After soaring to record heights during the pandemic, King County home values have started to drop. Countywide assessments for 2023 are not yet complete, but early results have King County Assessor John Wilson confident most home values will see a downward correction.
The prediction is based on completed assessments of homes in the eastern suburb of Sammamish and in Seattle’s Queen Anne neighborhood. Average values in Sammamish, which leapt up 50% from 2021 to 2022, decreased by about 22% from 2022 to 2023. In Queen Anne, average values increased 13.8% in the 2022 assessment and are now down an average of 8% in the 2023 assessment.
This is the first time that year-over-year average home values have gone down in King County since the post-Great Recession drop more than a decade ago.
“The housing market in King County is still strong,” said Wilson during a press briefing Thursday. “It is not the case, and I want to be clear about this, that it’s crashing at all. But it has finally peaked.”
The 2023 property value assessment will be reflected on 2024 property tax bills. Wilson thinks it’s likely many homeowners could see a reduced property tax bill. But he pointed out that 155 taxing districts throughout the county — including municipalities, school districts and voter-approved levies — can impact taxes as much as assessed home value.
Property owners have a 60-day window after receiving notice of a new home value in which to appeal the changed valuation.
On the commercial side, office building values dropped 15%-20%, in large part due to remote work’s impact on demand for office space.