Falling Condo Prices Headline Further Hopkins Market Drops

Hopkins saw another year of dropping property values—fueled in part by plunging condo prices, according to annual assessment data reviewed at Tuesday’s work session.

Condos, which plummeted 27 percent, saw the biggest drop of any category, by far. Some complexes had values fall by almost 50 percent, said Mike Smerdon, a Hennepin County residential appraiser.

“Our condos really tanked,” he said.

The pain was particularly acute at Westbrooke, Oakridge Lofts and Summit on 7. In Westbrooke, one-bedroom condos that were selling for $80,000 five or six years ago were in the $20,000s for the assessment period, which ran from September 2010 to October 2011.

“There’s just not much going on over there, really,” Smerdon said.

At the other end of the spectrum, Marketplace Lofts was the best-performing condo complex.

The values are based on so-called “good sales” that exclude bank sales, sales to relatives and other untraditional sales that tend to be lower than market value. However, these can still indirectly affect good sales by bringing the overall market down.

While the number of total sales was about the same as the year before, there were more foreclosures. In condos, untraditional sales accounted for about 80 percent of sales, Smerdon said.

Hopkins saw $28.9 million worth of new construction improvements for the assessment period, but its overall market value still dropped 4.3 percent to $1.49 billion.

Every residential category saw declines:

• Single-family homes: -5.2 percent
• Townhomes: -8.1 percent
• Duplexes: -6.9 percent
• Twin homes (like a duplex, but the units have separate property IDs): -7.5 percent

(Commercial assessors evaluate apartments, not residential assessors.)

The drop in single-family homes echoed trends across the metro, Smerdon said. Interlachen had a particularly notable drop. It had so far resisted the worst of the housing crash. But during the most recent assessment period, its values caught up with neighboring drops in the span of a single assessment cycle.

The county mailed out value notices Tuesday, and residents should receive them Wednesday, Smerdon said. The county has scheduled for 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. May 1 at Hopkins City Hall. During open book meetings, property owners can discuss values and classification issues with assessor.

Stay up to date on all your local news. Sign up for the Hopkins Patch newsletter, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter and Editor James Warden's Pinterest boards.