Stunning data in this week’s report on annual real estate assessments reflects mostly the impact of the first elements of the massive 10-acre West Falls Church development, the Broad at Washington, Founders Row and other large scale developments coming on line.
Falls Church City Manager Wyatt Shields released a report Tuesday on the annual real estate assessments issued by City assessor Erwving Bailey mailed to all City property addresses this week. Overall, the numbers are up 10.1 percent from a year ago with new construction accounting for more than half of it.
The jump compares to Fairfax County, which saw its property values up by 6.17 percent, according to its board chair Jeff McKay.
Multi-family property values in Falls Church experienced 27.44 percent of that growth, with a whopping 25.62 percent due to new construction coming on line in the past year, mostly at the Hoffman and Associates’ West End project.
As a result, commercial and multi-family new construction accounted for $224.2 million of the total $293.2 million in assessments due to new construction, accounting for 48 percent of the overall increase in assessed values over the last year.
Valued at $293.2 million, new construction accounts for 48 percent of the increase in assessed value. Residential new construction contributed $69 million to this growth; while commercial and multi-family new construction accounted for the remaining $224.2 million of growth.
The total taxable assessed value for all properties within the City of Falls Church as of January 1, 2025, stands at $6,421,642,400. This represents an overall increase of $610.48 million, or 10.51 percent increase, from January 1, 2024.
Total market growth accounts for 5.46 percent and an increase due to new construction is 5.04 percent.
Individual Assessment notices were mailed to property owners in mid-February. Updated assessment information is also available on the City’s public website.
Commenting on these results, Ross Litkenhous, former F.C. City Council member and now chair of the Economic Development Authority, told the News-Press Tuesday that in Falls Church, “We continue to see year over year increases in residential assessments due to the strong desirability of living in Falls Church and the resulting high sale prices buyers have been willing to pay for homes and land in the city.”
He explained, “This has largely been due to the tremendous access and diversity of our retail options and booming business community, coupled with high walkability, green-space and bike-ability scores, all topped off by a best in class public school system. Other local markets have seen less robust growth and Falls Church remains special given the careful attention we have collectively paid to our public services and economic development.”
According to this week’s report, overall residential real estate values have risen 8.57 percent (6.85 percent market growth and 1.72 percent new construction) over the past year.
Single-family homes and townhomes experienced varied changes but overall increased by 8.22 percent and 6.08 percent respectively.
Residential condominiums have seen an 18.39 percent increase due in part to the completion of The Oaks Condominium at West Falls development, the first new condominium development in two decades here.
Overall commercial property values increased 5.54 percent (2.77 percent market growth and 2.77 percent new construction) since January 1, 2024.
The Shields report states that this is attributed to robust performance in the retail and hotel markets and the completion of projects at West Falls Church.
Further, multi-family property values have experienced a significant growth of 27.44 percent, a whopping 25.62 percent due to new construction coming on line in the past year.
Valued at $293.2 million, new construction accounts for 48 percent of the increase in assessed value. Residential new construction contributed $69 million to this growth; while commercial and multi-family new construction accounted for the remaining $224.2 million of growth.
Meanwhile, Jeff McKay, Fairfax County Board chair, announced his proposed budget for the coming fiscal year earlier this week that reflects residential real estate values growing at more than twice the pace of last year, rising by 6.17 percent. All housing types saw significant increases, ranging from 5.84 percent for condominium values to 6.53 percent for townhouses.
But for Fairfax County, on the non-residential side, as anticipated, values were in the negative for the second year in a row, driven primarily by a 7.20 percent decrease in office property values.
Falls Church’s Shields reiterated in his report that assessment calculations are, as set forth in the Virginia Constitution, made to reflect 100 percent of fair market value. Ervwing and the City’s Office of Real Estate Assessment calculates property values annually using mass appraisal techniques that are standard in the real estate assessment industry, Shields said.
The notices of assessments sent to City properties this week are appraisal of the fair market value of the property; and not a tax bill, Shields stated. Based on these numbers, the City Council will adopt in early May annual operating and capital improvements budgets for the coming fiscal year with a real estate tax rate that will form the basis of real estate tax bills that will then go out.
Real estate tax payments will be due to cover the second half of this current fiscal year on June 5, and then in two payments for the next fiscal year (which begins July 1) on Dec. 5, 2025 and June 5, 2026.
The process leading to the adoption of the budgets, and the tax rates derived from them, begins with the School Board adoption of a budget this month that gets rolled into the recommended budget from City Manager Shields next month, which the City Council then deliberates upon, with a series of public hearings, before a final vote on May 12.
Meanwhile, City homeowners seeking to verify the accuracy of their assessments can contact the Office of Real Estate Assessment at 703-248-5022, and any disagreements with the value determined by the assessor can be appealed to the assessor’s office or the Board of Equalization. Deadlines for appealing are April 15 for an assessor review and June 6 for a Board of Equalization review.
