Despite dismal revenues from declining oil prices, the state’s largest real estate market remains strong.
In an annual presentation to city officials on property values, Anchorage’s municipal assessor Bryant Robbins showed a steady rise in overall property values.
Residential units are the bulk of Anchorage’s property tax base–assessed this year at $25.53 billion, a growth of about 3.5 percent percent over last year. On average, homes sold at $11,888 above their assessed values, indicating a healthy market, according to a spokesperson for the Mayor’s Administration. The average sale price in 2015 was $366,592.
New construction was down slightly from the year before by three percent. The total number of residential and commercial units brought online is still about half what it was in Anchorage before the financial crash in 2008.
Anchorage’s real estate market has historically tracked closely to the price of oil. That trend has come apart over the last year, as the per barrel price has plummeted to record lows, but the city’s total assessed property values have continued on a modest climb upwards.
Zachariah Hughes reports on city & state politics, arts & culture, drugs, and military affairs in Anchorage and South Central Alaska.
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