CHARLOTTE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) – Mecklenburg County’s revaluations for 2023 are yielding, in some cases, some surprising results.
The revaluations, which are publicly available online, show an average 51% value increase between commercial and residential properties. But a search by Queen City News revealed some notable and newsworthy properties saw either dramatic increases or decreases.
The revaluations are also already having an impact on home sales, according to one real estate firm.
“We’re hearing from people that it’s either a 50 to 85% (increase), said Josh Stone with Matt Stone Team, a real estate agency in Charlotte. He noted that the biggest question so far is, “Why the large jump?”
The revaluations are part of state law. In Mecklenburg County and several other counties in North Carolina, they are done every four years. The revaluations reflect fair market value for properties across the county.
The new property values do not necessarily mean that property taxes will increase accordingly. The values are taken into account when a county adopts a budget and tax rate. That tax rate can often be lower, meaning there may not be much change in the property tax payments one may pay.
However, some properties saw a decrease. In the commercial space, Carolina Place Mall, Northlake Mall and SouthPark Mall saw decreases in their property values amounting, in total, to tens of millions of dollars. SouthPark alone, according to the county, went from being worth around $323 million in 2019 to now being worth close to $274 million.
Also of note — the old Epicentre property uptown, now known as the Queen City Quarter, went from being worth $32 million, to $20.6 million.
Spectrum Center, the NASCAR Hall of Fame, the Truist building and the Bank of America Financial Center saw notable increases in their property values.
Bank of America Stadium, which occupies two parcels of land, had one parcel double in value, while the other decreased by almost half.
Key to many commercial property values includes, among other things, COVID-19, which led to changes in people’s shopping habits.
While some have noted safety issues at some of the commercial properties — particularly at the old Epicentre property and Northlake Mall — there is no indication that was part of the equation on values, though that can play a role in tenants for those properties.
“We went into the pandemic, and if you told me what the increases would be then, I would be shocked,” said Ken Joyner, Mecklenburg County Assessor, in an interview with Queen City News last week, previewing the revaluation numbers.
“Residential is, on average, a 58% increase, the commercial is a 41% increase,” he said.
For now, that will not affect property taxes, as those are due to be determined later this year. The notices released by the county are not a bill.
However, the revaluations are already having an effect on real estate sales.
“It’s kind of a Catch-22,” said Stone, the real estate broker. “For those selling, they have their home listed, it’s good news for them. The county is acknowledging their home values have gone up. But first-time buyers in the area, they’re wondering why their payments are going up all of the sudden.”
