How does Proposition 13 affect my property taxes when I buy?

When you buy a home in California, the purchase is a change in ownership, so the county reassesses the property at its current market value, in practice your purchase price. Proposition 13 caps the base tax rate at 1 percent of that assessed value, plus voter-approved local bonds and assessments that typically push the total to roughly 1.1 to 1.3 percent. From there, the assessed value can rise no more than 2 percent a year, far slower than most markets appreciate. That is why a long-term owner can pay a fraction of what a new buyer pays on the same street: their base year value is decades old. Transfers between spouses are excluded from reassessment, and Proposition 19 provides a limited exclusion for parent-child transfers of a primary residence. Julian Cesar runs the property tax lines on any home before you commit, so the real carrying cost is clear from day one.