Regrid, a provider of national land parcel data based in Detroit, has released the Detroit Assessment Gauge to help homeowners determine if they may be paying too much in property taxes.
Many Detroiters are familiar with the issue of over assessed home values and the resulting high property tax bills that plagued the city in the 2010s. At this point, the widely cited figure of $600 million in over taxation from 2010 to 2016 is well known. But there has not been an easy way for Detroiters to understand if they should be worried about their home’s assessed value today.
Regrid used 2022 assessment data from the city of Detroit’s Office of the Assessor as well as its own land parcel data to evaluate privately owned single-family homes in Detroit, about 70 percent of the city’s housing units, for one potential indication of over assessment — inconsistent assessments.
This means Regrid can assign approximately 70 percent of Detroit’s occupied housing units Assessment Gauge Scores which compare a home’s assessed value per square foot to that of comparably sized properties within the same census tract.
The Detroit Assessment Gauge is a free tool for residents of single-family homes in Detroit to use to evaluate their properties for potential overassessment. It is also a proof of concept that Regrid hopes to bring to other cities across the country.
Residents of other cities interested in their own local Assessment Gauge can go here.
Accompanying the release of the Detroit Assessment Gauge is a report that provides background on the creation of the tool, guidance on how to use the Detroit Assessment Gauge, and citywide findings identified by Regrid during its research and development. The full report can be found here.
