Department of Assessment Issues First-Ever Mid-Term Real Estate Market Analysis

(Mineola, NY) - The Nassau County real estate market is experiencing a severe downturn, according to the first-ever Mid-Year Real Estate Market Report released today by the Department of Assessment. Unless the market turns around, a corresponding drop in assessed property values is likely to be reflected in next January's Preliminary Assessment Roll.

Today's report is the first in a series of regular mid-year reports about the Nassau County real estate market by the Department of Assessment. Bleak sales figures and other key indicators examined for the report show that the downturn is affecting a broad swath of the residential and commercial real estate market in the County.

On the residential side, the mid-term review shows that residential sales volume has dropped by 57 percent between the second half of 2008 (July-December) and the first half of 2009 (January-June). All indicators analyzed showed that the sales prices of homes have fallen by at least 12 percent since July 2008.

On the commercial side, sales prices in the County have declined by 25 percent between 2008 and the first half of 2009. Vacancy rates have increased by 7.5 percent since the fourth quarter of 2008. Sales volume has dropped by 48% between the second half of 2008 (July-December) and the first half of 2009 (January-June).

The mid-year analysis offers property owners a useful illustration of what is happening in Nassau County, according to County Assessor Ted Jankowski. “This is a sophisticated mid-year snapshot of the real estate market in Nassau County, and our outlook for the rest of 2009 based on the most comprehensive data available,” Jankowski said. “Based on the data we anticipate that both residential and commercial assessments will be coming next January 2, 2010 - in comparison to January of 2009.“

Nassau County has over 418,000 properties, with a total market value of $309 billion as of January 2, 2009. But unusual aspects of the County's taxing structure have contributed to public confusion about assessments. Nassau County is the second largest assessing jurisdiction in the State of New York after New York City. But while New York City has only one taxing jurisdiction, Nassau County has 320 taxing jurisdictions, many of them overlapping. Depending on where a property is situated, a Nassau County property owner can be subject to combined levies of up to 22 different taxing entities.

Contrary to widespread belief in Nassau County, assessments are not a tax. Instead, they are used by various taxing entities to determine a property owner's proportionate “share of the tax pie” for each school, town, county, and special taxing entities. Despite the anticipated drop in assessed values, the unusual lag-time in Nassau County between January 2, when assessments are determined, and when they are actually used by taxing jurisdictions to calculate property taxes means they will not be reflected in property tax bills until October of 2011 for school bills and January of 2012 for the general tax bill.

DEPARTMENT OF ASSESSMENT ISSUES FIRST-EVER MID-TERM REAL ESTATE MARKET ANALYSIS

Declining Real Estate Values Likely to be Reflected in Upcoming Assessments