On Politics, Home Values and Taxes

Blomquist: “It’s not necessarily the politics of the district that are helping it, but this overriding trend we’re seeing during this recovery of a return to urban walkable neighborhoods and a dearth of homebuilding out in the suburbs.”

IRVINE, CA—As GlobeSt.com recently reported, Democrat-controlled districts have been shown to have higher average home-price gains, but tax rates tend to be lower in Republican-controlled districts, according to a recent report from ATTOM Data. The report shows that among 2.4 million single-family homes purchased eight years ago, those in Democrat-controlled districts have gained an average $59,467 in value since purchase—a 21% return—compared to a $22,086 return representing a 10% ROI for homes in Republican-controlled districts.

In addition, the report revealed that homeowners in Republican-controlled districts are paying lower property taxes—$2,514 on average representing a 1.02 effective tax rate compared to $3,659 representing a 1.07 percent tax rate for homeowners in Democrat-controlled districts. Also, counter to the national trend, seven of the 11 battleground states in the 2016 presidential election have produced better ROI for homeowners in Republican-controlled districts.

We spoke exclusively with the firm’s SVP Daren Blomquist about the research and what’s behind it.