SFWorth

Prop 19 lets you move anywhere in California and keep your property-tax bill

If you’re 55 or older, California lets you take your existing property-tax assessment with you when you sell your home and buy another one. For longtime owners, this changes the math of moving entirely.

The problem it solves

Under Proposition 13, your property taxes are based on what you paid for your home (plus small annual increases), not what it’s worth today. If you bought decades ago, you may be paying taxes on a few hundred thousand dollars of assessed value while your home is worth millions. Historically, selling meant losing that low assessment. Buy a new place and you’d be taxed on its full purchase price. Many people stayed put just to keep the tax bill.

What Prop 19 changed

Proposition 19 took effect in April 2021 and superseded the older, more limited Props 60 and 90. If you qualify, you can transfer your current taxable value to a replacement primary residence:

  • Who qualifies: homeowners who are 55 or older, severely disabled, or victims of a wildfire or natural disaster.
  • Where: anywhere in California. The old county-by-county restrictions are gone.
  • How often: up to three times for the age-55+ and disabled transfers.
  • If the new home costs more:the difference between the new home’s price and your old home’s sale price is added to your transferred taxable value. You still keep most of the benefit.
  • Timing: the replacement home must generally be purchased within two years of selling the original.

A worked example

Say you bought your San Francisco home in the 1980s. Today it sells for $2,800,000, but your assessed value, the amount you actually pay property taxes on, is only $310,000.

You buy a $1,500,000 condo near your grandchildren in San Diego. Because the new home costs less than what you sold for, your entire ~$310,000 assessed value transfers with you. You keep paying property taxes as if the condo cost about $310,000. That comes to roughly $3,900 a year instead of the roughly $18,800 a year a new buyer of the same condo would pay.

Figures are illustrative and rounded. Actual tax rates vary by county and include local assessments.

The fine print worth knowing

  • Both homes must be your primary residence. Prop 19 doesn’t apply to rentals or second homes.
  • You must file a claim with the assessor in the county where the new home is located.
  • Prop 19 also tightened the rules for parent-child transfers of property. If passing your home to your children is part of your plan, talk to an estate attorney before deciding anything.

Check the official source

The California State Board of Equalization publishes the definitive rules, claim forms, and FAQs: boe.ca.gov/prop19. For how a move affects your taxes specifically, a CPA or the county assessor’s office is the right call.

Wondering what your home would actually sell for? Look up your address, or see what selling really costs.