Wake County property values are changing. What you need to know about the revaluation.
Wake County property owners will learn the new tax values of their homes and businesses early next year.
The Tax Administration Department is wrapping up its 2024 revaluation and gave county leaders an early heads up Monday about what to expect.
“It’s something I guess you can say is scary to people,” Tax Administrator Marcus Kinrade said. “People fear it. And we just want to put people’s minds at ease that we are doing everything we can to make sure that it’s accurate. We’re using every tool in our toolbox to make sure that there’s no bias in our assessments.”
“We’re not trying to hide anything,” Kinrade said. “And we live here too. We’re property owners, so we’re invested in making sure it’s right.”
What happens in a revaluation?
State law requires counties to hold a revaluation every eight years but some do them more often. Wake County moved to a four-year cycle in 2016, and the last revaluation was in 2020.
Wake County has over 425,000 parcels, which it divides into groups based on market, economic and geographic conditions. Once that is done, staff do what is called a mass appraisal that factors in sales in the last four years.
Staff perform over 165,000 field visits, physically going to homes or commercial properties, and 260,000 reviews in the office.
What happened in the 2020 revaluation?
On average, the tax value on homes in Wake County increased 20% and on commercial properties about 33%.
Homes valued under $250,000 saw larger percentage increases than higher valued homes.
Parts of Raleigh, Garner and eastern towns like Knightdale and Zebulon saw some of the biggest increases.
Will my property’s assessed value go up?
In September 2020, the median price of a home sold in Wake County was $329,500, according to the Register of Deeds.
In August 2023, the median sales price was $455,000. That’s a 38% increase.
“We’ve got three and a half months to go, so I am not going to start speculating on results and then have something in the market change,” Kinrade told county leaders Monday. “I think anyone can look at the market, look at the news, look at Zillow and sort of see where things are going.”
But that doesn’t mean for sure that all property values will be higher. Site-specific details factor into an assessment.
Will my property tax bill go up?
It’s too early to know.
State law requires counties and municipalities to share the “revenue neutral” tax rate as part of the revaluation process. The revenue-neutral rate is the tax rate under new assessments that would bring in the same amount of property tax revenue as before the revaluation
Local leaders will vote on a new property tax rate, likely in June, before the start of the 2024 fiscal year on July 1.
What’s not included in the revaluation?
Cars, trailers, campers, boats and planes are excluded from the revaluation, as is business property like computers, furniture, machinery and manufacturing equipment.
Public utility property, like bus lines, railroads and gas companies are also excluded,
What happens next?
The Wake County Board of Commissioners will get the overall revaluation results Jan. 16, 2024.
Property owners will start receiving their new assessed values in the mail on Jan. 18, 2024
How do I appeal my tax value?
March 1, 2024, is the deadline to file an informal appeal, the first step in contesting a new assessed value.
If a consensus isn’t reached, property owners can file a formal appeal with the Board of Equalization and Review. That deadline is May 15, 2024.
In 2020, Wake County had nearly 17,500 informal appeals and nearly 6,500 appeals with the Board of Equalization and Review.
Questions?
Call Wake County’s revaluation cell center at 919-857-3800 or email revaluation@wake.gov.
General questions can also be emailed to taxhelp@wake.gov or by calling 919-856-5400.
The tax administration office is located on the third floor of the Wake County Justice Center in downtown Raleigh.
What about other Triangle counties?
Chatham, Durham, Johnston and Durham counties will all hold their revaluations in 2025.
