Home values up across the board in Pierce County, according to the assessor-treasurer
Pierce County homes have increased in value this year, up to 10.8 percent, the Pierce County Assessor-Treasurer’s Office announced Thursday.
On average, residential properties have gone up by 8.8 percent for 2020, or 1.3 percent more than last year, Assessor-Treasurer Mike Lonergan said.
These are the highest assessed values in Pierce County history, with 93 percent of residential properties having increased in value, he said.
Values in different areas increased at different rates, but all saw an uptick. The increase in Tacoma at 9.2 percent was slightly higher than Pierce County’s average, bringing a $351,000 home an additional $30,000 of assessed property value.
Orting saw the greatest percentage increase from year to year with 10.8 percent, Lonergan said. There, the new average value of a home is $323,000.
Roy is at the other end of the spectrum with the lowest annual increase of 6 percent. An average Roy home value is estimated at $262,000.
Gig Harbor, where some of the county’s most expensive homes are, saw an increase in its average value from $489,000 to $534,000.
The low end of the market is stronger than anticipated. Mobile homes saw some of the largest jumps, Lonergan said.
“Our depreciation tables were under-valuing most mobile homes by an average of 25%,” he said. “The demand for affordable housing has pushed resale prices for manufactured housing higher.”
In determining assessed property values, Pierce County appraisers look at current market trends, motives of buyers, sellers, investors and developers and physically inspect each property every six years, the office’s webpage said.
Many people in the Puget Sound region have been priced out of King County and have bought homes in surrounding counties, creating pressure in the housing market.
State law requires residential real estate to be assessed in January, so these values do not reflect any potential impact from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Lonergan said there hasn’t been much of a change in home-buying due to the virus.
“Actually, real estate sales have continued strong so far,” he said.
Just because there was an increase in property value, it doesn’t necessarily result in a tax increase, Lonergan said.
Property tax is a combination of tax rates in the school district, city and fire districts, as well as state and countywide taxes.
“A lot depends on votes by the public and the Legislature,” he said.
This story was originally published June 26, 2020 at 11:00 AM.
