How is the reassessment calculated?
The assessing services company your town chooses to use analyzes recent local sales and lease information to set base land and building values.
Most municipalities in the Monadnock Region use either Vision Government Solutions or Avitar Associates.
A data collector also views the property, recording data about the number of buildings, location, size, age, quality of construction, number of bedrooms and bathrooms, improvements, and other factors.
The data collector will also record information about income-producing properties on site, like short-term rentals or apartments.
How is this different from a refinance appraisal?
Unlike a refinance appraisal, a reassessment for tax purposes relies only on non-distressed sales, meaning it doesn’t include foreclosures or bank sales in its analysis. This means your property value assessed for tax purposes is likely to be different than the value you got in a refinancing.
If you dig into the formula, you may notice your refinance appraisal used more data points. This is why.
What does this mean for property taxes?
Most people won’t see their property taxes increase due to a reassessment because if the majority of assessments in a town go up, the tax rate typically goes down.
To find out if a reassessment is going to affect your tax bill, residents can visit their town’s assessing page or call the assessor’s office to find out the average percent increase in value town-wide.
To calculate the percent increase for your property, subtract the new assessed number from the old, divide the result by the old number, and multiply by 100.
If that number is bigger than the town-wide average, you can expect your property taxes to go up. If it’s the same or less than the average, you won’t see an increase.
Why are assessments going up in NH?
There are several factors that have contributed to many locals seeing significant increases in their assessed property value.
First, bear in mind the last assessment was five years ago, so the leap you’re seeing isn’t year over year, but from 2020 to 2025.
Second, the increases reflect changes in the real estate market, which fluctuates up and down over time, whether or not your property has physically changed. Your home and property might be the same as it was in 2020, but sales data may show people are willing to pay more now for the same property.
What’s going on with housing prices?
The median selling price of a home in Cheshire County has increased dramatically in recent years. From the early 2000s to late 2010s, the median price average fluctuated between $120,000 and $220,000, going up and down over the years.
Since 2019, however, the median price has consistently climbed by at least 8.5 percent each year, according to data from N.H. Realtors. In 2024, it was up to $375,000.
Statewide, low housing inventory and high interest rates have kept prices high. In rural places, remote work and retirees moving in since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic have led to the fastest growth rates of housing prices, according to the N.H. Fiscal Policy Institute.
Can I dispute my assessment?
Yes, your assessment should arrive with information about how to set up an appointment to have a conversation about whether your valuation is accurate.
The N.H. Department of Revenue Administration also has a process for property tax abatement and appeals.
An abatement is a request submitted to local assessing officials asking for a refund of taxes paid due to errors in the data collected about a property, damage that happened during the tax year, or differences in the opinion of value.
If those local officials deny that request, appeals can be made to the Board of Tax and Land Appeals or Superior Court.
Abigail Ham can be reached at 603-355-8554 or aham@keenesentinel.com.
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