RALEIGH, N.C. – Wake County just finished re-appraising property, but it may not mean an increase in property tax for some homeowners.

• Wake County recently underwent a property tax re-appraisal
• The county did the appraisal after four years; usually it did them after eight years
• It should give homeowners a more accurate reflection of market value

Wake, which usually re-appraised property every eight years, just finished a four-year appraisal. Tax experts say it should mean a more accurate reflection of the market value.

“Now your tax assessment can be very close, if not spot-on, to your market value. For buyers, they feel like they're paying an appropriate price for houses, when a year ago, three years ago, definitely four years ago when the last reappraisal happened, the tax values were much lower than the current market value,” realtor Andrew Truesdale says.

The increase or decrease in property taxes depends on municipalities and county commissioners going through a budget process and coming up with a revenue-neutral rate.

“If someone's property increased in value less than 20 percent, at revenue-neutral, their tax bill should go down. And vice versa, if their value increased more than 20 percent at revenue-neutral, their tax bill probably will be higher than the prior year,” Wake County Tax Administrator Marcus Kinrade says.

Wake County has a property tax portal that you can use to compare old and new tax rates.