Successful ARB Hearings Improve 2025 Travis County Property Tax Appeal Results

O'Connor discusses how successful ARB hearings improved 2025 Travis County property tax appeal results.

AUSTIN, TX, UNITED STATES, October 7, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ --

Seen by many as the crown jewel of Texas, Austin and Travis County are perhaps the No. 1 destination to work and live in the United States. A hybrid of Silicon Valley and Hollywood, Austin attracts more people, businesses, and capital each year. With a long history of uniqueness, there is no place in Texas quite like the Austin area. This has made it the hottest property market in the Lonestar state and one of the top ones in the entire United States to boot. This has skyrocketed property values and the related taxes up to 11, with some properties quadrupling or quintupling in value.

While exemptions always pay dividends, many in Travis County are turning to property tax appeals, especially formal ones to the appraisal review board (ARB). Nearly 38% of all properties were protested in 2023, and this trend has only been increasing. This helps keep property assessments down, which in turn allows people to stay in their homes or keep their businesses open. As gentrification hits some areas, many are finding themselves priced out of homes they have lived in for decades, making tax appeals that much more important. In this article, we will see how appeals benefited the people of Travis County now that all the information has been finalized. In many cases ARB hearings were able to double the savings seen initially.

Protests Trim 4.6% from Housing Values

While businesses may get all the headlines, it is single family homes that drive the tax base. While the Travis Central Appraisal District (TCAD) only added 0.7% to the total for home values in 2025, this still brought the combined value to $220.61 billion. While there were a few decreases in home values in some categories, it was believed that 31% of homes were still overvalued. Thanks to the barrage of property tax appeals that can be expected in Travis County, 4.6% of the total was lowered as well. The second-largest block was homes worth between $250,000 and $500,000, which reached $53.06 billion after an appellate reduction of $2.6%. This was followed by homes assessed from $500,000 to $750,000, which saved 3.9%, going to $42.13 billion. The No. 1 spot was for homes worth over $1.5 million, which reached a staggering $54.16 billion, even after a great reduction of 6.7%. These expensive homes had increased in value by 7.4% earlier in the year.

While homes worth over $1.5 million were in the top spot, there were relatively few true mansions, which means that many multi-million-dollar homes were of modest size. This truly reflects just how overinflated the housing market in Austin really is. The most valuable block of homes measured between 2,000 square feet and 3,900 square feet. These average homes combined for a mind-blowing $103.21 billion, which was after a cut of 4.5%. Homes under 2,000 square feet took the second spot but still reached $66.76 billion after a drop of 3.4%. The biggest bang for the appeal buck was for homes between 4,000 and 5,000 square feet, which were reduced by 6% to total $28.8 billion. True mansions only totaled $4.63 billion after appeals knocked off 8.2%.

Like most of Texas, the majority of residential property value in Travis County was built between 2001 and 2020. About 39%, or $83.49 billion was created during this timeframe, even after a reduction of 4.8%. Residences built from 1981 to 2000 were responsible for $55.58 billion, thanks to a strong reduction of 4.2%. Even older homes still accounted for plenty of value, with those built between 1961 and 1980 producing $30.84 billion. New construction was obviously the fastest riser and has already become responsible for $16.62 billion in value after a decrease of 4.7% thanks to appeals.

Appeals Saved Austin Businesses 9%

Travis County is famous for businesses both old and new bringing innovation to the economy. From tech giants to entertainment companies, Travis County boasted commercial property valued at over $160.23 billion in 2025. TCAD’s assessment was quickly challenged, as things were brought down to earth a bit with a solid cut of 9%. $128.76 billion of the total came from properties worth over $5 million, and this massive amount was achieved even after a protest cut of 9.4%. It is typical in Texas for large properties to have an outsized impact, but Austin properties were disproportionate to the average. Properties worth between $1 million and $5 million came in a very distant second with $14.20 billion. In comparison, the two smaller business categories only combined for around $3 billion.

Commercial properties follow homes in their pattern of construction, though a bit more spread out. The boom period of 2001 to 2020 was still responsible for the biggest slice of value, accounting for $54.77 billion after a decline of 7.8% due to protests. Those constructed from 1981 to 2000 were responsible for $33.02 billion after dropping an impressive 9.8%. New construction shot up the charts and accounted for 14.7%, or $21.49 billion of the total value. The new construction’s thundering rise was blunted somewhat by a reduction of 8.2%, showing that appeals can even benefit a brand-new building. The large “other” category is simply raw land or buildings not yet completed.

As mentioned above, apartments are the most valuable commercial property, which is certainly an achievement in the competitive Travis County market. These are a hybrid of residence and business, making them double stressors to the economy. When looked at by age of construction, as expected, those built between 2001 and 2020 were in the majority. These boom period apartments totaled $24.10 billion after a decrease of 7.1%. Older apartments constructed between 1981 and 2020 were assessed at $10.89 billion after a 10.1% culling of value. While only a small factor in the grand total, apartments built between 1961 and 1980 got a beefy reduction of 10.8%. TCAD decided to fuse raw land and new construction together into one category, so this resulted in a large subtype that valued $15.94 billion after a sizable slashing of 11.2%.

TCAD decided to divide all apartments into three categories. High-rise apartments were the biggest block by far, with a total of $53.08 billion after a protest-induced decline of 9.1%. Mid-rise apartments were a distant second with $1.90 billion, which was thanks to a great decrease of 11.9%. Generic apartments were reduced by 8.4%, which resulted in a total of $1.22 billion.

Offices Shed $4.38 Billion in Taxable Value Thanks to Protests

Offices were a huge part of the Austin area economy and accounted for $45.91 billion of the total value before focused appeals managed to drive it down 9.5%. The age of construction pattern held steady, with 2001 to 2020 being the largest source of office value at $17.87 billion after a cut of 9.1%. Construction from 1981 to 2000 was a much larger factor than most property types, being responsible for 32.8% of value, or $13.63 billion after a decline of 10.4%. Older construction did well, achieving a total of $5.26 billion in value with a reduction of 4.7%. New construction’s rapid rise was checked by a huge decline of 20.6% thanks to protests, though it still totaled $2.25 billion.

Like apartments, offices were categorized into three subtypes. Low-rise offices were the leader by a huge amount, making or a combined value of $29.67 billion after a solid deduction of 7.1%. High-rise offices were assessed at $9.16 after a giant cut of 15.3%. Medical offices combined for $2.69 billion, thanks to a substantial reduction of 14.4%.

Austin Retail Land Impressive Reductions Across the Board

After a solid reduction of 5.6%, all retail property was valued at $7.79 billion, putting it towards the bottom of commercial property. It still followed the predictable pattern when it came to age of construction, with 2001 to 2020 once again being the top source of value with $2.87 billion after a decrease of 5%. Older retail spaces did better than other commercial types, however. Those built from 1981 to 2000 achieved a total value of $2.14 billion, while those built from 1961 to 1980 managed a cut of 5.5%, which translated into $1.69 billion. New construction, for once, was a small factor, only reaching $243.91 million after a huge slash of 11.2%.

TCAD broke retail properties into a wider variety of types, allowing for more exploration. Texas-favorite strip malls were in the top spot with $3.41 billion after a good cut of 6.2%. Even with a decrease of 5.5%, community shopping centers still reached $1.39 billion. Big box stores got an outstanding reduction of 6.3%, which meant a total of $1.23 billion. Neighborhood shopping centers saw a total value of $1.06 billion, while malls came in last with $693.04 million.

Appeals Drop Warehouse Taxable Value by Nearly $2 Billion

It is hard to go wrong with a good warehouse, and they typically make for a key component of any Texas county. Travis County warehouses were some of the fastest-growing properties around, adding 21.8% to value in 2025 alone, which meant a new total of $17.44 billion. While the boom period of 2001 to 2020 was still in first place, it was not a complete boat race this time. These warehouses totaled $4.99 billion, while those constructed from 1981 to 2000 produced $4.52 billion. This was after they were shaved down by appeals at rates of 10% and 10.9% respectively. New warehouse construction was perhaps the brightest rising star out of all Travis County commercial properties, adding 81.8% more value in 2025. This was countered somewhat by diligent appeals, which reduced this jump by 18.2%, which meant a total of $2.40 billion.

There were three types of warehouses according to TCAD. The largest was generic warehouses, which had a gargantuan total of $11.24 billion, after a strong reduction of 10.8%. Office warehouses landed an even larger decrease of 13.2%, which rendered a total value of $2.48 billion. Mini warehouses were, appropriately, the smallest with a 6.5% reduction and a combined total of $1.85 billion.

About O'Connor:
O’Connor is one of the largest property tax consulting firms, representing 185,000 clients in 49 states and Canada, handling about 295,000 protests in 2024, with residential property tax reduction services in Texas, Illinois, Georgia, and New York. O’Connor’s possesses the resources and market expertise in the areas of property tax, cost segregation, commercial and residential real estate appraisals. The firm was founded in 1974 and employs a team of 1,000 worldwide. O’Connor’s core focus is enriching the lives of property owners through cost effective tax reduction.

Property owners interested in assistance appealing their assessment can enroll in O’Connor’s Property Tax Protection Program ™. There is no upfront fee, or any fee unless we reduce your property taxes, and easy online enrollment only takes 2 to 3 minutes.

Patrick O'Connor, President
O'Connor
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