For the third year in a row, total property value in Crow Wing County increased.
According to property assessment data released by Crow Wing County, the total assessed value of all properties in the county increased from $9.9 billion as of January 2015, to $10.2 billion on Jan. 2 of this year. This is an increase of $311 million, or 3 percent.
Gary Griffin, Crow Wing County Land Services supervisor, said the change is driven by the increased value of seasonal and residential properties.
"For the most part that trend has been going on for about three years now," Griffin said.
---
ADVERTISEMENT
---
He added the trend was evenly distributed among area cities, with no particular area of the county necessarily an outlier.
"A big driver of those lakeshore values are second-home buyers," Griffin said.
But, Griffin said, it's not just the weekenders driving the increase in values.
ADVERTISEMENT
"The other thing is, just regular housing," Griffin said. "Forget about the lakeshore. We've seen a pretty good significant increase on off-water property."
In the wake of the Great Recession, the county's estimated market value of properties decreased by 17 percent, from $12 billion to $9.9 billion. Overall property value assessments began to decrease in 2008 and hit a low point in 2012 with a countywide assessment of $9.5 billion. In 2013, however, property values increased and have since seen positive growth.
