County property values inch up

With a 6.5% jump, Beverly Hills led Los Angeles County in assessed property values.

It’s the $1.079 trillion question: what’s going on with property values in Los Angeles County?

A new report from the Assessor’s Office says they’ve gone up, modestly, for the second straight year in most of the county.

From the perspective of local governments, this year’s 2.2% net increase in the county’s trillion-dollar-plus property roll means more property tax revenues coming in to support services. It’s a positive sign after several years of major declines threw cold water on what was one of the country’s hottest real estate markets.

The city of Los Angeles, for example, where property values went up 2.5%, stands to receive an additional $110 million or so, said Assessor’s spokesman Louis R. Reyes.

Most municipalities across the county are in the plus column this year, led by Beverly Hills (6.5%), Rolling Hills (6%), Bradbury (5%) and San Marino (4.9%), with Arcadia, Monterey Park, Santa Monica, Manhattan Beach, La Canada Flintridge and South Pasadena rounding out the Top 10.

Only seven areas experienced drops in assessed property values. They are: Bell (-2%), Westlake Village (-2%), Lancaster (-1.2%), Santa Clarita (-0.9%), Hidden Hills (-0.8%), Palmdale (-0.6%) and Carson (-0.1%).

(Read the full report here. Community-by-community listings begin on page 14.)

Despite the uptick in real estate values in most parts of the county, it’s not all good news. Some 406,000 property owners received “decline in value” assessments in 2012, more than the 393,000 reductions in 2011 but fewer than the peak of 426,000 in 2010.

Foreclosures are still high—30,000 in 2011. That’s down considerably from the 41,300 foreclosures in 2008 but sharply up from the 2,000 recorded in 2005.

And median prices for single family homes in the county stand at $305,000, well below the $510,000 median reported in 2006.

Posted 9/10/12