Asheville area luxury houses sold for up to $4 million in Q1; what taxes do they pay?

ASHEVILLE - Buncombe County mansions sold for millions of dollars in the first quarter of the year, according to recent Citizen Times reporting, some with features such as infinity pools and elevators − but when it comes to taxes, some paid less than half their sales values.

Having a tax value less than the sales prices is not unusual. A house taxed at 70.8% of sales value was near the exact middle of the pack in 2023, county and state data showed.

That means the median priced home of $443,940 would be taxed at a value of $314,310 (giving it an annual break in county taxes alone of $646).

But more expensive homes as a group pay a lower percentage. The top 10 sellers for January through March had a median tax value to sales value ratio of 54%.

• $4 million - 73 Crestridge Drive - assessed $2.2 million (57% of market value)
• $3.5 million - 308 Flowering Vine Court - assessed $1.8 million (51% of market value)
• $3.4 million - 27 Beaverbrook Court - assessed $2.2 million (65% of market value)
• $3 million - 21 Greenmont Drive - assessed $1.5 million (50% of market value)
• $2.9 million - 23 Lance Valley Court - assessed $1.3 million (45% of market value)
• $2.7 million - 1 Evelyn Place - assessed $1.5 million (57% of market value)
• $2.6 million - 807 Blackthorne Lane – assessed $1.6 million (62% of market value)
• $2.2 million - 8 Hemlock Road - assessed $1.8 million (83% of market value)
• $2.2 million - 39 Bent Creek - assessed $885,000 (41% of market value)
• $2.2 million - 35 Beadle Lane - assessed $1,058,000 (49% of market value)

County data showed of homes that sold for more than $1 million, the median was taxed at 62% of sales value. For those that sold between $500,00 and $750,000 it was 64% and for sales between $300,000 to $500,000 it was 64%.

(Remember, tax value is only the starting point for calculating tax bills. The tax value has to be divided by 100 and multiplied by the tax rate assigned by elected bodies. That's 49.8 cents for just Buncombe taxes. Or $1.01 combined for county, Asheville and Asheville City Schools taxes.)

One reason is the fastest-rising prices look to among the costliest mansions − and countywide reassessments of all Buncombe properties happen only ever four years, giving time for tax-appraised prices and sales prices to grow out of whack, County Assessor Keith Miller said. Along with extremely high demand for Asheville area mansions, other reasons include state laws that limit how values can be set and the large amount of resources necessary to do more intensive assessments, Miller said.

Following reporting on the disparities by the Citizen Times and pressure from tax reform activists, Miller has pledged greater efforts for fairness, adding a luxury home specialist and digging deeper into public and private data, looking for things such as unnoticed additions to homes.

But tax reform activists say more could still be done.

"There are a lot less high wealth houses than middle income houses, so why would you need more people with less houses?" said Joe Minicozzi, a private urban planner based in Asheville. One change Minicozzi has suggested is increasing the frequency of countywide reassessments to once a year.

That's an idea Miller has balked at, citing increased cost and staffing. Now, though, he is saying it is something to be considered if the Buncombe Board of Commissioners want to pursue it.

"If the commissioners want to discuss that with me after the 2025 reappraisal, then we'll all come to the table and discuss it," he said.

Joel Burgess has lived in WNC for more than 20 years, covering politics, government and other news. He's written award-winning stories on topics ranging from gerrymandering to police use of force. Got a tip? Contact Burgess at jburgess@citizentimes.com, 828-713-1095 or on Twitter @AVLreporter. Please help support this type of journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.