Assessor-Recorder Joaquín Torres Presents 2024-2025 Assessment Roll

For Immediate Release
Date: Tuesday, August 6, 2024
Contact: abigail.fay@sfgov.org

Assessor-Recorder Joaquín Torres Presents 2024-2025 Assessment Roll

San Francisco, CA – Today, Assessor-Recorder Joaquín Torres announced that the City and County of San Francisco’s total local property assessment roll has grown to approximately $347 billion for 2024-2025. This represents an increase of approximately $7 billion over the previous year, or 2.12%.

The local assessment roll reflects the total taxable value of all real and business property in San Francisco, approximately 212,496 parcels and 29,348 business assessments respectively, as of the January 1, 2024, lien date, and reflects changes between January 1 and December 31, 2023. The total local property assessment roll value is also inclusive of all legal exemptions that have been applied. For comparison, the 2023-2024 local assessment roll minus exemptions grew by 4.65%.

“In response to a historic three-fold rise in newly filed assessment appeals, our dedicated staff has stepped up by working smarter and harder to help secure crucial funding for essential services including our schools, affordable housing, public health and safety investments, early child-care efforts, revitalizing our downtown, transportation and clean air,” said Assessor-Recorder Joaquín Torres. “San Francisco’s assessment roll reflects the Office of the Assessor-Recorder's commitment to delivering on our core mission to fairly and accurately identify and assess all taxable property in San Francisco.”

Secured Assessment Roll (Real Property)

The Secured Assessment Roll reflects the assessed value of all real property in San Francisco before exemptions and makes up 93.5% of the total local assessment roll. This year the Secured Roll saw modest growth of 2.6%, rising to approximately $342 billion. Secured assessment roll growth is generally driven by the California Consumer Price Index and assessable events, such as new construction and changes in ownership.

• This year, the California Consumer Price Index and the associated 2% increase in the assessed value of properties was the largest contributor to roll growth at 68.81%, adding approximately $5.9 billion in assessed value.
• New construction accounts for an estimated 20.59% of growth, adding approximately $1.6 billion in assessed value.
• Changes in ownership account for an estimated 10.60% of growth, adding approximately $900 million in assessed value.

This year, the rate of secured roll growth continues to be impacted by changes in the real estate market, especially downtown condominiums and office and hotels.

Property owners who did not have an assessable event such as new construction or a change in ownership will see their assessment increase by the California Consumer Price Index (CCPI) or 2%, whichever is lower, as dictated by Proposition 13. This year, Properties saw a 2% increase in assessed value due to the CCPI being above 2%.

Unsecured Assessment Roll (Personal Property and Possessory Interest)

Before exemptions, the Unsecured Assessment Roll which includes business personal property such as fixtures, equipment and machinery used in connection with a business as well as possessory interest grew by 1.12%, rising to approximately $24 billion. The Unsecured Assessment Roll accounts for 6.5% of the total local assessment roll, before exemptions. The rate of unsecured roll growth has been impacted by a decrease in assessable properties as well as the Board of Equalization’s Annual Asset Factors for Business Personal Property.

Exemptions

A key part of preparing the annual assessment roll in accordance with State and local laws is the processing and applying of exemptions. The 2024-2025 roll includes exemptions totaling approximately $23 billion in assessed value. These exemptions result in over $268 million in property tax savings for homeowners, disabled veterans, churches, schools, museums, affordable housing projects, and more.

This year, Exemptions increased by approximately $1.5 billion, or 7%. This increase stems from CCPI and the associated 2% increases, as well as an increase in Homeowners’ Exemptions, Welfare Exemptions and the Disabled Veterans’ Exemption.

Property Tax Revenue

The 2024-2025 Assessment Roll is expected to generate an estimated $4.0 billion in property tax revenue.

However, when an assessment appeal is filed, the City puts a portion of funds on reserve to cover refunds that sometimes flow from appeals. In their June 2024 Revenue Letter, the Controller outlines that the FY2024-2025 budget assumes refunds of $118.9 million in General Find revenue from the appeals of assessed values filed in FY2024-2025. This increased reserve is indicative of the greater number of appeals.

Notices of Assessed Value

Individual Notices of Assessed Values have been sent out by the Office of the Assessor-Recorder to all property owners in the City and County of San Francisco. These values serve as the basis for property tax bills that owners receive from the Treasurer & Tax Collector in October. For additional questions please visit our website at www.sfassessor.org or contact us through the 311 Customer Service Center by dialing 3-1-1 (within the City’s 415 area code) or by calling 628-652-8100.

For information on how to appeal your assessed property value by the September 16, 2024, deadline, please visit the Assessment Appeal Board’s website: https://www.sfgov.org/aab.