Home values in Snohomish County continued a prolonged slide this year, according to assessment notices that should arrive soon.
Assessment notices being mailed this week show a dip of nearly 13 percent in value for residential properties. That’s the largest falloff since 2008, when housing declines began to show up in county assessments.
The values will be used to calculate next year’s taxes. The drop likely means less money for some taxing districts, though the full effects won’t be clear until next year. What that means for tax statements also depends on the ballot box and local government budgets.
“We won’t know until all of the voter approved measures have been either approved or denied by the voters,” county Assessor Cindy Portmann said. “We also won’t know until the taxing districts approve their budgets.”
The notices going out now are intended to reflect the real estate market as of Jan. 1, 2011. Later this year, the assessor’s office plans to revise the totals by adding new construction and state-assessed utility values.
The housing value decrease was larger than the three previous years: 9.7 percent in 2010, 11.6 in 2009 and 1.9 percent in 2008.
“There’s a big oversupply of building lots in the county and the prices of those are really depressed,” said Steve Lightle, the county’s residential appraisal manager. “That’s part of the component you saw for residential decline.”
The Assessor’s Office also noted a 7.4 percent drop in the value of commercial properties. The assessor plans to mail those notices next week.
The total value of taxable property, commercial and residential, declined by about $10.3 billion during the past year, to $81.4 billion from $91.7 billion in 2010. Of the total, about $58.8 billion was residential property and $22.6 billion commercial.
People have 60 days from when their notice was mailed to appeal a property value to the Board of Equalization. Portmann suggested calling her office first, since some issues can be resolved without lodging an appeal.
Because of Washington’s budget-based taxing system, taxes can go up even when property values decline.
Noah Haglund: 425-339-3465, nhaglund@heraldnet.com.
Learn more
For more information on Snohomish County property assessments, see assessor.snoco.org, call 425-388-6555 about residential appraisals, or 425-388-3390 about commercial appraisals. The assessor’s website includes information about tax exemptions and special programs. It also lists sales used to calculate assessments. The Assessor’s Office sends inspectors to physically visit properties at least once every six years.
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