Florida homestead portability calculator
How much Save Our Homes benefit can you carry to a new Florida home?
Work out what carries
The statute’s arithmetic, on your TRIM notice’s figuresSave Our Homes portability, cited to the statute
$250,000.00
Example: a $800,000 new home, after a prior home with a just value of $600,000 assessed at $350,000. Assessed at $550,000 rather than $800,000.
The new homestead’s assessment
Enter the new home’s total millage, from the TRIM notice, for an estimate of the first year’s saving.
Not in it: the homestead exemption itself, which comes off separately; whether the three-year window and the application deadline are met; and the just value, which the property appraiser sets.
The short answer
Homestead portability lets a Florida homeowner carry the Save Our Homes assessment difference, the gap between the prior home’s just value and its capped assessed value, to a new homestead, up to $500,000, if they had a homestead exemption as of January 1 of any of the three preceding years (Fla. Stat. § 193.155(8)). Moving up takes the whole difference; moving down takes a proportionate share. A prior home with a just value of $600,000 assessed at $350,000 carries $250,000 to a $800,000 home, which is then assessed at $550,000.
Source: Bayit Title, https://bayittitle.com/closing-costs/homestead-portability-calculator
Want these figures on a full closing estimate, our fees included?Send me the estimateor call 754.253.2270
Moving up and moving down
The same prior home, a just value of $600,000 assessed at $350,000, carried to new homes on either side of its value. At or above $600,000 the whole $250,000 comes across; below it, the new home is assessed at the prior home’s proportion of just value.
| New home’s just value | Paragraph | New assessed value | Difference carried |
|---|---|---|---|
| $400,000 | Moving down, (b) | $233,333.33 | $166,666.67 |
| $500,000 | Moving down, (b) | $291,666.67 | $208,333.33 |
| $600,000 | Moving up, (a) | $350,000 | $250,000 |
| $800,000 | Moving up, (a) | $550,000 | $250,000 |
| $1,000,000 | Moving up, (a) | $750,000 | $250,000 |
Fla. Stat. § 193.155(8)(a) and (b), read November 5, 2026.
The rule, in the statute’s words
Moving up, paragraph (a): “If the just value of the new homestead as of January 1 is greater than or equal to the just value of the prior homestead as of January 1 of the year in which the prior homestead was abandoned, the assessed value of the new homestead shall be the just value of the new homestead minus an amount equal to the lesser of $500,000 or the difference between the just value and the assessed value of the prior homestead as of January 1 of the year in which the prior homestead was abandoned.”
Moving down, paragraph (b): “If the just value of the new homestead as of January 1 is less than the just value of the prior homestead as of January 1 of the year in which the prior homestead was abandoned, the assessed value of the new homestead shall be equal to the just value of the new homestead divided by the just value of the prior homestead and multiplied by the assessed value of the prior homestead. However, if the difference between the just value of the new homestead and the assessed value of the new homestead calculated pursuant to this paragraph is greater than $500,000, the assessed value of the new homestead shall be increased so that the difference between the just value and the assessed value equals $500,000.”
The $500,000 cap
Either way, the most that carries is $500,000. Moving up, the amount carried is the lesser of $500,000 and the prior home’s difference. Moving down, the proportionate share is worked first; if it leaves the new home assessed more than $500,000 below its just value, the assessed value is raised so the difference is exactly $500,000. The card says when the cap decided the figure.
The three-year window
The subsection opens: “Property assessed under this section shall be assessed at less than just value when the person who establishes a new homestead has received a homestead exemption as of January 1 of any of the 3 immediately preceding years.” A husband and wife who owned and both lived on the previous homestead are each treated as having received the exemption, the statute adds, even where only one applied for it.
The application goes to the property appraiser with the homestead exemption application; the statute’s own deadline is March 1, with provisions for a late or a later-year filing (Fla. Stat. § 193.155(8)).
More than one owner
The calculator works one prior homestead to one new one. The statute also provides for two or more people who each had a homestead and set up one new homestead together, who take the higher of their differences, capped at $500,000; for co-owners who give up a jointly owned homestead, who split its difference by the number of owners who had the exemption, or by the shares the title states, the total capped at $500,000; and for the same people moving together, who are worked under the ordinary paragraphs alone (paragraphs (c), (d) and (e)). The property appraiser applies them.
What this page does not know
The just value of either home, which the property appraiser determines: the figures to enter are the ones on the TRIM notices. The millage, which differs by where the new home is, so the saving is an estimate on what is entered. And the exemption itself, which comes off the assessed value separately and is the subject of the guide to the 2026 homestead amendment; that guide records that the amendment left portability alone. A buyer who carries nothing is assessed at just value in the first year. This page is not tax advice.
Common questions
What is homestead portability in Florida?
The right to carry the Save Our Homes assessment difference, the gap between a homestead’s just value and its capped assessed value, from a prior homestead to a new one, so the new home is assessed at less than its just value. Fla. Stat. § 193.155(8) sets it out: up to $500,000, for a person who had a homestead exemption as of January 1 of any of the three preceding years.
How is the portable amount calculated?
If the new home’s just value is at least the prior home’s, the whole difference carries, up to $500,000: a prior home with a just value of $600,000 assessed at $350,000 carries $250,000 to a $800,000 home, which is assessed at $550,000. If the new home’s just value is less, the new home is assessed at the same proportion of just value as the prior one: the same prior home moving to a $400,000 home carries $166,666.67, and the new home is assessed at $233,333.33.
Is there a cap on portability?
$500,000, either way. Moving up, the amount carried is the lesser of $500,000 and the prior home’s difference. Moving down, the proportionate share is worked first, and if it leaves the new home’s assessed value more than $500,000 below its just value, the assessed value is raised so the difference is exactly that.
How long do I have to use it?
The statute’s own words: the person establishing the new homestead must have “received a homestead exemption as of January 1 of any of the 3 immediately preceding years.” The application goes to the property appraiser with the homestead exemption application; the statute’s own deadline is March 1, with provisions for a late or a later-year filing.
What figures do I enter?
The prior home’s just value and its assessed value as of January 1 of the year it was given up, both on that year’s TRIM notice, and the new home’s just value as of January 1, which the property appraiser sets. Before the first notice the price is a stand-in for the new home’s just value. The millage is optional: the total on the new home’s TRIM notice, for an estimate of the first year’s saving.
Does the saving apply to every tax on the bill?
The assessment limitation applies to every levy on the property, so the calculator applies the total millage entered. Assessments for special benefits, charged on the bill but not on the assessed value, are outside it. The estimate is the statute’s arithmetic on the millage entered; the bill is the tax collector’s.
Can two owners combine their portability?
Not by adding them. Where two or more people who each had a homestead set up one new homestead together, the reduction is the higher of their differences, up to $500,000. Where co-owners give up a jointly owned homestead and go separate ways, each carries a share of its difference, by the number of owners who had the exemption or by the shares the title states, with the total capped at $500,000. The same people moving together are worked under the ordinary paragraphs. The property appraiser applies these.
Did the 2026 homestead amendment change portability?
The site’s guide to the amendment says it did not: the amendment revises the exemption, the non-homestead assessment cap and local spending, and leaves the portability provision alone. The statute page notes that the amendments made by chapter 2026-239 to § 193.155 first apply to the 2027 tax roll; the text on this page is the subsection as Online Sunshine displayed it on November 5, 2026.
At the closing
Portability is claimed after the closing, from the property appraiser. What the closing itself costs is on the Florida closing cost calculator, and the year’s tax is divided between seller and buyer on the seller net sheet. The seller’s own exemption and cap end with the sale, which is why a buyer’s first bill can differ from the seller’s last.
Fla. Stat. § 193.155(8) was read on Online Sunshine on November 5, 2026 and is quoted where this page states the rule. The property appraiser of the county the new home is in decides the application. This page is not tax advice.