Moving within Florida? How homestead portability works
How Florida homestead portability moves up to $500,000 of Save Our Homes savings to your next home: the 3-year window, the math, Form DR-501T and March 1.
If you’re moving from one Florida homestead to another, portability lets you carry some or all of your Save Our Homes savings to the new home, up to $500,000. The homestead exemption itself doesn’t move, so you apply again for the new home, and you file Form DR-501T with that application by March 1. You generally have three tax years to use it.
Portability can be worth thousands of dollars a year in taxes, and it’s easy to lose by missing a date. What follows is general information, not tax or legal advice, so check your own numbers with the county property appraiser and your CPA or a real estate attorney.
What is the Save Our Homes difference?
Once a Florida home has a homestead exemption, the Save Our Homes rule in section 193.155 of the Florida Statutes limits how much its assessed value can rise each year to 3% or the change in the Consumer Price Index, whichever is lower. The Sarasota County Property Appraiser lists the 2026 cap at 2.7%.
Over time, the home’s market value, which the statute calls just value, can climb well above its capped assessed value. The gap between the two is your Save Our Homes difference, sometimes called the SOH benefit. Your taxes are figured on the lower assessed value, so a bigger gap means lower taxes than a new buyer would pay on the same home.
When you sell, that cap ends. The buyer’s home is reassessed at just value as of the next January 1. Portability is how you take your gap with you instead of starting over.
How much can you transfer?
Up to $500,000, and how much depends on whether you’re buying up or down. The rules are in section 193.155(8).
Buying a home worth the same or more. You subtract your full Save Our Homes difference, up to $500,000, from the new home’s just value. That’s the new home’s assessed value.
Buying a home worth less. You transfer a share instead. The new home’s assessed value is the old assessed value multiplied by the ratio of the new home’s just value to the old one. In effect, you keep the same percentage discount you had before.
| New home's just value | New assessed value with portability | Without portability | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buying up | $750,000 | $500,000 ($750,000 minus $250,000) | $750,000 |
| Same value | $600,000 | $350,000 | $600,000 |
| Buying down | $400,000 | About $233,333 (400 / 600 x $350,000) | $400,000 |
Hypothetical example. Old home: just value $600,000 and assessed value $350,000 as of January 1 of the year it was left, a $250,000 Save Our Homes difference. Based on the formulas in s. 193.155(8), Florida Statutes. The property appraiser sets the real values; exemptions and tax rates also affect the final bill.
The assessed value is before the homestead exemption itself, which you also get on the new home once it’s approved. From the second year on, the new home’s assessed value rises under the same 3% or CPI cap.
How long do you have?
The statute allows portability when you had a homestead exemption as of January 1 of any of the 3 years before the year you establish the new homestead. The Manatee County Property Appraiser describes it as up to three tax rolls after you leave the old homestead, and its 2027 application notes that owners who had a Florida homestead in 2024, 2025 or 2026 may be eligible.
In practice: if your old home had the exemption on January 1, 2026, and you sold it later that year, a new homestead established as of January 1 of 2027, 2028 or 2029 can generally qualify. The clock runs from the last January 1 you had the exemption, not from the sale date. Confirm your dates with the property appraiser before you count on them.
Selling one Florida homestead and buying another
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Before you list
Look up your Save Our Homes difference
Your old home's just value and assessed value are on the property appraiser's site. The gap is what you could port, up to $500,000.
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Any time of year
Sell the old home
Its homestead exemption and cap end once it's no longer your permanent residence. You don't have to sell first, but you can only have one homestead.
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By January 1
Own and live in the new home
You need to own the new home and live in it as your permanent residence on January 1 of the year you claim the exemption.
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By March 1
File Forms DR-501 and DR-501T
Apply for the homestead exemption on the new home and file the transfer form with it. Tell the property appraiser in writing that you left the old homestead.
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That August
Check your proposed tax notice
The notice of proposed property taxes should show the new assessed value. Call the property appraiser right away if it doesn't.
How do you file?
You file Form DR-501T, the Transfer of Homestead Assessment Difference, together with the homestead application, Form DR-501, for the new home. The Florida Department of Revenue says to file with the county property appraiser by March 1 of the first year after you’ve moved. The Sarasota County Property Appraiser takes applications online, and the Manatee County office lists its filing options on its site.
Moving to another county works the same way. The new county’s property appraiser asks the old county for your figures. The Sarasota office also asks for proof that the exemption on your former home was canceled, or the sale date if it sold.
Under the statute, if you miss the March 1 deadline, you can apply in a later year, but you don’t get refunds for the years you missed. Late applications for the current year are considered only in limited circumstances. Don’t miss the date.
What doesn’t portability do?
It doesn’t move your exemption, only the assessed value savings. It doesn’t apply if you’re moving to Florida from another state, since you need a Florida homestead to start with. It doesn’t lower non-ad valorem assessments, like a CDD, which are billed separately. And it doesn’t stop tax rates from changing.
Florida voters decided Amendment 3 on November 3, 2026. According to the Property Appraisers’ Association of Florida FAQ posted by the Manatee County Property Appraiser, the amendment as proposed does not change Save Our Homes or portability. Check the property appraiser’s site for whether it passed and what else it changed.
[NEEDS RICHARD: before this posts, replace this paragraph with the November 3, 2026 result for Amendment 3 (we can pull it from the Division of Elections and the property appraiser sites)]
How should portability change your plans?
It can change the math on moving. An owner who has held a homestead for many years may have a large gap, and losing it can make the new home’s taxes much higher than expected. Before you sell, look up your current difference and estimate the new home’s taxes with portability applied. We cover the other first-year costs of a new home in the real first-year costs of owning a Sarasota home.
If you’re thinking about keeping the old home as a rental instead of selling, remember that it loses its homestead exemption and cap once you move out, and its taxes will change. We compare the two paths in should I rent out or sell my Sarasota house?
What did portability look like for an owner we helped?
[NEEDS RICHARD: a real example of portability on a move you handled (no names): moving from what home to what home, roughly how much difference transferred, and how the tax estimate changed their budget, with where the numbers came from]
What’s the next step?
Start with what your current home would sell for. Fill out our home value form and we’ll send a written pricing opinion, usually within 24 hours. We can also pull your current home’s just and assessed values from the property appraiser and a tax estimate for the next home. Then book a buyer consultation to plan the purchase. Our step-by-step plan for Sarasota sellers shows how the sale fits around your move.
