City assessor reports 2025 estimated market values, cites downtown office declines

City Assessor Rebecca Monquist told the Minneapolis City Budget Committee on March 24 that the office completed its 2025 assessment of estimated market values for roughly 131,000 properties and mailed value notices on about March 14.

Monquist said the citywide estimated market value decreased by just under 1% to about $64,800,000,000 and that new construction added roughly $700,000,000 to the roll. "We recently completed the assessment of 01/02/2025 of estimated market values for approximately 131,000 properties across the city," Monquist said.

The assessment will be used to calculate payable 2026 property taxes, Monquist said, and the office set values using market sales between October 2023 and September 2024. She noted that residential values rebounded modestly this year while downtown commercial office values fell sharply: "Our office market downtown is down about 22%."

Why this matters: property taxes are the city's largest flexible revenue source, and assessment changes affect how that tax burden is distributed. Monquist explained how assessments become taxes, including class rates that cause similarly valued residential and commercial parcels to pay different shares: "[I]f they are both assessed at $300,000, we'll pay different taxes," she said, noting the difference in class rates between residential and commercial property.

Key points from the presentation: - The assessor's office uses Tyler Technologies software for mass appraisal and followed standards used by the International Association of Assessing Officers to measure level and uniformity of assessment. - The median sales ratio for residential sales was 95.4% (the office targets about 95% to align with surrounding jurisdictions), the coefficient of dispersion met acceptable thresholds, and the price-related differential was within acceptable range. - Overall residential market value rose about 2.6% year over year; condominium, townhome and single-family submarkets showed gains. Nearly 45% of residential parcels will see increases of 0–5%. - Commercial and industrial values as a group decreased (commercial down about 8.6%, industrial up about 2.1); the overall commercial/industrial decline on the bottom line was about 5.5%. - Sales volume declined substantially from the 2022 peak; the assessor said transactions are down about 45% from 2022, leaving less sales data to rely on when setting values.

Committee questions focused on timing of neighborhood inspections, Ward 7's larger decline, and the assessor office's recent personnel costs. Monquist confirmed the office has a five-year neighborhood inspection plan but said it may adjust the plan for staffing or data consistency reasons. On Ward 7, she attributed the drop primarily to downtown office market declines.

On budget and staffing, Monquist told the committee the assessor's office went over personnel budget in 2024 by about $1 million because of a classification and market-pay study that required retroactive pay; she described the change as improving the office's ability to recruit and retain staff.

The committee recorded two formal items related to the presentation. The committee directed the clerk to file the 2025 assessor's report and accepted the presentation for the record. Earlier in the meeting the committee approved three appointments to the 2025 Local Board of Appeal and Equalization (motion moved by Chair Ayesha Chugtai; second was recorded but not named). The ayes were recorded and the motion carried; Council Member Palmisano and Council Member Jenkins later asked to be recorded as voting yes.

Votes at a glance: Approve appointments to the 2025 Local Board of Appeal and Equalization — Moved by Chair Ayesha Chugtai; second not specified; outcome: approved (ayes recorded; later recording of Palmisano and Jenkins as yes).