The assessed value of property in Los Angeles County increased 5.91 percent from 2022 to 2023, resulting in an increase of revenue for schools and local government, Los Angeles County Assessor Jeffrey Prang reported July 27. This is the 13th consecutive year of growth in the cumulative assessed value of property in the county, Prang said.
The revenue includes a large amount of unexpected funds, as the county already budgeted for 5 percent growth based on preliminary projections made in May.
“To say this has been a challenging couple of years is an understatement,” Prang said. “Our analysis does indicate property value growth at this time and that’s certainly good news for property owners and for local governments, which depend on property taxes to fund public services. However, the real estate market began more robustly in 2022 than it ended, and we will not be surprised if the sluggish market continues into the coming year.”
The roll’s growth translates to a record $1.997 trillion in total net value “that will put about $20 billion property tax dollars towards funding vital public services such as public education, first responders and healthcare workers, as well as other County services,” Prang’s office stated in a news release.
Change-in-ownership assessments added $67.4 billion to the roll, the 2 percent inflation adjustment added $36.7 billion, new construction added $5.6 billion, and decline-in-value reductions and miscellaneous roll changes accounted for a $2.5 billion decrease.
“Personal property and fixtures came in stronger than expected and added a record $10.4 billion to the 2023 Roll,” Prang’s office stated. “Business sectors such as aerospace, motion picture, and retail, which were adversely impacted in recent years, saw robust growth this past year as consumers returned to the market.”
The Los Angeles County roll consists of 2,391,198 taxable real property parcels, 200,969 business property assessments, 33,871 boats, and 2,952 aircraft.
Irwindale was the city with the largest growth in Los Angeles County, at 10 percent.
Two other counties released their roll data in the past week:
Napa County Assessor John Tuteur reported that the assessment roll grew 8.19 percent, reaching $52.8 billion.
“The total value of all local taxable properties as of Jan. 1 is the highest ever,” the Napa County Register reported July 19. “So is the $3.98 billion increase — breaking the previous record-setting jump of $3.25 billion set only last year.”
“We grew in one year what the whole county’s assessed value was just 38 years ago,” Tuteur said.
“That growth is sizable even when compared to a year of more recent vintage,” the Register added. “In 2015-16, the property assessment roll totaled $32.7 billion. … The county last saw its assessment roll value fall in 1978 amid Proposition 13 restructuring, after voters passed an annual limit on home property assessment increases. Even the wildfires of 2017 and 2020 that together destroyed more than 1,000 structures didn’t stop the growth.”
The main drivers for the increase were changes of ownership and new construction, the assessor said.
“I always look at property tax rolls, because it’s one of the most stable revenues for the county of Napa, for the general fund,” Napa County Supervisor Alfredo Pedroza said. (CalTax: This stability is a product of Proposition 13, which insulates local governments from revenue swings caused by changing market values, while also protecting individual homeowners and business owners from large annual increases.)
San Diego County Assessor Jordan Marks reported a 7.14 percent increase in the value of the assessment roll, despite the county’s home sales volume being at its lowest level since 2007 (with a 22 decrease from 2022 to 2023). This is the 11th consecutive year of growth in the assessment roll, he noted.
The average value increment for residential change-in-ownership reassessments was $422,817 (up 24 percent, year over year), and the average value increment for commercial change-in-ownership reassessments was $2,650,236 (up 20 percent) – both all-time highs, Marks reported.
The 2 percent inflation increase added $12.38 billion to the assessment roll, Marks stated.
The value of assessed properties has increased in each of the 23 counties whose assessors had made their 2023-24 assessment roll data available by this morning, with the average increase of 6.69 percent. Among these counties, the lowest percentage increase is San Francisco’s 4.6 percent and the highest is 9.7 percent in San Bernardino County.
July 1 was the deadline for assessors to complete their assessment rolls, but information for all 58 counties is not yet available. Many assessors have been granted 30-day deadline extensions by the State Board of Equalization and others have not released the information to the public.