Riverside County Property Tax Roll Grows

Strong demand for inland real estate led to a nearly 6% increase in property values in Riverside County going into 2020, according to Riverside County’s Assessor-County Clerk-Recorder.

Assessor-County Clerk-Recorder Peter Aldana announced today that the taxable value of all property in Riverside County for the current year grew to $320 billion, an $18 billion increase. This year’s tax roll—a list of all taxable property, its owner and its value as of Jan. 1—will generate more than $3.2 billion for local government services.

“Since the tax roll is based on property values as of Jan. 1, we won’t see the impacts of COVID until next year,” Aldana said in a news release. “Pre-COVID, our economy was growing and strong demand for Riverside County real estate led to increasing property values. We won’t see the impacts of COVID until we look at property values as of Jan. 1, 2021. A lot can happen between now and then.”

The median home price in Riverside County grew to $401,250 in Dec. 2019, approaching the record high of $432,000 set in Jan. 2007, according to CoreLogic, a real estate information services firm.

Despite the increase in home prices, most property owners will not see an equal rise in property taxes on their next annual tax bill, which will be mailed in Oct. State law requires the assessor to enroll real property at the lesser of its current market value or the Prop 13 value—the market value as of the date the real estate was acquired or constructed, adjusted up to 2% annually for inflation. Eighty-four percent of Riverside County property is enrolled at its protected Prop 13 value.

Real estate owners may review their 2020 assessment roll value by visiting the assessor’s public access website at Property Search or calling (951) 955-6200.  Although the assessor works to enroll fair-market values, an owner might disagree with the valuation. Those owners may file a free decline-in-value application online. Applications are due by Nov. 1 and are available at Property Search.

Real estate owners also may request a formal hearing before the assessment appeals board. The deadline to file is Nov. 30. The application is available on the clerk of the board’s website by clicking here.