Orlando Real Estate Guide: Home Values, Rents and Property Tax

The median owner-occupied home in Orlando was valued at $394,100 in the Census Bureau's 2020 to 2024 American Community Survey, and median gross rent was $1,747 a month (Census ACS 2020-2024 DP04, Orlando city).

Two city documents give different medians, and each is right for what it measures. The fiscal 2025 annual report says the median home price leveled out in 2025, falling 0.5 percent to $378,000, below the national existing home median of $425,000, while the supply of homes for sale rose to 5.79 months from 5.14 months in September 2024 (City of Orlando FY 2025 ACFR). The city's property tax page uses a 2026 median home price of $416,300, up from $207,000 in 2016, built from June median sales price data (City of Orlando property tax page).

The gap is about method. The Census figure is an owner-reported value from a survey pooled over 2020 to 2024; the city's figures are sales prices from a single period. For a buyer in 2026, the sales based numbers are closer to the market, and the Orlando housing market trends guide follows the federal price index quarter by quarter.

Of the Orlando neighborhoods with their own Digital Towns guide, the Census tract around Baldwin Park has the highest median home value, $718,500, and downtown ZIP 32801 the lowest, $428,000 (ACS DP04, Tract 182.01; ACS DP04, ZIP 32801).

Each guide answers a different question. The Baldwin Park guide covers the former Naval Training Center base and its housing types; the College Park guide covers older homes along Edgewater Drive, flood maps and zoning; the Thornton Park guide covers historic district rules beside Lake Eola; the Lake Nona guide compares ZIPs 32827 and 32832; the downtown condos guide covers Florida's condo inspection laws and the downtown tax; and the market trends guide covers prices, rents and permits citywide.

Rents tell a different story from values. Every neighborhood in the table rents for more than the Orlando median, but the Lake Nona ZIP 32832 has a lower home value than Thornton Park while charging more rent, $2,314 against $2,138 (ACS ZIP 32832; ACS Tract 102.02). Census tracts and ZIP areas do not follow neighborhood lines exactly, so each figure is a stand-in, not a neighborhood boundary count.

Most Orlando households rent: 60.5 percent of occupied homes were renter occupied in the Census Bureau's 2020 to 2024 survey, against 39.5 percent owner occupied, in a city of 148,754 housing units (Census ACS 2020-2024 DP04, Orlando city).

The City of Orlando's own tax page gives two different shares on one page: it says 63 percent of more than 340,000 residents are renters near the top, and later that the majority of residents, 60 percent, are renters (City of Orlando tax page). The page does not say which year or source either figure comes from, so the Census share, with its stated survey period, is the one to quote.

Renting is even more common downtown, where 72.6 percent of occupied homes in ZIP 32801 are renter occupied (ACS DP04, ZIP 32801), and less common in the College Park tract, where 72.0 percent are owner occupied (ACS DP04, Tract 126). The city's tax page cites its renter majority when it warns of a potential cost shift to renters under Amendment 3.

An Orlando homestead worth the city's 2026 median of $416,300 owes about $2,436 a year in city property tax, or $6.77 a day, after the $50,000 homestead exemption at the city rate of 0.00665 (City of Orlando property tax page).

Source for every row: City of Orlando tax page. The city portion is only part of the bill: the city says it receives about 35 cents of each property tax dollar, with the rest going to Orange County, Orange County Public Schools, the water management district and the library system.

The table shows why long time owners pay less. The existing 3 percent homestead assessment cap limits the yearly rise in a homestead's assessed value, so the 2016 buyer pays $1,017 a year less in city tax than a 2026 buyer of the same median home, and the city says its millage rate has not changed in more than a decade (City of Orlando tax page). The Orange County Property Appraiser states the homestead exemption reduces taxable value by up to $50,000 and takes homestead applications online (Orange County Property Appraiser).

Property Tax Amendment 3 is a statewide measure on the November ballot that, in the City of Orlando's words, asks Florida voters to change who pays certain property taxes and how much (City of Orlando property tax page).

The city's page lists projected Orlando revenue losses of $30 million in fiscal year 2028 and $50 million in fiscal year 2029 if the amendment passes, and $80 million if homestead taxes are eliminated entirely (City of Orlando tax page). It lists possible effects including slower 911 response, delayed road and sidewalk repairs, fees in place of taxes, a potential cost shift to renters and small business owners, and an increased millage rate. These are the city's projections, published by a government with a stake in the result; the page itself urges voters to read the amendment and look at groups both for and against it.

For a homeowner the practical point is timing. The page ties the debate to the city's fiscal 2026 to 2027 budget, whose public hearings the page lists for September 14 and September 28, and links the Florida Department of State text of the amendment for anyone who wants the ballot wording itself (City of Orlando tax page).

Orlando property values and homestead exemptions are handled by the Orange County Property Appraiser at 200 South Orange Avenue, Suite 1700, phone 407-836-5044, which also posts a tax estimator tool (Orange County Property Appraiser).

Residential assessment questions go to 407-836-5205, and exemptions to constituent services at 407-836-5044. The appraiser's front page sums up the Orange County roll: $176.29 billion of residential value on about 432 thousand parcels and $105.85 billion of commercial value (Orange County Property Appraiser). The appraiser describes the estimator as a tool for anyone planning to buy or sell a property.

Last verified: October 18, 2026, by re-pulling the Census housing tables for Orlando city and the six neighborhood stand-ins, and re-reading the city's tax page, the fiscal 2025 financial report and the property appraiser's home page.