Map: Where property values surged the most in Mecklenburg County

Now, he and other homeowners are facing triple-digit percentage increases in their property values. Soon, they’ll also face higher tax bills.

What’s happening: Property values surged by 74% across Mecklenburg County on average between the 2019 and 2023 revaluations, an Axios analysis of 2023 revaluation data from the county found. Axios mapped the average changes in each of the county’s census block groups, which are segments of census tracts.

Why it matters: The revaluation’s impacts are being felt by those who can least afford it. Charlotte’s “crescent” to the West, North and East of the city, where low-income people and people of color are concentrated, saw the largest jumps in their values amid rapid gentrification.

Data: Mecklenburg County Assessor’s Office; Map: Alice Feng/Axios

By the numbers: Property values soared in both crescent neighborhoods and parts of the city’s rapidly growing outskirts, data shows.

• The average property in a chunk of Huntersville stretching from just north of Interstate 485 into the town’s downtown is worth 638% more in 2023 than it was in 2019.
• One census block group on the corner of East W.T. Harris Boulevard and The Plaza saw an average increase of 684%.

Of note: The exact amount homeowners can expect to pay in taxes is determined by the tax rates, which the city and county will set in their budgets. The city this week outlined a budget proposal that keeps its tax rate revenue neutral, which means it would take in the same amount of revenue.

• But local governments are balancing keeping taxes low with meeting Charlotte’s growing needs around affordable housing, transit and other priorities.

What they’re saying: Even at revenue neutral, around 90% of homeowners will see higher bills, Ryan Bergman, director of strategy and budget and interim assistant city manager, told reporters in a briefing.

•  Residential properties went from 56% of overall property valuations countywide to 58%. But just that slight difference accounts for $5.8 billion, he says.

• Commercial values increased by less than residential values this year. Some notable properties, like country clubs and malls, are worth less.

Zoom in: Neighborhoods in west and southwest Charlotte that are rapidly changing were among those with the largest increases, too. Properties in Reid Park and Clanton Park skyrocketed by 236% and 154% on average, our analysis found.

Hall says his neighbors are facing sticker shock and he hopes the city will provide tax relief. Growth is already spreading to the West Boulevard corridor from places like South End, and soon, the planned LYNX Silver Line could be at its front door, spurring a wave of development in historically Black neighborhoods the way the Blue Line did.

• “I’m really fearful of the fact that many people who are aging and aging in place will be taxed out,” he says. “I’m concerned from the standpoint that historically African-American communities, both Clanton Park and Reid Park, will not benefit.”