As a property owner in New York you may be wondering if, and when your property tax bill will ever go down, especially as the real estate market and values come down.
Will your county ever reduce your annual property tax bill? What can you do to finally get a fair bill?
The Housing Market Is Failing
The housing market seems to have peaked and is beginning to deteriorate. The same could well be true for a lot of commercial property. With Wealth Management citing a $1.1T surplus in office space that is no longer needed. Or 30% of all office buildings.
Home sales on Long Island fell by 17% in February 2022. After home sales start falling, prices and values start falling. It’s also worth keeping in mind that New York has already been one of the worst performing markets in the country in terms of house price growth. Far under inflation. While other markets have grown by five times as much over the past year.
This news comes right as ATTOM Data reveals that foreclosures surged by 129% over the past year. Some areas are already seeing more than 1 in every 400 housing units receive a foreclosure notice in a given month. Numbers which are very reminiscent of 2008. By April that could mean 1 in every 100 housing units is in some stage of foreclosure. So, someone in your condo building, or on your street will likely be in foreclosure. If not multiple neighbors.
On top of this, failing real estate giants could flood the market with more distressed properties. Further accelerating the decline. Zillow reportedly has around 7,000 properties it must shed. Opendoor has $6B worth of properties it hasn’t been able to sell.
Interest rates have almost doubled since last year. While hyper-inflation is making everything more expensive. All meaning home buyers are seeing their buying power collapse. While homeowners are seeing their total housing costs rise by 30% or more.
As House Prices Fall, When Can I Expect A Lower Property Tax Bill?
One of the big reasons given for recent leaps in property tax bills has been that property prices have gone up. So, if values are going down, when will your county reduce your bill?
The answer is, they won’t.
At least not voluntarily. They are not just going to mail you a lower bill because your property went down in value by 10, 20 or 50%.
If the value of your property does go down, then you are entitled to a lower tax assessment, and annual bill. They just aren’t going to give it to you without asking though.
Chances are your assessment and bill is already over-inflated. If surrounding property sales keep falling, or a neighbor sells out cheaply, or some lose homes to foreclosure, then your assessment should go down too.
The answer is to appeal and grieve your property taxes, and demand a lower and fair bill. Property Tax Adjusters, Ltd. can help you with that.