City of Alexandria Announces Real Estate Assessments for 2009

The Department of Real Estate Assessments has completed the annual assessment of all real property for tax year 2009, and assessment notices were mailed to property owners on February 10. The following information is presented as an overview of real property assessment changes.

Overall Changes in Real Property Tax Base

For 2009, the overall assessed value of real property, including both locally assessed real property and state assessed public service corporation properties, decreased 2.06%, or $723.6 million from $35.10 billion in 2008 to $34.38 billion in 2009. New construction activity added $268.4 million for 2009 which partially offset the decrease in the total tax base. The tax base decrease would have been 2.83% without the benefit of the new construction. The primary reason for the decrease in the overall 2009 assessments continues to be the ongoing market challenges in the residential sector during 2008.
For 2009, residential real property represents 56.01% of the total real property base, while commercial and State Corporation Commission property represent the remaining 43.99%. The residential percentage contribution was 57.37% in 2008. The residential percentage reached a peak of 61.8% of the real property tax base in 2006 after six consecutive years of increases. This year represents the third year of a decline, even though minimal, in the residential percentage leading towards greater balance in the tax base.

Changes in the Residential Real Property Tax Base

The average assessed value for an existing residential home (single-family and residential condominiums) decreased 4.75%, from $500,234 in 2008 to $476,490 in 2009.
The average assessed value for a residential single-family home as of January 1, 2009, is $637,154. This is a decrease of $22,836, or 3.46% from the previous year.
The average assessed value for an existing residential condominium as of January 1, 2009, is $301,718. This is a decrease of $24,711, or 7.57%, from 2008.
The overall value of the City’s residential real property tax base decreased in 2009 by 4.39%, or $883.7 million, from $20.14 billion in 2008 to $19.26 billion in 2009. Overall, residential depreciation totaled $948.2 million, or a decline of 4.7%. The depreciation was partially offset by residential new construction that added $64.5 million, or 0.32%, to the base, which is approximately half the amount of new construction added during 2007 for the 2008 assessments.

Changes in the Commercial Real Property Tax Base

The overall value of the City’s locally assessed commercial real property tax base increased in 2009 by 1.24%, or $175.1 million, from $14.07 billion in 2008 to $14.25 billion in 2009. New construction accounted for $203.96 million of this increase, which was partially negated by the loss in commercial value of $28.8 million. Existing commercial properties, including multifamily rental decreased 0.2% on average for 2008. There were variations in appreciation and actual value declines for existing commercial properties depending on their particular market sector. Increases are reported for very few commercial properties and were primarily property specific depending on the actual income and expense history for a specific property or small group of properties. The value of new construction decreased 26.2% from $276.17 million in 2008 to $203.96 million in 2009.

For more information, visit www.alexandriava.gov/realestate.