St. Louis County Assessor Jake Zimmerman on Monday released preliminary real property values for most properties in St. Louis County.

The values reflect continuing declines for many properties: the median residential property is down 7.0 percent, while many properties in areas with high levels of foreclosure sales are down 12 percent or more.

In the Mehlville area, the preminary numbers show as 6.8 percent drop in residential median value. Commercial parcel counts dropped 0.50 percent.

“The good news is that sales volume is finally picking up and the real estate market appears to be turning around. But our economy still has some work to do before the majority of property values begin rising again," Zimmerman said in a press release. "These values reflect the continuing difficulty in the local real estate market over the past two years. While some individual properties and neighborhoods have seen value increases, most of St. Louis County real estate has continued to experience declines.”

The Assessor’s office is required by law to establish the fair market value of real property as of Jan. 1 of each reassessment year (odd years). While the real estate market is ever-changing, state law requires a single snapshot in time of each property on Jan. 1, 2013, to find its representative value for taxing purposes.

That value is fixed until 2015.

Zimmerman emphasized that these values are preliminary and can be changed by the Assessor’s office until July 1. After the Assessor certifies the assessment roll on July 1, values can only be changed by an order of the St. Louis County Board of Equalization.

“We believe releasing these preliminary values to the public as early as possible will give the public time to review and bring to our attention any issues they may have," Zimmerman said. "I strongly encourage all St. Louis County taxpayers to look at their preliminary values online and let us know of any issues before Missouri law requires me to close the book on this year.”

Reviewing the Numbers

The Assessor's office is encouraging property owners to review their preliminary values online as soon as possible. Property owners should not wait to receive a formal Change of Assessment Notice.

These notices will not be sent until late May to mid-June, and will only be sent to property owners whose values are increasing.

The 2013 preliminary real property values may be viewed online at http://revenue.stlouisco.com/ias.

Copies of all Change of Assessment Notices and Projected Tax Liability Notices will be available at http://revenue.stlouisco.com/ias on May 31.

Based on the preliminary 2013 real property values, this table shows the 2013 median appraised values for St. Louis County school districts.

Note: These percentages do not include new construction that did not exist in 2012, but does include changes in value due to additions and other significant improvements to existing properties.