Annual Report 2019 - 2020

In addition to new construction and changes in ownership,
the assessed values of business property, i.e. machinery,
equipment, computers, and fixtures grew by virtually the
same amount as the prior year 3.3 percent, another indication
that our local economy is beginning to cool.
The growth in assessed value is the direct result of several
economic factors. For the first time in history, the Bay
Area has four million jobs, fed by the technology sector.
In San Jose, the median household income increased
21.8 percent in the last three years to $122,000, the 10th
highest in the U.S. The unemployment rate in Santa Clara
County is 2.1 percent, lower than the state at 4.3 percent
and the nation at 3.6 percent. If the Bay Area was a country,
it would be the 18th largest economy in the world.
The Silicon Valley office market closed on another record
year, a much longer period of expansion than the “dot-com
boom” 19 years ago. In the first quarter of 2019, office
vacancy in Silicon Valley was down to 7.4 percent from
25 percent in 2009. At the same time, 7.7 million square
feet of office space was under construction, the most since
2000. Seventy-five percent of the 7.7 million square feet
was pre-leased before completion of construction. One
company, Google, has 20 million square feet of office
space under lease in all of Silicon Valley, most of it in
Santa Clara County. The vacancy county-wide was down
to 1.7 percent for warehouse, and 2.7 percent for industrial,
an 18-year low. In addition, apartment rents have
increased 52 percent since 2010, with vacancy below five
percent.
In 2010, at the bottom of the recession, the total assessed
value of all new construction was just under $1 billion.
Increases in the growth of new construction and changes
in ownership for commercial properties were particularly
astounding, jumping from $349 million to $5.3 billion
and $401 million to $2.6 billion respectively. In San Jose
alone, the increase in new multifamily housing leaped
from $64 million in 2010 to over half a billion in 2019.
Geographic Differences
Reflecting the push toward urban infill development along
heavy rail corridors (e.g. BART and CalTrain), development
and completion of new office projects in cities like
Milpitas and Mountain View triggered strong yearover-year
assessment roll growth of 9.0 and 8.5 percent
respectfully, in stark comparison to the previous year
when these cities had the lowest rate of growth. San Jose
and Sunnyvale, along with five other local jurisdictions,
recorded growth greater than the County wide average.
In contrast, cities in the unincorporated portions of the
county and Cupertino experienced a slowdown in their
growth, 1.9 percent and 3.3 percent respectfully.
Challenges and Accomplishments
I continue to receive countless letters, emails, and personal
anecdotal stories from property owners and taxpayers
complimenting my staff on their professionalism and
knowledge, promptness in responding, politeness, and
willingness to listen and take time to explain complex
assessment issues.
The results of our efforts are noteworthy, and the following
are a few of our most significant accomplishments.
Assessor’s Office
• For the 24 th consecutive year, completed the annual
assessment roll by the state-mandated July 1, 2019
deadline
• Completed 99.2 percent of real property assessments
• Completed 99.56 percent of business personal property
assessments
• Completed 898 audits of companies mandated by state
law
• Processed 100 percent of recorded deeds
• Completed 100 percent of exemptions filed by 4,195
eligible non-profit organizations
• Processed 61,905 business assessments
• Processed 62,075 title documents,
• Successfully defended assessed values before the Assessment
Appeals Board, retaining 96.1 percent of the
assessed value in dispute
• Resolved 2792 assessment appeals
AV Added per New Construction
$14,000,000
$12,000,000
$10,000,000
$8,000,000
$6,000,000
$4,000,000
$2,000,000
AV Added per Change in Ownership
Multifamily Housing
Commercial and Industrial
AV Added per New Construction
Multifamily Housing
Commercial and Industrial
$3,000,000
$2,500,000
$2,000,000
$1,500,000
$1,000,000
$500,000
AV Added per Change in Ownership
$-
2010-2011 2011-2012 2012-2013 2013-2014 2014-2015 2015-2016 2016-2017 2017-2018 2018-2019 2019-2020
$-
4
Multifamily Housing Commercial and Industrial Multifamily Housing Commercial and Industrial
Santa Clara County Annual Report 2019