The Idaho Tax Commission has set the maximum homeowner's exemption nearly $10,000 less than last year, at $83,974. According to the Coeur d'Alene Press, the fall in the exemption is a sign that housing prices in 2010 through the second quarter of 2011 have been falling.

Mike McDowell, Kootenai County assessor, said that the net taxable value will increase due to the exemption being lowered, but if budgets are conservative, property taxes probably won't go up much, if at all.