Residential property assessments in Detroit are anticipated to increase by more than eight percent (on average) in 2021, based on the most recent analysis of property values across the city, according to a press release. The numbers, based on two years of actual market sales, mark the fourth consecutive year of growth in the city. Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan and Detroit Assessor Alvin Horhn presented the information at a news briefing January 21.
Though, while property values in the city have increased steadily, homeowners are protected against large property tax increases. Under state law, the annual increase in property taxes is capped this year at 2%, as long as ownership has not changed.
This week, S&P Global Ratings also announced that it had moved the city from a negative to a stable outlook based in part on the success of the City’s neighborhood revitalization strategy.
Huge shift from 2014-2020
When Detroit was in bankruptcy in 2014, the residential values were in a tailspin and had lost an estimated $3 billion in value in the great recession, according to city officials. The city of Detroit cut residential assessments by 20% in early 2014 and cut them further in 2015.
To determine this year’s assessment, the city examined two years of actual market sales, which included 62,355 transfers of all types, including market sales, quit claim deeds, and land contracts. The Office of the Assessor reviews aerial and street level imagery of properties to determine property characteristics as part of the valuation process.
Here is a breakdown of this year’s assessed residential value changes across the city’s 194 neighborhoods:
- Seven out of 194 neighborhoods (4%) had an increase in value over 15%
- Fifty-three out of 194 neighborhoods (27%) had an increase in value ranging from 10% to 15%
- One hundred and eleven out of 194 neighborhoods (57%) had an increase in value ranging from 5% to 10%
- Eighteen out of 194 neighborhoods (9%) had an increase in value ranging from 1 to 5%
- Five out of 194 neighborhoods (3%) had a decrease in value in the range of (2.51%) to (6.89%)
Proposed assessment notices being mailed
Notices will be mailed beginning January 25 to 399,091 residential, commercial, industrial, and personal property owners, advising them of proposed assessments for 2021. These are not tax bills. Actual bills will be mailed out at the end of June and November.
Deadline for assessment appeals extended
Under State law, property owners have the right to appeal the proposed changes. Residents will have three weeks to appeal all assessments from February 1-22 including Saturdays.
The March Board of Review, the second step in the review process, is March 2-25 in Room 1208, Coleman A. Young Municipal Center. Anyone with questions or wishing to challenge their assessments can email the Assessor’s office at Assessorreview@Detroitmi.gov.
For more information on property values and assessments, go to detroitmi.gov.
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