02 Jun Property taxes may increase on real estate in San Diego County

Get ready for property tax sticker shock: More than 200,000 owners of real estate in San Diego County could see their property taxes jump 10 to 20 percent this year, according to a new state report.

The higher tax bills are no doubt bittersweet: San Diego County real estate owners had gotten property tax breaks since 2007, after housing values fell. But now that housing values are back up, so too, are property tax bills and assessments.

How much? It depends, though increases are expected to mirror rising home values. Real estate in San Diego is #1 in nation for most improved performance year-over-year,  according to the S&P/Case-Shiller Index. That will trickle down to property owners, who could see much steep tax bills starting with the 2014-2015 tax year, which begins July 1st.

The state projects tax increases from less than 10 percent to more than 20 percent, on average. That could end up being quite a bit for real estate in San Diego County, where values rose 17.1 percent from Jan. 1, 2013-Jan. 1, 2014.

There is no limit on how much a property’s assessed value can increase, especially if it suffered during the downturn. That could mean many property owners may be surprised by much higher assessments — and many won’t be so happy about it, despite the market upswing and resurging property values. There were 275,083 properties in San Diego County that received tax breaks in the 2013-2014 tax year. But discounts stopped for 62,000 property owners — a reflection of home values that rose 3.2 percent from Jan. 1, 2012 to Jan. 1, 2013.

New figures won’t be out until mid-June, and taxpayers will be notified of valuation changes in July. Tax bills will be sent out in September. The state calculates appreciation using federal data on repeat sales of single-family homes.