Moving does not erase your Save Our Homes savings, but it can still raise your tax bill. Florida lets you carry your accumulated Save Our Homes benefit, the gap between a home's market value and its lower capped assessed value, up to $500,000, to a new Florida homestead through portability, if you re-establish a homestead within three tax years and file by March 1. What usually costs movers more is the home they buy: its assessed value resets to full market value at purchase, so the tax, and the escrow portion of the mortgage payment, is typically higher than the previous owner paid. None of the 2026 property-tax proposals eliminate portability, and none take effect unless 60% of Florida voters approve them in November 2026, with the earliest start on January 1, 2027.
Why Florida Movers Are Watching the 2026 Tax Vote
If you have owned your Florida home for years, you have probably watched your tax bill stay calm while newer neighbors pay far more for a similar house. That gap is the Save Our Homes benefit working in your favor, and the thought of giving it up is what makes selling feel risky. Many long-time owners now read headlines about the 2026 property-tax debate and worry that moving will erase everything they have built up.
Take a breath. Your accumulated benefit is not deleted when you sell, and Florida already has a way to carry it to your next home. What most movers underestimate is not the law but the tax bill on the house they buy. This guide walks through what resets, what transfers, and how the move shows up in your monthly mortgage payment. For the bigger policy picture, see our overview of property tax changes Florida homeowners should watch in 2026.
Pick Your Path
What Actually Happens to Your Taxes When You Move
It helps to treat the benefit and the reset as two different ideas. Save Our Homes is a Florida constitutional rule that limits how much the assessed value of a homesteaded property can rise each year, to the lesser of 3% or the change in the Consumer Price Index. "Assessed value" is simply the figure your taxes are calculated on, and over time it can drift well below market value. That accumulated difference is your benefit.
No. You do not lose your Save Our Homes benefit when you move, because Florida portability lets you transfer the accumulated difference between your home's market value and its lower capped assessed value, up to $500,000, to a new Florida homestead. The catch is the other side of the deal. Yes. When you buy a new home in Florida, its assessed value resets to full market value, so your property taxes are typically based on what you paid, not on the lower amount the previous owner was taxed on.
So the honest answer to "will moving cost more" is usually yes, but not because you lost portability. The added cost comes from the reset on the new house. Our full guide to Save Our Homes portability and the 2026 changes breaks the mechanics down in more detail.
Staying Put vs. Moving: What Changes on Your Tax Bill
The clearest way to see the trade-off is to line up three situations: staying in your current home, moving and porting your benefit, and moving without porting it. Staying keeps your capped assessed value where it is. Moving and porting carries your accumulated benefit to the new homestead and lowers its assessed value, up to the $500,000 cap. Moving without porting leaves the new home assessed at full market value with no transferred discount, the most expensive path.
The table below shows what changes in each case. Notice that the homestead exemption and portability are things you apply for, not automatic perks that follow you.
| What happens | Stay in your home | Move & port benefit | Move without porting |
|---|---|---|---|
| Assessed-value basis | Stays at your capped value | New home's market value, reduced by the ported amount | New home's full market value |
| Annual cap (3% or CPI) | Continues on your current value | Restarts on the new assessed value | Restarts on full market value |
| Homestead exemption | Already in place | Re-apply on the new home | Re-apply on the new home |
| Portable benefit (up to $500,000) | Not needed — stays with the home | Transferred via Form DR-501T | Not transferred — benefit lost |
| Likely tax direction | Predictable / lowest | Higher, softened by transfer | Highest |
The pattern is consistent statewide, but the gap is largest in fast-appreciating markets like Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, Naples, and Sarasota, where assessed values have lagged market values for years. The bigger your accumulated benefit, the more portability is worth to you, and the more a missed filing can cost.
How to Carry Your Save Our Homes Benefit to the Next Home
- 1Establish your new Florida homesteadYou apply for the homestead exemption on the home you now live in, which tells the county this is your primary residence.
- 2File the portability transferThis is a separate step using Form DR-501T, the state form that moves your accrued benefit from the old property to the new one. Your county property appraiser processes it, not your lender and not Pegasus.
- 3Watch the calendarTo keep your Save Our Homes benefit, you must establish a new Florida homestead within three tax years of leaving the old one and file the portability transfer (Form DR-501T) with your county property appraiser by March 1. The three-year window was set by a 2020 constitutional amendment that extended the older two-year rule.
A few details trip people up. Portability works only between Florida homesteads, so a move out of state breaks the chain. If you downsize to a less expensive home, a different calculation applies and you may not transfer the full amount. Our full guide to Save Our Homes portability and the 2026 changes covers those cases.
What the 2026 Proposals Would, and Would Not, Change for Movers
It helps to separate what is being discussed from what is in force today. As of this writing, nothing has changed. The current rules, the 3% Save Our Homes cap, the homestead exemption, and the $500,000 portability limit, all still apply.
Several proposals matter for movers. One, filed as HJR 213, would have homes reassessed for non-school taxes once every three years instead of annually, with growth over that period capped at 3% or CPI. For a long-term owner that generally means slower assessed-value growth, not a lost benefit. Another, HJR 211, would remove the $500,000 cap on the portable benefit. A third, HJR 67, would lower the annual cap from 3% to 1.5%.
Separately, Governor DeSantis has pushed a broader plan branded "Save Our Homes from Excessive Property Taxes," which would sharply raise the homestead exemption and phase non-school homestead taxes down over time. A special legislative session took up the plan in mid-2026, and it may reach the November 2026 ballot. Voters, not legislators, have the final say. For the running status of each bill, see our overview of property tax changes Florida homeowners should watch in 2026.
The Hidden Cost Movers Miss: Your Escrow and Monthly Payment
Most Florida homeowners pay property taxes and insurance through escrow, an account your lender uses to hold those funds and pay the bills when they come due. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) requires lenders to run an annual escrow analysis and adjust your monthly amount based on the latest tax and insurance figures. FHA and VA loans require escrow, and many conventional loans do too.
Two things commonly surprise new buyers. The first is the tax reset above, which can push the escrow portion well past what the seller paid. The second is insurance. Flood, wind, and hurricane coverage are significant costs in Florida and also flow through escrow, and they vary widely by county and elevation. We do not quote premiums, because they depend on your specific home.
The chart below shows, in illustrative terms, how the same house can carry very different monthly tax escrows depending on whether the benefit is ported. Treat the figures as examples, not a quote.
Cross-border and foreign-national buyers, in particular, can map out the tax and escrow picture with the Pegasus USA lending team before making an offer. If you want to see how a specific move would land on your payment, you can talk through your numbers with a Pegasus mortgage specialist.
Mistakes That Quietly Raise Your Tax Bill When You Move
- •Budgeting off the seller's old tax bill. The number on the listing reflects their capped value, not what you will owe after the reset.
- •Assuming portability is automatic. It is a separate application, and skipping it forfeits the transfer.
- •Missing the March 1 filing deadline. Portability and the homestead exemption both run on the county calendar.
- •Letting the three-year window lapse. If too many tax years pass between homesteads, the benefit can be lost.
- •Forgetting that downsizing changes the math. A smaller home may not carry the full benefit forward.
- •Overlooking insurance in the payment. Flood and wind coverage can move escrow as much as taxes do.
- •Treating a 2026 proposal as current law. Nothing is in force unless voters approve it.
Questions Florida Movers Ask About Portability and Taxes
Will I lose my Save Our Homes benefit if I move to a new home in Florida?
Does moving to a new house reset my property taxes in Florida?
How do I transfer Save Our Homes portability to a new Florida homestead?
Will the 2026 Florida property tax changes affect me if I move?
Why is my property tax bill higher than what the previous owner paid?
How does a property tax reassessment change my monthly mortgage payment?
What is the deadline to file for property tax portability in Florida?
Can a Canadian buying in Florida qualify for Save Our Homes portability?
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Talk to a Pegasus specialistAbout the author
Pegasus Lending Team
Mortgage Professionals · Pegasus Mortgage Lending (USA) · Miami, Florida
The Pegasus Mortgage Lending USA team is based in Miami, Florida, and specializes in helping homebuyers, investors, and foreign nationals navigate the Florida real estate market. With expertise spanning FHA loans, conventional mortgages, jumbo financing, VA loans, and Foreign National programs, the team guides clients through every step of the mortgage process with clarity and transparency.
Meet the Pegasus USA Team →Sources & References
- Florida Department of Revenue, Property Tax Oversight — https://floridarevenue.com/property/
- Florida Department of Revenue, Homestead and portability (Form DR-501T) — https://floridarevenue.com/property/Pages/Taxpayers_Exemptions.aspx
- County property appraiser portability guidance (example, Pinellas) — https://www.pcpao.gov/exemptions/homestead-exemption/portability
- Florida Senate, 2026 bill texts (HJR 67, 201, 203, 211, 213) — https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bills/2026
- Executive Office of the Governor, Save Our Homes from Excessive Property Taxes — https://www.flgov.com/eog/news/press/2026/
- 2020 Florida Amendment 5 (three-year portability window) — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_Florida_Amendment_5
- Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, escrow accounts — https://www.consumerfinance.gov/ask-cfpb/what-is-an-escrow-or-impound-account-en-140/
- Florida Office of Financial Regulation (OFR) — https://flofr.gov/