San Mateo County's property assessment roll increased for the 2019-20 fiscal year, the ninth consecutive year of upward movement.
From Jan. 1, 2018, to Jan. 1, 2019, it increased to a record high of over $238.4 billion in assessed value -- up $15.9 billion, or 7.1%, year-over-year, County Assessor Mark Church said in a press release. The property assessment roll is the assessed value of all properties as of January 1 each year, and reflects changes in ownership, new construction, value declines, and value restorations from the previous January 1, according to the press release.
Menlo Park experienced the highest growth in assessed value, according to the county.
"While there was some softening in the residential market, record growth in commercial and mixed-use development helped push the total roll value to this new high," Church said. "With the lowest annual unemployment rate in the state at 2.2% for 2018 and continued growth of the labor force, San Mateo County's local economy remains one of the strongest in the nation."
Within The Almanac's coverage area, property assessment values rose 10.5% in Menlo Park (down from 11.06% in 2018); 6.62% in Atherton (down from 7.06% in 2018); 5.78% in Portola Valley (up from 5.59% in 2018); and 5.29% in Woodside (up from 4.86% in 2018), according to the press release.
The property tax funding base is approximately 1% of the county's property assessment roll and will increase to $2.38 billion, according to the press release. Around 45% of revenue goes to local schools, 25% to the county, 18% to cities, 10% to special districts and 2% to former redevelopment agencies.
New construction
About 55 million square feet of new construction is expected to be completed in the county over the next six to eight years, according to the press release. Of that, approximately 21 million square feet is under construction. Planners have approved 7 million square feet of new construction, and 27 million square feet is under review. About 8.6 million square feet of new construction has been completed in the last four years.
Commercial projects account for 67% of all major construction projects tracked by the Assessor's Office.
• Office: 28%
• Life science: 20%
• Master planned community: 11%
• Hotel: 3%
• Senior care facility: 2%
• Retail: 2%
• Hospital: 1%
Redwood City, Menlo Park, South San Francisco, Brisbane and San Mateo have the most major development -- defined as projects that are 80,000 square feet or more -- pending, approved or under construction, according to the press release. Menlo Park has 10.4 million square feet of development in that category.
Facebook has continued to drive new office development on the Bay side of Menlo Park, including opening its new headquarters building, "MPK 21." The two-story building, completed in June 2018, is about 524,000 square feet, according to the building's general contractor Level 10 Construction.
Residential sales
Residential sales accounted for about 75% of the dollar growth, while commercial sales accounted for 25%, according to the press release.
The county's residential real estate market declined in the second half of 2018, ending seven years of growth. The total dollar value of sales declined by 7.1% and the number of sales decreased by 2.6% during 2018, according to the California Association of Realtors (CAR).
Median home prices decreased after spring, but prices were still slightly up from January 2018 to January 2019, at $1.45 million (an increase of 0.9% year-over-year), according to CAR.
For more information on the county's 2019-20 property assessment roll, go here.
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