Residents of Charlottesville and Albemarle County as well as University students will face an additional rise in the cost of living in the upcoming year.
City and County assessors forecast another year of real estate assessment increases, which means higher property prices, a rise in taxes and higher rental prices.
In the past six years, the City and the surrounding area have experienced an annual increase of 10-12 percent in real estate assessments, City Assessor Roosevelt Barbour said.
Preliminary numbers suggest that this year's increase in real estate assessments for the City may be as much as 12-15 percent, Barbour said.
Real Estate assessments are determined for each of the City's 30 residential and 12 commercial neighborhoods on an annual basis.
A rise in the values of homes for sale has a direct bearing on surrounding homes that are not for sale, Barbour said. Therefore, City assessors look at prices of homes that have sold in each neighborhood and assess the value of homes off the market as well.
"You have to do it across the board," Barbour said. "It's an equity issue."
The sale of rental properties, such as duplexes and apartments, also tend to cause a rise in rent costs.
"An increase in sales in a duplex or an apartment would result in a rent increase," Barbour said. "It would have a direct bearing on the students."
Local rental property owners said they recognize rising real estate taxes resulting from the increasing assessment trend as one of the factors that can cause rental prices to rise.
"When our costs go up we've got to raise our rents to offset that," Wade Apartments General Manager Wade Tremblay said.
Factors such as the cost of utilities and financing costs also can cause increased rental prices, Tremblay said.
While increased rent has caused some students to seek on-Grounds housing, the rising trend has not deterred a sizeable group of University students who still seek off-Grounds housing after their first year.
"Many students want to be on their own, free from the aura of big brother looking over their shoulders," Tremblay said.
For those students who choose to live off Grounds, there is still a range of rents available, Tremblay said.
The trend of real estate assessment increases in the City in recent years can be attributed to the City's attractive reputation, Barbour said.
"Charlottesville has gained a reputation of being a nice place to live," Barbour said. "It's caused more people to come here."
Many of the people who have moved to Charlottesville in recent years have come from affluent areas around the country and are willing to pay higher prices for homes here, Barbour said.
The rising value of homes in the City and the resulting increase in real estate assessments come as a mixed blessing, Barbour said.
"No one likes to pay taxes, but if you had a choice between your house being worth more or less, I think you would choose for it to be worth more," Barbour said. "It's a double-edged sword, but it's the better of the two swords I think."
The City will officially report the real estates assessments Jan. 1 and notify residents of assessments Feb. 1. Residents will have the month of February to appeal assessments.
"Occasionally we are wrong, and if we find that out we will reinspect the house or the property and make changes," Barbour said.
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