REASSESSMENT: JUMP IN VALUES BRINGS CHANGES

A jump in the market value of residential property in Cape Girardeau and surrounding counties is largely responsible for the major reassessment that could push up tax bills for some.

Cape Girardeau County Board of Realtors statistics show the median market value of residential property in Bollinger, Cape Girardeau, Perry and north Scott counties increased $23,250 from 1991 to 1996.

David J. Donley, president of the local Board of Realtors, said some areas experienced tenfold increases in value.

During that period tax assessment values did not keep up with market growth.

Assessed values are calculated at 32 percent of market value for commercial property, 19 percent for residential property and 12 percent for agricultural property.

County assessors use an appraisal index to factor what market values should be. The Missouri Tax Commission has ordered nearly every county in the state to increase its index to better reflect market values when assessing taxes.

"Since 1992, real estate values have gone sky high and have never been adjusted enough," said Cape Girardeau County Assessor Jerry Reynolds.

The Board of Realtors' figures show the median market value for area homes in 1991 was $55,250. By 1996 that amount jumped to $78,500. The biggest single-year increase occurred between 1995 and 1996 when median values went up $7,000.

Donley said higher market values reflect positively on a region. Increased values, while translating to higher property taxes, mean a return on investments for homeowners.

"As appreciation rates go up, people are able to build equity quicker and move on to their next home quicker," Donley said.

At the beginning of the decade, Donley said the annual appreciation rate in the county was between zero and 2 percent. During a major market boom in 1993-94, that figure rose to as high as 10 percent. It has since tapered off to a respectable 3 to 5 percent.

The average sale price for residential property in the city of Cape Girardeau rose $18,580 between 1993 and 1996, up from $71,917 to $90,497.

The increase in sale price was slightly larger in Jackson, going from $78,869 in 1993 to $98,801 in 1996 for a total change of $19,932.

While the conventional wisdom among area real estate agents a few years ago was that homebuyers could get better deals in Jackson than in Cape Girardeau, Donley said that is no longer necessarily the case.

"The trend awhile back was you could get a lot more home for your money in Jackson," Donley said. "Now those homes in Jackson cost more, so the trend has switched back to Cape."

The switch, he said, is the result of supply and demand: As westward migration to Jackson continues, property values of existing homes go up, making it more expensive to move to the city than a few years ago.

"We've got a whole lot of people wanting to move to Jackson, and not that many homes are there because it is a small city," Donley said.

The impact of reassessment on homeowners is difficult to gauge. While Reynolds estimates overall assessed values in the county will rise about 25 percent, individual changes will vary widely from property owner to property owner. Some will even experience decreases.