How Florida's Save Our Homes Cap Works

What Save Our Homes does

Save Our Homes is an amendment to the Florida Constitution, approved by voters in 1992 and in effect since 1995. Once a home receives a homestead exemption, its assessed value — the value property tax is figured on — can rise each year by no more than 3% or the change in the Consumer Price Index, whichever is lower. For January 1, 2026, that limit is 2.7%. The home's market (just) value can rise faster, but the taxable base cannot.

How it works with the homestead exemption

Two protections stack. First, the homestead exemption removes value from the tax roll: $25,000 from all taxing levies, and an additional exemption on assessed value above $50,000 that applies to non-school levies — $25,000 originally, now adjusted for inflation (about $26,411 for 2026). Second, Save Our Homes limits how quickly the assessed value those exemptions are subtracted from can grow.

A Miami example

Suppose a Miami homeowner's just value is $600,000 in the first homestead year and the market rises 5% a year. Save Our Homes lets the assessed value rise only 2.7% a year (assuming CPI stays there). After five years:

• Market value: about $765,800
• Assessed value under the cap: about $685,500
• Gap (the "Save Our Homes benefit"): about $80,300

At a combined City of Miami millage near 20 mills, that gap alone saves roughly $1,600 a year in property tax by year five — and it keeps widening while the market outpaces inflation. Add the homestead exemptions, and the owner saves several thousand dollars a year compared with a non-homestead owner of an identical home.

Why new buyers often pay more than neighbors

When a home sells, the assessed value resets to market value on the next January 1. A new owner of a Coral Gables or Coconut Grove house can pay two or three times the property tax of a long-time neighbor in an identical home. This is the same effect as California's Proposition 13, and it is why Rate and Reason's Miami property tax tools ask for the assessed value rather than the price.

Portability

Since 2008, Florida homeowners can move their Save Our Homes benefit to a new homestead anywhere in Florida, up to $500,000. You must establish the new homestead within three years of leaving the old one (a period extended from two years in 2020) and apply for portability with the new homestead application. When downsizing, the benefit is scaled down in proportion to the new home's value.

Recapture

In years when the market falls or rises less than the cap, the assessed value can still rise by up to the cap until it catches up to market value. This "recapture" surprises some owners: their taxable value goes up even though the market is flat. It stops once assessed value equals just value.

What Save Our Homes does not cover

• Tax rates. Millage rates can still change each year.
• Non-homestead property. Rentals and second homes have a separate 10% cap that applies only to non-school levies.
• New construction and additions, which are added at market value.
• Non-ad valorem assessments, such as solid waste or special district fees.

How to get it

1. Own the home and make it your permanent residence by January 1.
2. Apply for homestead with the Miami-Dade Property Appraiser by March 1 (online or in person).
3. Save Our Homes begins the year after the homestead is first granted.

The Florida Homestead Exemption & Save Our Homes Calculator projects the exemption and the cap together for any value, growth rate and number of years.