate about pricing?

When discussing expenses with a renter, stay property-specific. The study does not establish that the tax bill for their home increased by either reported gap.

The bottom line

The Orlando and Daytona findings highlight a historical divergence between tax growth and home-value growth. They do not forecast future rental-property taxes or measure landlords’ individual increases.

For Central Florida owners, the practical response is straightforward: compare actual bills with budgets, check property records, clarify escrow differences and use parcel-level information for purchases. Let the research prompt the review, then let the property’s own records guide the decision.