Durham homeowners will soon begin to see the impacts of the pandemic housing boom this year.
The county is preparing to mail out reappraisal notices of property values. This is the first revaluation since 2019.
“The number one factor would be the local real estate market. Over the last six years, since our last reappraisal, 2019, Durham has seen an increase it has never seen before,” said Keyar Doyle, Durham County’s Tax Administrator.
“On top of that, I believe some of the factors included the population growth and the number of people moving to the area affected the supply and demand, which also impacted those same increases,” he added.
The county’s median sales price jumped 74% from $239,500 in January 2019 to $416,00 in December 2024, according to county data,
Doyle is working to help inform and prepare residents for the sticker shock.
“I do expect the revaluation to be increased, because a lot of growth has occurred in Durham, and a lot of people are moving in and making it a popular place,” said Reginald Johnson, who lives in Durham.
He was among dozens of people who gathered at St. Joseph AME Church in Durham to learn more about the appraisals.
“The percent of increase kind of varies depending on the area, but I would say that the city, the urban area, the inner city of Durham, increased the most overall. We’re looking at about a 75% increase since 2019,” said Doyle.
Homeowners discussed with county staff how this would affect them, and the appeals process and learned more about the tax relief programs.
Doyle explained how some areas grow at a different pace than others. Property values may look different depending on the neighborhood.
Redevelopment and gentrification also play a role, primarily in the inner city of Durham.
“So gentrification would be a direct reflection of those properties being bought for a cheaper price and sold at a higher price. And a lot of those properties were within the urban market areas,” added Doyle.
Stella Adams is among some of the residents who expressed concern for those in historically black neighborhoods. She fears they could eventually get priced out.
“There’s a large historic home ownership, particularly along Old Oxford Highway and Dearborn Drive. These are multi-generational homeowners, but they are low-income homeowners and the lots when they were built, the lots are large. You have a modest home on a big lot, and so this land valuation is going to be sticker shock,” said Adams.
She said many are also elderly and on a fixed income.
“They’re not going to be able to see that change in value. They know they can’t actually sell their home for that value, or anywhere close to that value. And you know, how are they going to pay that bill?”
There are three state programs that Durham County administers through the state.
The state program includes; the Elderly/Disabled Homestead Exemption, Circuit Breaker — Elderly/Disabled Deferment Program and Disabled Veteran Exclusion.
The Durham Department of Social Services also administers its county program called the DSS Low Income Homeowner Relief (LIHR) Program.
It’s too soon to know how the new appraisals will be reflected in tax bills. The reappraisal is only focused on tax value. The tax value then gets combined with the tax rate to get the new tax bill.
The county will begin budget hearings in March to determine what the tax rate will be. A new budget will be adopted later this summer.
“This event is all about awareness,” said Doyle. “I just want people to understand where the values come from, why we do reappraisals, and on top of that, because of this particular market, I want people to prepare for a possible increase. I think they should expect an increase in the actual tax bill. They’re definitely going to get an increase in their tax value,” he added.
Residents could get their notices as soon as next Friday. The values will be set for the next four-year period. Homeowners would have until mid-June to appeal.
“This is a historic real estate market that we’ve been a part of for the past eight years or so. It has directly impacted our value across the whole county. There are no market areas that are not going to be impacted by this increase in value.”
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