The local real estate market kept on rolling during 2017. A limited supply of available houses combined with an improving economy and continued historically low interest rates put upward pressure on prices. It is the goal of the Gwinnett County Tax Assessor to value all real estate at it's fair market value as of January 1 of each year.
Single family houses in Gwinnett County sold at an average sale price of $258,832 in 2017 according to Georgia MLS. This is six percent higher than the average sale price in 2016 which was $244,263. Median sale prices, which are unaffected by extreme values, were $229,900 in 2017 and 6.9% higher than the median $215,000 in 2016. The average number of days on the market for sold properties declined to 38 days in 2017 from 43 days in 2016.
For attached housing, condominiums and townhouses, the average and median sale prices in 2017 were $174,632 and $169,500 respectively. The average and median sale prices in 2016 were $159,570 and $160,000 respectively. The increase in average sale price was 9.4% but the increase in median sale price was only 5.9%.
This is a generalization however, as this includes all of the Gwinnett County sales in the Georgia MLS. Individual neighborhoods may have experienced higher or lower increases in value. For example the Gwinnett County zip code 30047 had a median increase of 6.2% and Gwinnett zip code 30092 had an increase of just 1.4%.
The Gwinnett tax assessment staff appraise the property within neighborhoods using the sale within the neighborhoods. If, for example, values rise by 7% during 2017 they may want to increase the values of all properties within the neighborhood by 7%. The State of Georgia requires that county wide the median ratio of assessment to sale price needs to be above 90%.
If the County median sale ratio is below 90% then they must pay a penalty to the State. The State sets the rules for all of the counties in Georgia. This is because the State gets a cut of every property tax dollar. The penalty is based on the difference between the county median sale ratio and what the additional tax revenue would have been if the county sale ratio was 100%.
While the real estate market has stayed strong in 2017 and overall values have risen, there may not be a reason to worry about your 2018 tax assessment notice. It just depends on the neighborhood you live in and what type of sales activity there has been. The tax assessment staff needs a large enough sample of sales to make an accurate call on where values should be.
