Reassessment

A reassessment — also called a revaluation or reappraisal — is when your county assessor updates the assessed value of your property to reflect current market conditions. It can happen on a fixed cycle, after a sale or new construction, or jurisdiction-wide as a mass appraisal. A reassessment that overshoots your home's true value is exactly what a property tax appeal can correct.

Why reassessments happen

Property values drift over time, and assessments would grow stale and unfair without periodic updates. Reassessment keeps the tax burden distributed equitably: without it, owners whose values were set during a market peak would overpay, while those set during a dip would underpay. State revenue departments describe revaluation as the process of periodically measuring and capturing changes in property value.

How cycles work

Reassessment frequency varies widely by state and county. Some jurisdictions revalue every year; others reappraise every three, five, six, or more years on a fixed schedule. Outside the cycle, individual properties are often reassessed when they change hands or undergo major construction or improvement.

A concrete example

Say your county runs a four-year revaluation cycle. For three years your assessed value holds steady while the market climbs. In the fourth year, the assessor revalues every home in the area at once — and your assessment jumps to catch up with several years of appreciation. That kind of large, lumpy increase is a common moment for homeowners to discover an over-assessment and consider an appeal.

How it affects your tax and your appeal

A reassessment can raise (or lower) the assessed value that your effective tax rate is applied to, so it directly moves your bill. Because reassessment is a mass-appraisal process applied to whole neighborhoods, it can miss the specifics of your home. If the new value lands above what comparable sales support, that's a textbook case for an appeal.

Related

• What is an over-assessment?
• How assessors value your home
• How to appeal property tax
• Assessed Value vs Market Value
• Comparable Sales (Comps)
• Effective Property Tax Rate

Sources

• Washington State Department of Revenue — Revaluation (revaluation as periodic measurement of value changes): https://propertytax.dor.wa.gov/programs/revaluation
• Wake County, NC — Revaluation (county-wide revaluation and cycle): https://www.wake.gov/departments-government/tax-administration/real-estate/revaluation