Despite high interest rates and rising insurance costs, property values across Seminole County are expected to rise again this year as buyers continue snatching up new and existing homes.

“The Seminole County real estate market remains healthy,” Property Appraiser David Johnson said. “People are willing to pay to live in Seminole County because of the quality of life.”

According to estimates released by Johnson’s office Wednesday, the taxable values in unincorporated Seminole will climb 8% compared to last year to just over $53.5 billion.

And it’s not just in the county. The taxable values of properties in Seminole’s seven cities are expected to follow with soaring increases.

Leading the way is Sanford, estimated to see an 11.5% jump from last year to $6 billion, followed by Casselberry with a forecasted 9.2% increase to over $2.5 billion. Lake Mary is expected to see the smallest at 5.5% to nearly $3.7 billion.

Seminole also anticipates adding more than $731 million in new construction to the tax rolls this year, according to data.

Most of that’s in the area around Orlando Sanford International Airport in Sanford — where hundreds of new homes and apartments were built in the past year.

“Sanford has a lot of new [residential] construction because they have available land,” Johnson said.

Whereas most of the area beside the Interstate 4 corridor is built out — particularly along Lake Mary, Winter Springs and Altamonte Springs.

A reflection that prospective home buyers continue looking in Seminole, the median price for an existing home in the county remains at about $420,000 this year. In 2019, for example, the median price for an existing home in Seminole was close to $300,000.

“That’s driving a chunk of it,” Johnson said of the estimated increase in taxable values and home prices.

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Despite a sluggish start in early 2024, sales of new and existing homes are expected to creep up in the coming months as prospective buyers become accustomed to higher interest rates, he said. As of Wednesday, the average interest rate for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage was 6.85%, according to Zillow.com

“We’re realizing that the 3% or 4% interest rates were not going to be hanging around forever,” Johnson said.

Rising homeowner’s insurance rates also are not slowing the rise in values, officials said.

According to the Insurance Information Institute, average premiums in Florida are about $6,000 a year. That’s a 102% increase over the past three years. The state now has among the highest homeowner’s insurance rates in the country, according to the institute.

Every May, Johnson’s office releases its annual “best estimates” for taxable values. Seminole’s county government, school district, municipalities and other taxing authorities use the data to help prepare budgets — and decide on the rate of property levies — for the next fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1.

Estimates will be finalized before July 1 by the Property Appraiser’s Office and then sent to the state’s Department of Revenue for approval. The figures will then be turned over to the local governments in August to complete their fiscal budgets by the end of September.