The January 2007 property assessment rolls for New York City showed a 19 percent increase over the values a year earlier. Given the national decline in housing prices, this was a surprise - an indication that the City has been immune to some of the downward pressures in the rest of the United States.
Assessments of NYC houses - as in the rest of the country (Indiana being the last state to move to market-value-based assessment) - are largely based the market values. However, in the case of apartments (including condos and condos) and commercial property, NYC practice is to consider potential income from rentals rather than actual sales prices.
The large increase in property values is an average. So the assessed value of the Grand Hyatt Hotel - which is based on factors contributing to income projections - rose more than 80 percent from a year earlier, whereas the overall averages for the four class was as follows:
Class 1 - 1-to-3-family homes - increase of 16.3 percent over January 2006 (based on sales figures) Class 2 - apartment buildings (including most coops and condos) - increase of 26.3 percent (based on income potential) Class 3 - utilities (Con Ed etc.) - decreased by 5.9 percent, partly because a New York State Court of Appeals decision required shifting some property to Class 4 Class 4 - commercial property - increased 22.3 percent, partly because some property was shifted to the class from Clas 3.