For the second year in a row, the average real estate assessment has increased by double digits.
Residential parcels increased by an average of 11.52 percent, based on 15,148 taxable properties. Commercial properties went up an average of 12.16 percent, and that includes apartment complexes, retail, and office space. When you throw in new construction, the overall average increase comes to 12.33 percent.
Nearly 98 percent of all properties in Charlottesville went up in value, with just over 1 percent declining.
As we wait for more details on how those assessments shook up, it’s a good time to look at the December numbers for property sales in the region.
“The median sales price in December was $422,450, up 5.7 percent from the previous year, a price increase of $22,950,” reads the latest report from the Charlottesville Area Association of Realtors.
Those numbers are also based on lower sales volumes. There were 29.6 percent fewer homes sold in the last month than in December 2021.
Drilling into the city, only 39 homes were sold in Charlottesville compared to 55 in 2022. The median sales price increased from $406,000 to $468,000. One prominent example of the increase in valuation is the $270,000 sale of a duplex in the Orangedale neighborhood on December 19. That unit had been flipped by an entity called Aspiring Developments, which had purchased it for $140,000 in June.
December also saw other sales that were well over the 2022 assessment. A condominium on Douglas Avenue sold for $950,000, or nearly 19 percent over the 2022 figure of $441,000. A house on York-town Drive sold for $715,000, 62.13 percent over. The 2023 assessment, however, is at $646,700.
As for new construction, a recently built house on Lochlyn Hill Drive sold for $843,804. The 2023 assessment on that home is $834,900.
At the end of December, Charlottesville had the fewest active listings with 61.
Sales were down sharply in Albemarle with 115 sales compared to 189 the previous year. However, the median price increased 21 percent to $547,459. Earlier this month, the county announced an average assessment increase of 13.46 percent.
One change over December 2021 is a higher number of homes available. There were 740 active listings at the end of the month compared with 436 a year previously.
But not all communities had the same trends. Median prices went down in Greene County by 10 percent, dropping from $350,000 to $315,000. That’s based on 14 sales in 2022 compared to 27 in 2021. There were 66 active listings at the end of the month.
The number of homes sold in Fluvanna County increased by six with 44 purchases. The median sales price increased from $305,504 to $359,995 with 99 active listings on December 31. Louisa County had 57 sales, a 23 percent decrease over 2021. The median went up from $335,000 to $375,000 year-to-year. Nelson County also saw a decline in median sales price with a 6.6 percent decrease from $417,500 to $390,000.