Property values flat or in decline
The 2012 reassessments are in the mail and online and seem to show a consistent decline in value of 5-10% across the city.
The 2012 reassessments are in the mail and online and seem to show a consistent decline in value of 5-10% across the city.
We got especially lucky and had an 18% drop :-). On one hand it worries me a bit since I worry it could hurt resale value but on the other, it’s nice to save the money. Old assessments were way off anyway.
How does the city balance its budget when property taxes fall this much?
While I’m certainly thrilled to pay less in taxes, I was bummed to see ours drop. We put a ton of money, time and effort into our house since we bought it last year and I want to know it paid off.
Housing values decreasing and rental prices appear to be increasing. That sucks.
Ours fell six percent. I was happy for the decreased bill. It doesn’t seem to be terribly indicative of home prices though. I did some research and a house across from me sold for 229 k back in april. At the sale price per square foot, our house would still be over the assessment if we listed.
Between a reduced assessment and refinancing my mortgage, I’ll be saving a decent chunk of change in the months ahead…hopefully not at the expense of the City.
@James – It is interesting how big the gap between rental and mortgages are in this area. Rental prices usually have some correlation to cost of mortgage and vice versa but we are in weird times.
The housing bubble was so ridiculous because mortgage prices going up to a level that far exceeded rental prices. There is no rational reason why folks should pay much more to own than to rent. Some premium is acceptable for appreciation and to account for tax benefits, desire to own but appreciation needs to be in line with income growth.
Now it seems the pendulum has swung far back the other way. People are paying a premium to be out of the housing market and avoid the uncertainty. It’s even more pronounced in our area. Rentals in Church Hill are actually fairly comparable in price to rentals in the Fan but sale prices here are much lower.
As long as folks continue to be skittish about housing market, they will lean towards renting. This puts upward pressures on rentals and downward pressure on house prices. Eventually confidence will return and we’ll see movement towards a more sensible equilibrium.