Property values expected to rise again in Cook County in 2024
Earlier this month, the Cook County Board of Commissioners agreed to increase the amount it takes to make local government function, approving a nine percent preliminary levy for next year.
Despite a levy increase, the county tax rate is expected to go down in 2024, according to Auditor-Treasurer Braidy Powers. The county tax rate is calculated by dividing the county levy by the total county wide property values. The tax rate will go down because property values have increased more than the proposed levy, Powers explained during the Sept. 12 board meeting.
Indeed, property values will rise again next year, following a steady trend of increasing land and home sales and valuations in Cook County, according to Assessor Bob Thompson. The relationship between property values and real estate is a complex one, though an easy way to think of it is that if homes and land are selling for a higher price than their appraised values, it is likely to increase similarly priced homes throughout the county, according to the county assessor.
At the same time, if property values increase across the board, the amount the county needs to collect to operate and serve community members does not change. The levy, or the amount of taxes collected, remains the same regardless of how much property values increase
However, the trend for increasing property values has other impacts. It can make homes unaffordable for people who want to move to Cook County. For taxes payable in 2023, the average increase for any given property in Cook County was 31 percent. For next year, the property values will likely increase nearly 20 percent for properties on water in Cook County, and 11 percent for all remaining properties, Thompson said during a recent interview on WTIP.
WTIP’s Joe Friedrichs spoke with Thompson Sept. 15 about property values and real estate trends in Cook County heading into fall 2023. Listen to the full interview in the audio below.
Joe Friedrichs September 17, 2023
