Charlottesville and Albemarle have released the 2015 real estate assessments. In short, the trend is one of increasing property assessments.
– Albemarle County’s real estate assessments are up 2.64%.
– The City of Charlottesville’s real estate assessments increased 2.78%.
Check your (or your neighbor’s) assessment here: City of Charlottesville GIS page. County of Albemarle’s GIS page.
I’m still partial to this description of “what do real estate assessments mean” written a couple years ago –
Assessments are not a reflection of market value. They are a backward-looking assessment of what the market value may have been at the time the assessor looked at the house (most likely online, and not in person). The assessor may or may not know the condition of the property, the condition of the property’s neighbors, may not consider the traffic noise, crime stats, proximity of sexual offenders, level of inventory, smell of the neighborhood, etc. etc. etc. Assessments are what you pay taxes on.
5 Reasons why real estate assessments matter:
1) The County bases their budget on property tax revenue.
2) The assessed value is the value upon which property owners pay taxes.
3) Buyers look at assessed values as a measure of market value – but really, it’s a point in the equation, but are neither a definitive point nor a necessarily accurate one.
4) Also – “Virginia, unlike some other states, by Statute requires localities to assess property at 100% of fair market value, based on an objective analysis of the property’s fair market value”
5) Sellers look at assessed values and wonder if buyers will think that the assessment means their home is worth X (it doesn’t).
More reading, if you’re curious, on “what do real estate assessments mean? from 2011.