Weak Condo Market Brings a Tax Break

More than 10,000 condominium units in Los Angeles County have been reassessed at a lower rate because of declining market values, Assessor Alexander Pope said Thursday.

Pope said the reassessments reduced market values upon which property taxes are based by $180 million. That will mean a loss to the county of about $2 million in property tax revenue this year, he added.

Individual reappraisals ranged from $100 to $700,000 below previously assessed values, with the average reduction about $17,200. The average annual property tax savings will amount to about $190 per owner, Pope said.

Last June, Pope announced that 1,850 condominiums that had dropped in market value were reappraised. At the same time, he invited condo owners to apply for reassessments if they believed their assessments were too high. Eventually requests to review 28,589 of the county’s 144,158 condominium units were received.

10,463 Units Reassessed

Pope said the just-completed review resulted in 10,463 units being reassessed under provisions of a 1978 voter-approved law mandating assessment reductions if market values dropped. Pope said most of the reassessed units were bought between 1979 and 1981 when condominiums were attracting their highest prices.

Condominium prices fell sharply after that period, but Pope said most owners were unaware that they were entitled to reappraisals.

“I’m sure that none of the (owners) are happy about the fact their condos declined in value rather than gone up, but at least on the property tax level, that (fact) will be a benefit for them,” Pope said. He explained that the affected owners will receive refunds on their 1985-86 taxes and lower bills next year.

“After a countywide solicitation and a massive reappraisal effort, I think we have found all the decline-in-value condos,” said Pope, who is leaving the assessor job this year and is running for the state Board of Equalization.

A total of 6,673 condominiums, or 64% of the reductions, occurred in what Pope’s office described as the west side of the county. The area encompasses Marina del Rey, Inglewood, Culver City, Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, Hollywood and parts of downtown. Reviews were conducted on 20,530 of the 35,490 units in that area.

$700,000 Drop in Value

The largest reappraisal reduced the market value of a penthouse condominium on West Wilshire Boulevard from $1.7 million to $1 million. Records showed that unit, which had been assessed in 1980 at $562,108, was purchased for $1.7 million in November, 1983.

Slightly more than 10%, or 2,227, of the 21,545 units in the North Hollywood, Burbank, Glendale and Van Nuys area also received lower assessments, representing the second-largest area of reductions. Much smaller numbers were recorded in other portions of the county.

Pope said there appears to be no corresponding need for reappraisals of the nearly 1.5 million detached single-family homes in the county. But he encouraged homeowners who believe their property has declined in value to contact his office.