Orange County NC Website
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Figures, ratios and statistics provided throughout this report compare the County's current tax <br />assessment based on January 1, 2009 market value against recent qualified market sales. This is <br />performed annually to determine the impact of a countywide revaluation, in part. Elaboration on <br />recent qualified market sales and statistics is provided below. <br />Sales Analysis <br />As mentioned previously, Orange County is composed of several submarkets. These submarkets <br />respond differently to economic events. Below is a high -level review of the Orange County tax <br />base and how all county sales compare to current tax assessments. A review also is provided for <br />several submarkets within Orange County to show impacts on municipal governments. <br />Each analysis below presents three statistical measures within each category: count, median and <br />COD. Count simply refers to the number of qualified sales extracted within the category <br />parameters. Median indicates the median sales ratio within the category. The median sales ratio <br />is found by dividing the assessed value by the sales price. A number greater than 1 indicates that <br />the tax assessment is higher than the property's recent sales price and vice versa. One simple <br />way to describe this measure is that the ratio shows what percentage of market value is <br />represented by current tax assessment. For example, a median sales ratio of 1.05 indicates that <br />tax assessments in that category represent 105% of current market sales. However, this ratio is <br />only a measure of central tendency. Ratios higher and lower than the median exist within the <br />category, too. Coefficient of Dispersion (COD) shows the data spread. A lower COD is better, <br />and one less than 15 is acceptable. The lower the COD, the more tightly- compacted the sales <br />are around the median sales ratio. <br />Based on the market sales analyzed, it appears Orange County tax assessments are still within an <br />acceptable range across many measures. The median sales ratio is gradually falling, indicating <br />market values and tax assessments are getting closer and closer. Most CODs within the <br />categories are acceptable, which indicates that the market is consistent. Also, the number of <br />sales transactions is increasing. <br />