Land value growth sets record in Alameda County

Land in Alameda County reached a gross value record this fiscal year of $321.5 billion, according to an annual local assessment roll of 518,600 taxable properties released last week by the Alameda County Assessor’s Office.

First-year Assessor Phong La credited increased real estate values and a recovering economy for the 7.13% increase in the 2019-20 fiscal year compared to the previous year, which translates to an additional $21.4 billion in assessed land value.

“The revenue generated by the assessment roll continues to support schools, public safety, parks, roads and other essential services,” La said in a statement.

Several more factors contributed to this year’s value growth including applying the 2% mandatory inflation index to properties with assessed values that were unaffected in previous years by assessment declines. That added about $5.6 billion, while construction activity and real estate sales and transfers gave $2.5 and $11.3 billion, respectively.

Businesses have also “flourished” and are considered by the county to be “a key factor in the growth in the assessment roll, as these company’s business personal property assessments have increased by $1.1 billion,” La said. The county’s assessment role has increased 35%, or $73 billion as well in the past five years.

Oakland remains the highest-valued jurisdiction in Alameda County at $68.8 billion, but one community in the Tri-Valley stood out this year. The city of Dublin saw the largest increase in assessed value from the previous year at 10.3%, to just over $18 billion overall, according to county officials.

Pleasanton saw a 6.4% increase in assessed value, from $24.1 billion last year to its current assessment of just under $25.7 billion across 28,067 parcels, according to county officials. In Livermore, the assessment roll stands at just under $20.6 billion, an increase of 5.8% year-over-year.

With a 2.7% unemployment rate lower than the state and national averages, the county’s outlook is good but “there are indicators that this tremendous growth in the economy may be coming to an end,” La said. He did not provide any details but advocated “preparing for a potential recession now rather than having it come as a surprise.”

All secured roll property owners in Alameda County will receive notification by mail. Property owners with questions regarding their property assessment are asked to call the Assessor’s Office at 510-272-3787 (real estate assessments) or 510-272-3836 (business personal property assessments) or visit online at www.acassessor.org.

Formal appeals of the 2019-20 assessed values must be made by Sept. 16 with the Clerk, Board of Supervisors, Assessment Appeals Unit, on their assessment appeal application. The application and instruction booklet can be viewed and printed at www.acgov.org/clerk/assessment.htm.

Property tax bills for fiscal year 2019-20 will be mailed in October by the Alameda County tax collector and will be based upon the assessor’s 2019-20 assessed values.