Value of land continues to rise; TAXES: An exemption, if approved in April, could shave off 10 percent.

By ANNE AURAND, Anchorage Daily News
Anchorage Daily News (Alaska)
January 17, 2005

Property values are up all over town, but a proposed property tax exemption could save many homeowners from stiff tax bill increases this year.

The taxable value of homes in Anchorage rose an average of 12.8 percent for 2005, according to Assessor Marty McGee, who discussed property values with the Assembly on Friday.

Single-family homes averaged $241,800 for 2005, an 11 percent change from last year.

Of the residential areas in the Anchorage Bowl, downtown and Mountain View saw the biggest jumps in assessed values: an average of 21.5 percent and 17.6 percent respectively.

Historically, these areas have been undervalued, said McGee, so the city focused on getting as much information as possible about sales prices in the area. Assessed values are based largely on comparable property sales.

Also, inspections have been inadequate over the past decade, said McGee. Fewer appeals, resulting from an overhaul of the appeals process, coupled with additional staff opened up more time for inspecting properties and updating valuations, he said.

A proposed property tax exemption would shave off 10 percent of the assessed value, up to $20,000, of owner-occupied homes. That could actually lower many people’s taxes, said Mayor Mark Begich. The exemption is subject to voter approval in April.

Actual tax bills will be determined after city finance officials calculate the mill rate necessary to support the school and city budgets passed by the Assembly last fall.

Begich passed out a list of Assembly members’ property values at their meeting Friday. Assemblyman Ken Stout, whose home on 34th Avenue is now worth $303,600, said with a smile: “I want to know why mine went up more than the mayor’s!”

Stout’s property value rose 19 percent. Begich’s home on Colgate Drive, worth $315,300, went up 10 percent this year but increased 33 percent last year.

“Yours is a very nice home. I’ll buy it for this,” Begich said, pointing to Stout’s assessed value and returning the smile.

Said downtown Assemblyman Allan Tesche: “Mr. Mayor, while you’re in the mood to buy …” Tesche’s home on G Street is worth $409,100, 15 percent more than it was assessed at last year.

South Anchorage Assemblywoman Janice Shamberg’s home on McDonell Road jumped only 10 percent to $289,600.

“I’m coming in the slum category,” she joked.

When the assessor includes the value of new homes built last year, the overall assessed value of the city’s residential properties is $15.2 billion, a 14 percent jump from 2004 values.

Commercial property values, including new construction, total $6.5 billion for 2005, a 16 percent increase from 2004.

Market values in Anchorage, over the past four or five years, have caught up with prices in the Lower 48, said Niel Thomas, real estate agent at Coldwell Banker Fortune.

One reason is that more people are moving here from Outside, creating a demand for homes that surpasses the rate of new construction.

The cost of materials has also gone up, Thomas said, which makes new buildings more expensive. That causes other homes, which may be a couple of years old, to increase in price too, he said.

“It’s good news for the people who were fortunate enough to buy at the right time,” he said. “What we really have to face is how many are going to find it hard to find anything they can afford.”

Daily News reporter Anne Aurand can be reached at aaurand@adn.com or 257-4591.