Land Value Changes For 2025

HOUSTON COUNTY
MESSAGE FROM
THE HOUSTON
COUNTY ASSESSOR
LAND VALUE
CHANGES FOR 2025
Many areas in Houston County will see changes in land values
for 2025. With the record high sale
prices of property over the last few
years, the value of properties have
changed significantly. This has resulted in property values increasing
rapidly to keep up with the market.
The job of the Houston County
Assessor’s Office is to track and
monitor the sales of properties in
the county and then adjust values
to represent what properties are
selling for. The amount the property values need to be adjusted is
determined by what buyers and
sellers are asking and paying for
properties. The regulations for adjusting values are enforced by the
Minnesota Department of Revenue. Not only does Houston County monitor sales, but the Minnesota
Department of Revenue does as
well. They require that all county
assessors adjust values to be within a percentage of what properties
are selling for. The range the state
allows is 90% to 105%. This percentage is calculated by dividing
the assessor’s estimated market
value of a property that sold by
the actual sale price of that property. This is called a sales ratio. The
assessor’s office separates most
sales by cities and townships, except commercial sales that are analyzed county wide, due to a lack
of annual sales data. Using the
sales from each area a sales ratio is
calculated. The state requires that
the median sales ratio be used for
each area. If this ratio does not fall
within the states required 90% to
105% an adjustment to value must
be made.
The assessor’s office does not
calculate or determine taxes or tax
amounts. Only the value and classification of properties are calculated
by the assessor, following the Minnesota Department of Revenue’s
rules and regulations. Most people
think raising or lowering property
values will increase or decrease
revenue for the county. The only
way to increase or decrease revenue for the county is to increase or
decrease levy amounts. The value
of a property is only used to determine the percentage each property
pays for those levies. Minnesota’s
valuation system is designed with
the goal that each property be
valued at its estimated market value, based on sales in the market,
resulting in a fair assessment and
taxation of each property.
This year the assessor’s office
discovered, while going through
sales in the county, that land values
for both cities and rural home sites
were causing ratios to fall below
the mandated 90% minimum ratio.
Because of this, land value adjustments needed to be made. Some
land in cities and for rural home
sites had not been adjusted for
many years, causing that land to
be significantly undervalued. Most
cities will notice that the majority
of lot values are increasing for the
2025 valuation. In the rural areas,
home site values will increase from
$40,000 in 2024 to $50,000 for
2025. Values for additional building
site acreage also will increase from
$3,000 per acre in 2024 to $7,000
per acre for 2025.
Additional land and building
changes were also needed to meet
the minimum ratio requirements in
certain areas, listed below:
Land Decreases
Tillable Land -3% to -5%
Land Increases
Woods +$400/ acre
Pasture+$500/acre
RIM Land +$200/ acre
Perpetual Easement Land +$200/
acre
Native Prairie Land +$2,000/ acre
Wetlands +$1,200/ acre
Quarry Site +$15,000/ site
Quarry Acres +$3,500/ acre
Commercial Site +$10,000/ site
Commercial Excess Site +$2000/
acre
Commercial HWY44 Front Foot,
(Caledonia) +$400/ Front Foot
Average Additional Building &
House Increases Due to Sales
La Crescent Township +20%
Spring Grove Commercial +20%
Mound Prairie Township, (not Valley
High) +30%
Mound Prairie Valley High +10%
Hokah City +30%
Most Other Townships +5% to
15%
Most Cities+5% to 15%
Published in
The Caledonia Argus
March 20, 2024
1381329