Wellington, Florida

HJR 1 Homestead-Exemption Tax-Base Exposure

Palm Beach County . 2025 final assessment roll

Snapshot

HJR 1 exposure at full $250,000 phase-in (2028)	20.1%
Exposure at the $150,000 step (2027)	10.8%
Exposure band	Moderate exposure
Total parcels	22,432
Total residential housing units	22,750
Owner-occupied (homestead) units	61.0%
Out-of-state owned units	14.7%
Florida-owned non-homestead units	24.4%
Archetype	Bedroom Residential Monoculture

The Wellington read

Wellington fits the Bedroom Residential Monoculture archetype. The base is owner-occupied single-family housing at moderate value with thin commercial, industrial, or rental property — this is the maximum-exposure profile, because almost every dollar of value is the exact kind of property the amendment exempts.

At full $250,000 phase-in in 2028, Wellington’s exposure sits at 20.1%, with a 10.8% step at the $150,000 threshold in 2027.

High homestead share plus low commercial share means the exemption lands on nearly the whole base at once.

Wellington ranks 244 of 404 cities statewide by exposure.

Of 22,750 residential housing units, 61.0% are owner-occupied, 14.7% are owned by out-of-state owners, and 24.4% are non-homestead but Florida-owned.

The out-of-state ownership share does not trigger the high-ownership flag, and the Florida-owned non-homestead share — at 24.4% — is the larger non-homestead segment, pointing to a local rental and second-home market rather than an absentee-dominated one.

Land-use composition

Share of taxable value by category, Wellington, 2025 roll:

Land-use category	Share of value	% of parcels out-of-state	% of value out-of-state
Residential	64.9%	11.3%	13.9%
Agricultural	21.6%	32.6%	37.7%
Commercial	4.0%	23.7%	42.4%
Multifamily	3.6%	22.4%	40.1%
Govt/Public	2.1%	0.0%	0.0%
Other/Vacant	1.9%	18.9%	28.1%
Institutional	1.0%	20.0%	55.3%
Industrial	0.9%	19.4%	30.3%

Residential dominates at 64.9% of just value, with Agricultural a notable second at 21.6%.

Commercial, Multifamily, and Industrial together account for only about 8.5% of total value — a thin non-homestead spine.

The out-of-state ownership share of Commercial value (42.4%) and Multifamily value (40.1%) is notably higher than the parcel-level shares, meaning out-of-state owners hold a disproportionate share of the value within those categories even if they do not hold the majority of parcels.

What the exposure band means

Moderate exposure. A meaningful but absorbable hit. The place has some non-homestead base to lean on. Mitigation is about steering future growth, not emergency response.

Looking ahead

Neither of the following changes the exposure figure above; both shape how Wellington grows its base after the amendment takes effect.

First, beginning January 1, 2027, the annual assessment-increase cap on non-homestead property drops from 10% to 5%, covering commercial, industrial, and small residential rentals of nine units or fewer.

Because capped values can rise only 5% per year, the main path to growing taxable value in these categories is transactions — a sale or change of control resets assessed value to market — so transaction velocity matters more to non-homestead base growth than it did under the old cap.

Second, new Florida residents who did not maintain a Florida permanent residence as of December 31, 2026 phase into the larger exemption over five years rather than receiving it all at once.

This cannot be read from the roll, so all exposure figures here assume full application of the exemption. Near-term exposure could run slightly lower than modeled in places with many recent arrivals still inside their five-year window.

Where the opportunity is

These recommendations are based solely on the tax roll’s land-use composition. They do not account for whether local land development regulations and zoning permit any of these uses, whether there is local obstruction, or the political dynamics that typically decide what actually gets approved. This is a starting point for a conversation, not a development plan.

Commercial is at 4.0% of total value — well below the 8% threshold that makes building a commercial spine the single highest-leverage move available to Wellington. Converting a share of future growth from rooftops to taxable commercial square footage is the most direct way to deepen the non-homestead base, because commercial property carries no homestead exemption. A neighborhood-serving retail node, a small office or medical-office cluster, or a light-flex business park on an existing arterial would each add value the amendment does not touch.
Multifamily rental is the second lever. Apartments pay full freight under the amendment. At 3.6% of total value, the rental base is thin. Allowing well-sited rental near jobs and transit adds non-homestead value and workforce housing at the same time, and the 24.4% Florida-owned non-homestead share signals that local investors are already active in this market.
Agricultural land at 21.6% of total value represents a significant share of the roll. Where agricultural parcels sit on arterial frontage or near existing commercial nodes, they are the most logical candidates for conversion to commercial or mixed-use development that deepens the non-homestead base rather than adding more homestead rooftops.
Concentrating commercial and rental growth along an existing arterial or corridor — rather than scattering it — is the structural move. A real non-homestead spine in one place is more durable than thin commercial scattered across the city. Direct new commercial square footage and well-sited rental to that corridor.
Any existing employment anchor — a hospital, medical office, distribution facility, or government office — is already a non-homestead taxpayer. Protecting and intensifying those uses is lower-risk than greenfield recruitment and should be treated as a baseline priority.

Watch-out: do not solve a revenue hole by approving more single-family subdivisions. Each one adds homestead value the amendment will exempt while adding service demand the millage must cover. That is the trap that created the exposure, and more of the same deepens it.

Source and scope

All figures are drawn from the Florida Department of Revenue 2025 final assessment roll, the most recent certified roll in the state’s possession.

The roll is used here as a structural proxy for Wellington’s tax-base composition, not as a dollar forecast for any specific budget year.

HJR 1 / CS-HJR 1F is on the November 2026 ballot; the 2026 roll is the assessment roll in place when voters decide. If the amendment passes, the first roll affected is the 2027 roll at the $150,000 step, followed by the 2028 roll at full $250,000 phase-in. When the 2026 and later rolls are certified, the analysis re-runs on the new data.

Ownership shares are measured on a residential-unit basis. The out-of-state ownership figure is a mailing-address proxy: it identifies owners whose address on the roll shows a non-Florida state or country. It undercounts true outside ownership — an out-of-state owner using an in-state LLC mailing address counts as Florida — and it does not prove where any individual owner actually lives. It is the cleanest available stand-in for second-home and out-of-state investor ownership of housing, not a definitive residency determination.

This read is a land-use-composition starting point. It is not a comprehensive fiscal, economic, or legal analysis, and it is not a substitute for a full plan.