San Mateo County property roll hits record

As of the Jan. 1 lien date for 2020, unemployment was still historically low at 2.1% in San Mateo County, according to the state Employment Development Department, and the county was closing out another year of real estate value increases. The unemployment rate in May was listed at 11.1%, more than five times the record low of 2.1%.

“However, much has changed since that time,” said Church.

On March 16, San Mateo County issued the earliest shelter-in-place order in the United States, effectively shutting down many businesses for a period of time. Additionally, the governor extended the delinquency date for business owners to file annual business property statements from May 7 to June 1. That is causing some concern the disruptions will have a negative impact on next year’s roll since retail and hotel properties are affected and many commercial and residential property owners lost rent through eviction moratoriums.

“The impact on single family residential values remains to be seen,” said Church. “Although early indications show demand still outweighs supply for homes within the county, jobs and unemployment may weigh on the market.”

Church also said his office will monitor market conditions and be proactive in its decline-in-value program which lowers taxable values.

The top five cities with the highest percentage growth in assessed value are Brisbane, up 14.31%; Burlingame, up 11.23%; South San Francisco, up 10.89%; Menlo Park, up 9.22%; and San Carlos, 8.35%. The top five cities with the highest dollar growth in assessed value are South San Francisco, $2.27 billion; San Mateo, $2.15 billion; Redwood City, $1.98 billion; Menlo Park, $1.91 billion; and Burlingame, $1.31 billion. The assessed value increases in these five cities total over 57% of the roll increase for the 2020-21 assessment roll.

Top five cities for new commercial development and that have the greatest amount of major development, consisting of projects that are 80,000 square feet or more, that are pending, approved, or under construction are Redwood City, 15.2 million square feet; Menlo Park, 10.4 million square feet; South San Francisco, 9 million square feet; Brisbane, 8.1 million square feet; and San Mateo, 4.9 million square feet.

The shared property tax funding base is approximately 1% of the county’s property assessment roll and will increase to $2.55 billion. Approximately 45% of revenue is allocated to schools within the county, 25% to the county, 18% to cities, 10% to special districts, and 2% to former redevelopment agencies, according to Church’s office.