Assessor-Recorder Joaquín Torres Presents 2025-2026 Assessment Roll

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Abby Fay, abigail.fay@sfgov.org

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – Assessor-Recorder Joaquín Torres announced that the City and County of San Francisco’s total local assessment roll (secured and unsecured property) has grown to approximately $353.6 billion for 2025-2026 after exemptions. This represents an increase of approximately $6 billion over the previous year, or 1.79%.

The assessment roll is comprised of the total taxable value of all real and business personal property in San Francisco, approximately 211,547 parcels and 32,500 business assessments as of the January 1, 2025 lien date, reflecting processed changes in values between January 1 and December 31, 2024.

“The rate of growth in this year’s assessment roll reflects the pandemic’s lingering impact on our local economy and the unprecedented associated rise in our workloads. At the same time, our staff have been resolving a record number of assessment appeals, finalizing the build out of a once-in-a-generation new property assessment tax system and implementing new service initiatives to better serve the public. I’m proud of the work they do in the face of mounting critical responsibilities to deliver the fair and accurate assessments that lay the groundwork for the financial stability that all San Franciscans rely on,” said Assessor-Recorder Joaquín Torres

Each year by July 1, the Office of the Assessor-Recorder identifies, locates, values and enrolls all taxable property in San Francisco in accordance with State and local laws. This year's assessment roll close required extraordinary effort as the Office is managing an unprecedented rise in appeals and launching a new property assessment tax system—all efforts that require significant resources. The Office is also improving services through responsibly adding more staff to address processing timelines, finding new efficiencies and providing additional investments in our technological infrastructure.

As our Office reaches the final stages of building a new, modern assessment system, we’ve also pursued additional innovative improvements to service.

• In the last year, the Office launched a first-in-the-state free public property record viewing service, providing San Franciscans with free and online access to over 7 million public records.
• Additionally, the Office completed an overhaul of the Assessor-Recorder's public website with a better user experience, enhanced language access through translations and streamlined access to information on the complex State laws that guide property assessment here in San Francisco and across California.

These recent initiatives build off additional upgrades completed in the last few years, including upgrading our phone and in-person check-in systems for San Franciscans reaching out to our office, digitizing records, decreasing fees for purchasing online copies of public records and creating an appointment service for help with property tax exemptions.

Secured Assessment Roll Growth Factors (Real Property)

Despite changes in the economy post-pandemic, San Francisco’s secured roll continued to grow, although at a more modest rate than previous years. This is because San Francisco’s secured assessment roll is large, diverse in property type and moderated by State law, namely Proposition 13. Assessed values on a majority of properties are below market value as a result of Proposition 13 (passed by California Voters in 1978), such that even when market values decrease in a downturn, they may not provide a basis for a temporary reduction in assessed value, as the market value is still above the assessed value.

While many factors influence secured assessment roll growth, it is primarily driven by the California Consumer Price Index and processed assessable events, such as new construction and changes in ownership. Additional factors that affect the rate of secured assessment roll growth include, but are not limited to, temporary reductions in assessed value under Proposition 8 (passed by California voters in 1978), exemptions and any potential reductions in assessed value (temporary or permanent) from assessment appeals that will be resolved in the future.

• This year, the California Consumer Price Index and the associated 2% increase in the assessed value of properties was the largest contributor to secured roll growth at 80%, adding approximately $6.40 billion in assessed value before exemptions.
• Processed new construction accounts for an estimated 16% of secured roll growth, adding approximately $1.26 billion in assessed value before exemptions.
• Processed changes in ownership account for an estimated 4% of secured roll growth, adding approximately $340 million in assessed value before exemptions.

Property owners who did not have an assessable event, such as new construction or a change in ownership, see their assessments increase by the California Consumer Price Index (CCPI) or 2%, whichever is lower, as dictated by State law Proposition 13. This year, per State law, properties saw a 2% increase in assessed value due to the CCPI being above 2%.

Exemptions

A key part of preparing the annual assessment roll in accordance with State and local laws is processing and applying exemptions. The 2025-2026 roll includes exemptions totaling approximately $24 billion in assessed value. These exemptions result in over $280 million in property tax savings for homeowners, disabled veterans, churches, schools, museums, affordable housing projects and others.

Temporary Declines-in-Value

California’s Proposition 8 allows for properties whose market value has dropped below their assessed value to receive a temporary reduction in value. Generally, once a property has received a temporary decline-in-value, the Assessor’s Office reviews the assessed value each year and adjusts it as appropriate until the market value returns to or exceeds the assessed value. Homeowners can also request a review of their assessed value each year for free through our Informal Review Service. The 25-26 assessment roll includes 7,455 properties that qualified for a Proposition 8 temporary decline-in-value stemming from the Office’s annual review as of the January 1, 2025, lien date, equating to a temporary reduction in total assessed value of $4.5 billion.

Unsecured Property (Business Personal Property & Possessory Interest)

Before exemptions, the value of Unsecured property decreased by 2.25% to a total assessed value of $23.4 billion. Unsecured property includes business personal property (such as fixtures, equipment and machinery used in connection with a business) and possessory interest (real estate owned by a government agency that is leased, rented, or used by a private individual or entity for their own exclusive use). The Unsecured Assessment Roll accounts for 6.2% of the total assessment roll, before exemptions. The rate of unsecured roll growth has been impacted by the Board of Equalization’s Annual Asset Factors for Business Personal Property as well as a decrease in assessable properties.

Property Tax Revenue

The 2025-2026 Assessment Roll is expected to generate an estimated $4.2 billion in property tax revenue. To address the financial uncertainty around possible reductions flowing from assessment appeals, when an assessment appeal is filed, the City puts a portion of funds on reserve to cover refunds that may result from appeals. In their June 2025 Revenue Letter, the Controller outlines that the FY2025-2026 budget assumes refunds of $129.1 million in General Fund revenue from the appeals of assessed values filed in FY2025-2026. The Revenue Letter also cites that the volume of assessment appeals decisions and refunds will likely remain elevated until accumulated past years’ assessment appeals filings are resolved, putting a downward pressure on revenues.

Notices of Assessed Value

Individual Notices of Assessed Values have been sent out by the Office of the Assessor-Recorder to all property owners in the City and County of San Francisco. These values serve as the basis for property tax bills that owners receive from the Treasurer & Tax Collector in October. For additional questions please visit our website at www.SF.gov/ASR or contact us through the 311 Customer Service Center by dialing 3-1-1 (within the City’s 415 area code) or by calling 628-652-8100.