Though Values Are Sluggish, Property Taxes Will Rise Again

This year’s property assessments are out, and the news is both good and bad. Assessments in New York City, including those for cooperatives and condominiums, rose at their slowest rate in six years, but property taxes will nonetheless continue their relentless upward climb, the Wall Street Journal reports.

This year’s assessments – based on changes in net income for existing commercial and apartment buildings, and on sales prices for smaller homes – rose by 3.6 percent overall, while commercial properties were up 2.4 percent, just above the rate of inflation. Under the city’s arcane system, assessed values for co-op apartments are pegged to the value of comparable rental apartments in the neighborhood. That assessment is a key factor in the equation that will produce the final property tax bill. 

Under the new assessments, the average tax on a rental apartment will rise by 7.1 percent to $5,441 a year, based on current tax rates, according to city projections. The average co-op taxes will rise by 6 percent to $8,660, and condominium taxes will grow by 5.5 percent to $12,113. In Manhattan, the average tax on a condominium was due to rise to $20,045. It was listed at $14,776 for a co-operative apartment, $8,946 per rental apartment and $61,952 on a single-family townhouse. 

The new data is a preliminary assessment statement to give property owners time to challenge it before the next fiscal year begins on July 1. Owners of co-ops and condos have until  March 2 to challenge their assessments. Now is the time to get in touch with a tax certiorari lawyer if you want to contest your property’s assessment, and thus lower your final tax bill.