By MARK HAYWARD
Union Leader Staff

July 21, 2006

Manchester NH – Of the thousands of new tax values sent out to owners of single-family homes in Manchester, not one went to a home valued at less than $115,000.

That’s according to a listing of property values that city officials supplied to the New Hampshire Union Leader upon request.

The data show the lowest valued home in the city to be a 1½-story, three-room house on a tiny lot at 20 S. Beech St. It’s worth $117,400, according to the recently mailed tax values, which are supposed to reflect market prices of April 1, 2006.

On the other end of the price scale (and town), three single-family residences in Manchester top the $1 million mark. The most expensive — at $1,214,100 — is a five-acre lot at 1655 River Road shared by two structures with nine bedrooms and 5,790 square feet between them.

As different as the two properties are, so are the assessments that form the basis of the tax bills. Many people who own low-valued homes will see a tax increase come November, while many owners of expensive properties will get a tax cut.

For example, the tax value of the South Beech Street home rose 99 percent, far above the 80 percent threshold that city assessors have established as an approximate break-even point for tax bills.

If an owner’s assessment increase less than 80 percent, he can expect a tax cut; increases higher than 80 percent will likely mean a tax increase.

Meanwhile, the assessment of the River Road property increased only 73½ percent, meaning the owner of that property will see a reduction in his property tax bill.

“I don’t know what’s fair and not fair. The standard we use is market value,” said Stephan Hamilton, an assessor for the city of Manchester. “We don’t determine who pays what. The market determines that.”

Over the last five years, interest rates dropped enough to make home-ownership affordable for a lot of people, Hamilton said. The large number of new homebuyers on the market helped push up the value of starter homes, he said.

The Union Leader broke down single family homes into three price groups:

Lynda Madore saw the assessment of her three-bedroom, Laval Street house increase 115 percent, to $187,200. That’s a lot for Madore, a single mother of two on one income and a “very tight budget,” she said.

“I don’t know how I will be able to afford to stay in my house,” she wrote to www.unionleader.com. “This new revaluation not only hurts my family but a lot of people, especially the elderly who are on a fixed income.”

It’s not only homeowners of moderate incomes that may be affected by the revaluation. The values of two- and three-family apartments showed a median increase of 105 percent.

And Hamilton said values of commercial rental property — defined as buildings with four or more units — increased 125 percent on average.

Two owners of rental properties, however, said higher taxes might not mean higher rents, at least not soon.

“Normally, it does happen,” said Donna Healy, manager of the 448-unit Countryside Village. But a lot depends on the vacancy rate and the prospect of losing tenants.

“Is it really worth it?” she said about raising rents. “The goal is, you want resident retention.”

Ron Dupont, president of Red Oak Property Management said the soft rental market will prevent him from immediately increasing rents.

“But by the end of the day — it may not be this year or the next year — you’re going to pay for it (with higher rents),” he said.

Across the country, Dupont said, a lot of investment dollars are going into multi-family properties, which are seen as a safe place to park dollars. With all the money chasing rental property, it’s hard to buy them and make a profit, he said.

Meanwhile, Hamilton said industrial property with buildings on it rose 71 percent. Improved commercial property — the biggest category of commercial property — rose 48 percent.

Dupont expects substantial increases.

“They keep talking about affordable housing. How can you have affordable housing when two, three and four families are taking the biggest hit? You’re making it worse,” he said.