This story was originally published in the Asheville Watchdog.
Tax notices with newly assessed property values are now reaching Buncombe County homeowners, causing sticker shock for many, with some increases upward of 100 percent.
In the upscale Grove Park/Town Mountain area, former Asheville Mayor Lou Bissette, 82, saw the valuation of his longtime home on Old Toll Road rise from $970,100 to nearly $1.7 million, a 75 percent increase.
“This may make me go on to the (retirement) home,” he joked.
Suzette Caldwell’s West Asheville home and hair salon soared by 98 percent, from $183,900 to $363,500.
“My mouth dropped open so far I had to pick it up,” she said. “My heart started racing.”
In Shiloh, Anita White-Carter, 80, said she found the 91 percent increase in the appraisal of her 55-year-old, one-story house so stunning “I almost fell out of my chair.”
“I just can’t imagine if (the value) almost doubled, what my tax rate is going to be,” she said.
Buncombe has not released an average of the new tax values, but an Asheville Watchdog sampling of more than 80 residential properties showed increases across neighborhoods ranging from 25 percent to 324 percent. The average assessed value of the sampling rose 169 percent from 2021, the last time the county adjusted values.
Historically Black neighborhoods and those with some of the most affordable properties once again saw significant increases: an average of 86 percent in Southside, 72 percent in Shiloh and 60 percent in East End, according to The Watchdog’s sample.
Wealthiest neighborhoods see steepest increases in sample
But unlike the last reassessment in 2021, when lower income neighborhoods were disproportionately affected, the wealthiest parts of Buncombe saw some of the steepest increases.
In Reynolds Mountain in north Asheville, property values more than doubled on several single family homes. The value of one house increased from $877,300 in 2021 to $1.9 million; another soared from $1 million to $2.5 million.
To check the new assessed value of a property click here and enter the address or owner’s name.
In Biltmore Forest, the increases ranged from 54 percent to 209 percent, according to the sample. The home of resident Robert P. Ingle II, chairman of the board at Ingles Markets, went up by 85 percent, to $3.2 million.
The largest increase in the sample was in the Cliffs at Walnut Cove in Arden. The assessment for a 6-bedroom, 7,500-square-foot house jumped from $2.2 million in 2021 to $9.5 million.
The highest increases may reflect renovations or additions, said Buncombe County Tax Assessor Eric Cregger.
All neighborhoods examined had average increases of at least 50 percent: Kenilworth, 73 percent; Montford, 46 percent; Fairview, 51 percent; and Beaverdam Run, 62 percent, the sample showed.
Carlos and Elizabeth Halasz saw the valuation of their Kenilworth home climb 74 percent, from $394,000 to $683,600. Though they think the new appraised value is close to its market value, they are concerned about the potential impact of the revaluation on their property tax bill. “We’re on a fixed income and it’s very difficult to predict what they’re going to do,” said Elizabeth Halasz, 67.
Reactions to the notices are lighting up social media and phone lines at the Buncombe County Tax Assessor’s office, Cregger said, though the volume currently is not significantly higher than after previous reappraisals.
“Everyone’s going to freak out right now just thinking about how much … the increase is likely to be,” said Ben Mansell, a real estate broker and investor.
But he and local officials also said that the increases will not necessarily be reflected in tax bills because property tax rates are typically adjusted to reflect the new values.
“It’s not going to end up being that bad,” Mansell said.
Reappraisal delayed by Tropical Storm Helene
Buncombe ordinarily revalues properties on a four-year cycle, but Tropical Storm Helene delayed the reappraisal scheduled for 2025 for a year, Cregger said.
After each revaluation, state law requires local governments to publish the “revenue-neutral” tax rate – the percentage needed to create the amount in the previous year’s budget, adjusted for growth.
When property values go up, the revenue-neutral rate goes down. That means average tax bills remain at similar levels – unless elected officials vote to raise the rates, a possibility especially in the city of Asheville, which is facing a $26 million budget gap.
The reassessments are intended to equal the market value of properties, Cregger said.
Last spring, the most recent appraisals had fallen to 62 percent of sales prices, according to a report sent to the state Department of Revenue. That compares to 84 percent in 2020, a year before the previous revaluation.
Cregger does not know the current number, he told the Buncombe County Commission last month, but estimated it at between 50 and 70 percent.
The large increase in valuations was expected given the exploding price of homes during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, real estate agents told The Watchdog in August.
Though prices began to level out in 2024, the average price of a single-family home stood at $515,000 in July 2025, about 50 percent higher than in 2020, according to the Canopy Multiple Listing Service.
The 2021 countywide property reassessment generated widespread complaints about fairness.
Southside, with the lowest median income of any community in the county, saw the highest average appraisal increase, 26 percent, according to a presentation by the former assessor in January 2021.
That contrasted with the area that includes Biltmore Forest, which had the lowest median increase, 4 percent, despite having the highest average income of any county neighborhood, according to a consultant hired by the county. That area’s average sales price was the second highest in the years before the previous reassessment.
That consultant was one of two hired to examine the county’s appraisals after complaints about the assessment. One of them, Kevin Keene, a nationally recognized expert on mass appraisals, found no evidence of intentional discrimination.
But his report did say that “bias is entering the valuation process through data collection, valuation process, sales validation, and neighborhood definitions and delineations,” and included several recommendations to improve appraisals, including the creation of a team devoted to assessing luxury properties.
That team’s creation is one of several upgrades to the assessor’s office implemented since the last revaluation, along with modernizing technology and increasing staff, Cregger said.
Residents can appeal their valuation
White-Carter, the Shiloh resident, said her shock was heightened by a feeling of helplessness. “What can we do about it? That’s my question,” she said.
One option is to file an appeal, a route wealthy residents with more resources are more apt to take, Keene’s report noted. Cregger’s office is trying to make appeals more accessible to all property owners, he said.
As a first step, he encouraged residents to check the information the county used to make the assessment. If the square footage is incorrect, or the property’s condition is overstated – “normal” when it should be “poor,” for instance – owners should call or email his office, he said. Depending on the information provided, he said, staffers can quickly adjust values.
“The property owner is responsible for making sure their listing is correct, so we’re seeing a lot of calls related to that,” he said.
The deadline for formal appeals, which typically include data about sales of comparable properties, is May 5. The county’s Board of Equalization and Review will begin hearing cases in June, he said, and “you could have Board of Equalization appeal hearings for up to a year.”
The county has scheduled nine property appraisal appeal clinics beginning March 17 and continuing through April 16. County staff and real estate experts will be available to answer questions about property values, connect owners to tax relief programs, and help navigate appeals.
But property owners will not learn how their tax bills will change until the city, county and school boards set the new tax rates before the July 1 start of the next fiscal year. Residents remain concerned about the impact of the new values.
Bissette has lived in his home since 1979. “I love my house. I love where I’ve been for 50 years,” he said.
But he’s concerned about the 75 percent increase in his valuation. “I’ve got to pay an appraiser if I want to challenge their appraisal,” Bissette said. “That’s expensive, too.”
Caldwell, the West Asheville hair stylist, said the $363,500 value of her 1,149-square-foot house is higher than she could sell it for, which in any case is “not an option” because her home includes her studio.
The Asheville native’s neighborhood of mostly smaller, older homes is facing big increases. “I was talking to my neighbor,” she said. “You could see the anger in her face.”
She also is bracing for increases to water bills and other city fees that were proposed to the Asheville City Council last week.
Caldwell said, “I want to know who raised my assessment. I want to go stand in their lawn and look at their house.”
Asheville Watchdog photographer Starr Sariego and staff writers John Boyle and Ted Clifford contributed to this report.
Asheville Watchdog is a nonprofit news team producing stories that matter to Asheville and Buncombe County. Dan DeWitt is The Watchdog’s deputy managing editor/senior reporter. Email: ddewitt@avlwatchdog.org. Sally Kestin is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter. Email skestin@avlwatchdog.org. Asheville Watchdogis a nonprofit news team producing stories that matter to Asheville and Buncombe County. The Watchdog’s local reporting is made possible by donations from the community. To show your support for this vital public service go toavlwatchdog.org/support-our-publication/.