Property taxes are going up substantially in Northwest Philadelphia – and more than anywhere else, in dollar amount, in Chestnut Hill – even though the neighborhood’s 19 percent increase in property assessments matches the citywide average.

That is because Chestnut Hill’s single-family houses would sell for more than anywhere else in the city – so the typical “assessed value” is the most in Philadelphia. Since higher home values mean higher taxes, the average increase in Chestnut Hill will be $1,500 – almost five times the citywide average increase of $330. 

But, on the other hand, the first citywide reassessment in two years concluded that the market values of homes in plenty of other neighborhoods are rising even more rapidly. 

According to a Philadelphia Inquirer analysis of the fresh assessments of single-family homes, the biggest average assessment boost, 50 percent, was in the Kingsessing neighborhood, which lies just west of the rapidly gentrifying section of West Philadelphia home to the University of Pennsylvania. 

That same analysis found that valuations went up 34 percent in East Germantown, 32 percent in West Germantown, 21 percent in East Mount Airy and 14 percent in West Mount Airy. (The Office of Property Assessment did not respond to a request for data that would allow The Local to calculate changes by neighborhood.)

“Our residential real estate market is strong,” Finance Director Rob Dubow said at an Aug. 5 news conference announcing the assessment’s completion. “That’s a good indicator for the Philadelphia market’s desirability, but again it means taxes will go up.”

The reassessment is the first since 2022 and is supposed to reflect two years of change in the real estate market, although the new taxable value of some homes that have recently sold – including several in Chestnut Hill, a spot check found – are still substantially less than their sales price.

The rate of the increases, citywide and across neighborhoods, appears generally in line with those announced in 2022. Then, the city calculated property values had increased 31 percent throughout Philadelphia and 33.5 percent in Chestnut Hill – but over the previous three years, versus 19 percent for both the city and the Hill in the more recent two years.

People who live in the homes they own qualify for the city’s homestead exemption, which means they pay tax on the assessed value minus $100,000. The City Council this year increased that tax break from $80,000 and also froze property tax increases for low income homeowners. It did not alter the property tax rate, which is 1.3998 percent.

For example, an owner-occupied house assessed at $703,000 – the median sales price in the 19118 zip code in June, according to the real estate company Redfin – will receive an $8,441 property tax bill due March 31.

The School District gets 56 percent of the revenue and the city gets the rest.

Those who think their assessments are too high can appeal to the Board of Revision of Taxes or ask the Office of Property Assessment for a less formal First Level Review. The appeal deadline is set by state law as Oct. 7  – less than two months away. The small window is because the city was four months late completing the reassessment.

The delay occurred because the city needed to stress-test the results of the reassessment, which was largely driven by a computer-assisted mass appraisal system in use for a second time, to assure the process met industry standards for fairness and accuracy, Dubow said. The software uses municipal records for each building’s age, square footage, condition and lot size – and looks at recent sales of nearby homes.

“Apparently, our home must be located atop a gold mine or oil field,” someone identified only as Luna B. of East Mount Airy posted on the Nextdoor platform. “Philly must be nicer than I thought!”

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported how the city and the School District share tax revenues. It is the School District that gets 56 percent, not the city.