Sale prices versus tax assessment

Is City Assessment of any real value, other than to the City?

I like looking at numbers, specifically numbers that have some bearing on the real estate market in the cities that I work in. I ran a simple MLS report looking for all the SOLD transactions in the City of Chesapeake between 3/9/2009 and 4/8/2009.

The resulting report showed 181 Sold Listings, the average sold property is a 3 Bedroom, 2 Bath, 2,095 Sqr Ft home with a sale price of $272,000 sqr feet with an average of 97 days on the market.

I then looked at city assessments versus the sale price on the average home sold. I ran my second report based on the average sold home in Chesapeake, Va., with a sales price between $260K and $280K, and a closed date between 3/9/2009 and 4/8/2009.

The resulting report only identified 12 homes out of the original 181 sold homes in Chesapeake. The average sale price of these homes was $270,000 for a 3 bedroom, 2 bath home with 2,013 sq. ft.

I then looked at the sale price and the tax assessment of each home. Here is what I found:

8 out of 12 homes sold for less than the city assessment!

In the cities I work in, the city assessment should reflect the Fair Market Value of a home. In the sample case, I found that the city of Chesapeake Va, was off by an average 7%. On a home assessed at $200,000 the actual Fair Market Value would be about $186,000. Currently the city of Chesapeake charges $1.04 per $100 of assessed value in Non-Mosquito controlled areas.

Assuming the city over valued a home by $14,000 resulting in an assessment of $200,000 the tax paid will be $2,080. The tax paid on the fair market value, $186,000 would be $1,934 resulting in a difference of $146. According to the City of Chesapeake, there are 72,000 homes. If just half of these homes pay $146 over what they should be, the City of Chesapeake Va. may be over charging the home owners by as much as $5,256,000.