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Property Values are on the Rise Again in Florissant and Ferguson
St. Louis County Assessor Jake Zimmerman says that property values are increasing once again in Florissant as well as in Ferguson and other parts of North St. Louis County for the first time in four years. Final assessment of property values for all real estate located in St. Louis County is due by the end of March.
According to the web site for St. Louis County (www.stlouisco.com) the County Assessor is required by Missouri State Statute 137.115 to establish the fair market value of all real property as of Jan. 1 of every odd year (such as 2017). The assessed value is applied to the tax rates established by taxing districts to determine the amount of tax levied against a property.
Property value for homeowners in St. Louis County is expected to increase by more than 15 percent from the last assessment taken in 2015. That assessment followed on the heels of civil unrest that occurred in Ferguson following the fatal shooting of Michael Brown Jr. by former Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson in Aug. 2014.
Prior to that event, real estate values took a major hit following the real estate collapse in 2008 during the Great Recession across the United States.
Zimmerman himself has visited several homes in both Florissant and Ferguson in February with information about the increase in assessed values. He told Channel 5 News that the main reason for increasing property values in Florissant has been because homes in Florissant have been selling quicker than in the last few years and at higher prices.
“Look around you here, this is a nice neighborhood,” said Zimmerman in an interview that aired on KSDK, Channel 5 on Sunday, Feb. 12. “These are nice, well-kept ranch houses and the good news is you can sell one of these houses today, on average, for a little bit more money than you could have two years ago.”
While Zimmerman says that property values in St. Louis County have declined or remained flat since 2013 that is likely to change with the 2017 assessments. Seeing property values increase in North County, he points out, is “great news for neighborhoods and communities.”
Mayor Thomas Schneider echoed Zimmerman’s comments. “We are proud of the great care taken by our residents in maintaining their Florissant homes,” said Mayor Schneider.
“With our national economy once again in a healthy mode, we are fully confident that home owners in our community will experience significant gains in the value of their real estate for the first time since 2013. We fully expect our housing values to eventually surpass what they were before the Great Recession of 2008 in the United States.”
The reassessment process involves establishing the value of about 389,000 parcels of real property, providing owners the opportunity to appeal, then finalizing, certifying, and communicating the values to the individual taxing districts.
