Housing Shows Gains for Second Straight Year According to BOE Analysis

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California's 15 coastal counties gained 1.7 percent, with one percent growth in the state's 43 inland counties. San Francisco Bay Area properties gained 2.4 percent in assessed values, while Southern California kept pace with the statewide gain at 1.3 percent.

Los Angeles County, which has the state's largest assessment roll at $1.102 trillion, increased 2.2 percent for a $23.4 billion gain from 2011-12. Gains in California's other eight counties with property tax rolls larger than $100 billion include San Francisco (4 percent), Santa Clara and San Mateo (3.2 percent), Alameda (2.4 percent), Orange (1.9 percent), Contra Costa (0.8 percent), San Bernardino (0.7 percent), and Ventura (.5 percent). San Diego County recorded no change in values from 2011-12. Sacramento County posted a 2.9 percent decline in assessed property values, while Riverside County values dipped by half a percent.

Property values in Kern County rose 7.2 percent in 2012-13 from the prior year. This increase is largely related to rises in oil and gas assessments, which account for more than one third of the county's total property taxes. Kern County's growth bolstered the Central Valley's 0.3 percent gain, reversing a three year trend of declining values. Colusa County is the only other to gain more than five percent in assessed property values, with a 5.3 percent rise. Modest year-over-year gains in assessed values were posted in 27 counties.

Thirty counties posted year-to-year declines in assessed property values for 2012-13. However, for the first time since 2007-08, no county dropped by as much as five percent. Calaveras County experienced the sharpest drop, with a 4.2 percent dip in assessed values. Values fell 1.7 percent in the Greater Sacramento Area, and half a percent in the northern San Joaquin Valley.