Mountain View homeowners can rejoice, as the assessed value of their properties has risen 21.3 percent since 2012.
In a study by the Santa Clara County Assessor’s Office that included 70,000 properties that had previously seen their assessed values reduced, each of the county’s 25 neighborhoods showed increases between 2012 and 2013. For the most part, the neighborhoods were determined by elementary school district boundaries.
Out of the 25 neighborhoods, 96 percent saw double-digit increases. Mountain View’s increase was the sixth highest of all areas. The neighborhood with the highest increase jumped almost 30 percent. The lowest was Saratoga, which saw an increase of about 8 percent.
The average increase varies widely between cities — the average increase of assessed value in San Jose is around $90,000, while it is nearly $400,000 in Los Altos. In Mountain View, the average is $135,000. The greatest increases overall were seen in the Mountain View-Los Altos and Fremont Union high school districts.
“Overall, this is very good news for all 68,000 homeowners. For most people, their home is their largest asset, so for every dollar increase in property taxes, there is a $100 increase in homeowner equity,” Assessor Larry Stone said.
The rise in property tax revenue signals a rise in money going to other local agencies, like school districts and fire departments.
About 51 percent of the properties included in the assessment regained all of the value that had been lost during the recession. For those homes, the current market value also exceeds their original purchase price.
For the remaining homes, the assessed value will still increase, although that value will be below their Proposition 13 assessed value in accordance with Proposition 8.
Proposition 8 was passed by California voters in November of 1978. It states that property owners are entitled to the lower of the fair market value of their property as of January 1, 2014, or the base year value as determined at the time of construction or purpose. Under Proposition 13, this value increases by no more than 2 percent per year.
While each of the 25 areas experienced increases between 2012 and 2013, 30 percent of the neighborhoods are still worth less than what they were in 2007, with the Franklin-McKinley District in San Jose facing the sharpest decrease at 15 percent. With an increase of around 14.6 percent, Mountain View is sixth from the top of the list in terms of gains since 2007, behind Sunnyvale, Cupertino, Los Altos, Palo Alto and Union City. Palo Alto homes are now worth almost 25 percent more than they were in 2007.
“I want to stress that this information is only one indicator, albeit an important one, used by the Assessor’s Office to determine changes in the marketplace. However, they are not a direct indicator of increases in assessed values. Many other factors such as location, school district, quality, age and number of bedrooms impact property values,” Stone said.
