Wake County is sending revaluation notices to property owners this week.
Tax Administrator Marcus Kinrade gave county commissioners an overview of the new values on Tuesday. Non-stop growth, high housing demand, and short supply has led to an unprecedented increase in property values, he said.
"The value of the real property tax base in 1992 was $21 billion. Just prior to Jan. 1, 2024, that value had grown to $178.5 billion," Kinrade told commissioners.
The total number of properties in the county has expanded by 51% since the last valuation in 2020. Wendell, Holly Springs and Knightdale saw the highest increases in property value.
Growth in commercial properties, Kinrade said, reflects post-pandemic trends.
"The drivers of commercial value was mini-storage, industrial and apartments," Kinrade said. "And the properties that have lagged-and there has been some press lately about vacancy rates in office-so office lagged and to a certain extent hotel-motel has been slow to recover from the pandemic."
According to the revaluation, Wake County has the state's largest taxable property base—$307 billion. Kinrade estimates that number will decrease by about $6 billion through the appeals process. Revaluation notices include information on how to appeal.
Deputy Tax Administrator Nicole Kreiser said homeowners will have tools to learn how their new values were calculated, including a map where they can search sale prices for nearby houses.
"You can go into your neighborhood and see [where] the most recent sales happened. It's not all how we determine value, but it is an important component of indications of market activity for those sales to then influence what overall values are for that neighborhood," she told commissioners.
Property owners have until March 1 to file an informal appeal with the tax department. The formal appeals process begins March 2 and runs until May 15. The county and its municipalities will update property tax rates later this year, when the budget process begins.