Average sales price for Downey home reaches $590,072

Property values in Downey and all of L.A. County are rising. Photo by Joan Anderson, DowneyDailyPhotos.com. 

Downey property values continue to climb, according to data released by the Downey Association of Realtors.

Downey had 69 new real estate listings in June 2017, up 13% from 2016. The average sales price was $590,072, up 5% from a year ago. 

A shortage in inventory is contributing to the rising prices. In Downey, there are currently 138 homes for sale.

Meanwhile, L.A. County property values increased 6.04%, the seventh consecutive year of growth for local real estate, according to statistics released by the L.A. County Assessor. 

The gross value of all taxable property in L.A. County reached a record $1.474 trillion. 

The increase in value “reflects the continuing strength of the real estate market and high demand for new multi-family residential properties in the Los Angeles County area,” said L.A. County Assessor Jeff Prang. 

The 2017 Assessment Roll contains the details of over 2,300,000 taxable real estate parcels, 170,000 business/personal property assessments, 26,000 boats, and 3,000 aircraft. 

Photo by Pam Lane, DowneyDailyPhotos.com

As a means of providing tax relief to small business owners, Prang initiated a change to the Low-Value Ordinance by increasing the threshold from $2,000 to $5,000. The change provides property tax relief to more than 50,000 small businesses by relieving them of a property tax obligation for equipment, machinery, office furnishings, and even some boats and aircraft that have an assessed value below $5,000.

Transfers of ownership, such as real estate sales, caused the greatest increase in the growth of the Assessment Roll at 3.13%. Additional factors of growth include decline-in-value restorations (0.38%) and new construction (0.55%). Decline-in-Value restorations include properties in areas still recovering from the property value downfall of the economic recession. 

The annual inflation-adjusted trend, which is responsible for the increase in property taxes for properties that did not experience any form of changes in ownership or construction, added an additional 1.77% to the value of the Roll. This is consistent with Proposition 13 requirements, which limit increases to a property’s base value to 2% a year – or less if the California CPI is less than 2%.

From 2007 through 2010, the economic recession caused a decline in real estate values resulting in diminishing assessment roll values. However, between 2011 and 2016, an improving economy and a thriving real estate market in the County of Los Angeles resulted in consecutive increases in the Assessment Roll of 1.36%, 2.20%, 4.66%, 5.47%, 6.13%, and 5.58%, respectively. 

With a growth of 6.04%, the 2017 Assessment Roll continues on this upward trend and illustrates strong market recovery, Prang said.