County: Property Assessments Roll Up

After two years of decline, assessed property value in Los Angeles County has increased 1.49 percent, producing a property roll of more than $1 trillion, according to the county assessor’s annual report.

The report, which was released Thursday, also has shown a 1.7 percent increase in assessed value in Hermosa Beach.

"We should be optimistic that this increase in the 2011 roll indicates that the real estate market in Los Angeles County and California is growing stronger and continues to recover," said Los Angeles County Assessor John Noguez in a statement following the release of the new figures.

This year’s gross total property roll in the county, measuring to $1,105,742,244,670, is $16.2 billion more than last year.

The gross total of the tax roll is assembled before tax-exempt assessments are deducted, including religious and church entities.

After such deductions, the net roll total for the county was $1.056 trillion, up .36 percent from last year.

In Hermosa Beach, this year’s figures were measured to be:

(Source: Los Angeles County Assessor's office)

New construction brought an added $3.9 billion to the roll countywide, according to reports, and assessments based on home sales resulted in a $12.8 billion boost.

"These increases offset reduced assessments resulting from the housing market, which is still struggling to correct, as well as reductions in personal business property and fixtures assessments," according to the statement from the county assessor's office.

Also contributing to the increase "was the reversal of last year’s unusual .237 percent negative inflation factor based on the California Consumer Price Index. Under Proposition 13, the CCPI is used to calculate assessment increases on property which does not change ownership," Noguez said. "This year’s return to a positive CCPI factor of .753 percent added $6.1 billion to the Roll."

Other Southern California areas with increased rolls included San Diego, Orange, Kern and Santa Clara, Noguez said.

— City News Service contributed to this report.