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Most Fairfax Homeowners See Assessments Rise

Just under three in four Fairfax County residential properties saw a year-over-year increase in assessed value, according to data presented Feb. 20 by county officials.

The average assessment on residential property rose 2.9 percent to $744,526, with increases reported in all three segments of the real-estate market:

• Single-family detached homes – $902,670, up 2.8 percent.

• Townhouse/duplex properties – $551,511, up 3 percent.

• Condominiums – $351,552, up 4.2 percent.

Those increases are generally in line with real-estate market trends over the past year, which saw typical sales prices across Fairfax County rise, albeit at a slower rate than in the two preceding years.

Assessments were up relatively uniformly in each of the county’s nine magisterial districts, with the increases ranging from 2.18 percent in Mount Vernon District to 3.94 percent in Dranesville District.

Assessed valuation is one of two factors that will determine a property’s 2024 tax bill; the other is the real-estate tax rate, to be set in the spring by the Board of Supervisors.

The 2023 rate was slightly below $1.13 per $100 assessed valuation for most county homeowners; those who live in towns or where there are special assessments (such as for operation of the McLean Community Center) pay more.

Tax bills are due in equal installments on July 28 and Dec. 5, although most homeowners with mortgages pay their loan service a monthly charge to account for tax payments.

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About the Author

  • A Northern Virginia native, Scott McCaffrey has four decades of reporting, editing and newsroom experience in the local area plus Florida, South Carolina and the eastern panhandle of West Virginia. He spent 26 years as editor of the Sun Gazette newspaper chain. For Local News Now, he covers government and civic issues in Arlington, Fairfax County and Falls Church.