Many homes in the Mendenhall Valley near the riverfront are seeing a decline in their assessed values following last August’s glacial outburst flood, according to new data shared by the city this week.
City Finance Director Angie Flick said homes in the area are selling for less than they did just a few years ago.
“The glacial lake outburst flooding has created a situation where we have some homes that are perhaps valued less than they might otherwise be because they’re in that area of the Valley that’s threatened by annual flooding,” she said.
This week the City and Borough of Juneau began mailing out its annual property tax assessment values to homes and businesses.
Flick said most Juneau homeowners shouldn’t see too much of a change from last year. The average residential property assessments rose by less than 1%. And on average the assessed value of a single-family home dropped by about half a percent.
She said overall, this year’s data indicates that the housing market in Juneau might finally be stabilizing.
“Juneau’s market a few years ago, really prices skyrocketed. What we’re seeing now is a leveling of prices,” she said. “Even though it’s higher than it may have been five or 10 years ago, we’re not seeing that dramatic increase.”
Last year, residential assessments rose by less than 2%. The year before that, values increased by about 16%, though some residents reported a more than 40% rise.
This year, commercial property assessments remained mostly the same except for warehouse property values, which saw an 18% spike.
High housing costs persist in Juneau despite the market cooling down. For the past two years, Juneau has had the highest average sale price for a single-family home in the state, according to a study by the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development.
Though property tax assessments are in the mail, residents won’t be billed until this summer. The city calculates property taxes by multiplying a property’s assessed value by the local mill rate. The Assembly will decide on a mill rate in the coming months.
