Metro Denver homeowners can finally exhale after 14 years of rising home values and taxes

Homeowners across metro Denver should certainly receive a reprieve from property tax increases in the next two years after county assessors revealed mostly flat to declining residential property values This is a bit of a sigh of relief declared Denver County Assessor Keith Erffmeyer as he exhaled after a news conference Wednesday morning Property owners who have had to deal with straight years of rising valuations and property tax bills including a historic jump two years ago of or higher in a great number of places can now breathe easier And county assessors and their staff who faced a flood of angry calls and fielded double the number of protests than usual from upset property owners two years ago can bask in more manageable pace as they hum The Sound of Silence Every two years assessors in Colorado must determine a value for residential and commercial properties and that number goes into the formula used to determine property taxes Properties were valued as of June using transactions going back months In Denver County with residential properties valuations declined an average of with majority of properties falling within a range of down to up Erffmeyer noted That contrasts with a average gain in the prior two-year cycle The biggest declines were concentrated along the I- corridor and in neighborhoods closer to downtown Athmar Park was down Clayton and College View both fell about North Capitol Hill was down while values fell in nearby Civic Center Cherry Creek values were up on average while the Belcaro neighborhood to the south saw an increase of Neighborhoods like Union Station up and Denver International Airport up nearly had larger gains but new construction not a newfound popularity skewed much of those increases Arapahoe County with residential properties saw greater part homes fall in a range of change from flat to down while Adams County with properties had declines in the to range for largest part of its homes For several of us who have experienced double-digit increases in property values the last minimal years that greatly affected our property taxes this will come as a welcomed change mentioned Arapahoe County Assessor PK Kaiser About two-thirds of homes in Douglas County with properties experienced a decline in value majority of them in the single-digit range reported assessor Toby Damisch Preponderance properties fell within a range of down to up a huge moderation from the increase released two years earlier Boulder County with properties saw a median decline of while Broomfield County with properties and a lot of construction disclosed the widest variation from down to up Jefferson County with properties bucked the trend with a median increase of But Assessor Scot Kersgaard declared scarce owners will land exactly on that number noting that just under two-thirds of owners will fall within a range of up to down Assessors noted that there wasn t a set pattern they could discern regarding what residential property types rose in value versus which fell Luxury versus entry-level condos versus detached homes newer versus older communities it was hard to discern what drove the changes It s a mix a very mixed bag of that Erffmeyer commented noting he didn t see any commonality That was different than in commercial real estate where office buildings and apartments were much more likely to see a decrease in value compared to industrial retail and hospitality properties Single-family homes line a neighborhood street in Littleton on April Photo by RJ Sangosti The Denver Post Notices of valuation should arrive in the mail soon if they haven t already landed They are more streamlined and will contain less information than in past years The biggest subtraction people might notice is the removal of an estimate of expected taxes commented Colorado Property Tax Administrator JoAnn Groff Related Articles Denver firm breaks ground on M multifamily project in Capitol Hill Developer begins building -unit apartment project on East Colfax Colorado and Denver stated owners to cut their buildings carbon emissions Did the rules go too far Metro Denver apartment region erases two years of rent increases Sponsored Colorado homeowners scramble for affordable coverage as rates skyrocket The estimates provided the last go-around ended up being meaningless as the governor legislators and taxpayer advocates jockeyed to soften the blow of big property tax hikes Local governments also hadn t determined their mill levies yet A great number of owners zeroed in on that number and flooded assessor offices with calls and complaints about something they had no control over What assessors can address are the valuation estimates on individual properties Owners who disagree with that value have until June to make an appeal which they can do online in greater part metro counties via mail or in person And while local governments and school districts could still upset the cart by raising mill levies bulk property owners should find relief