The value of land in San Diego has never been higher.

San Diego County’s assessed value of all taxable property — including residential, commercial and industrial land — is now $604.75 billion, the Assessor’s Office said this week. It represents an increase of 5.18 percent from last year.

The valuation date is set at Jan. 1 each year, so any potential impact from COVID-19 is not included in this year’s numbers.

While the valuation was expected to increase and not a huge surprise, it might be welcome news to government planners. A drop in sales and income taxes is likely for all of California as it wrestles with increasing cases of the coronavirus and record unemployment.

County Assessor Ernie Dronenburg credited the 1978 Proposition 13 as a reason for steady increases, which caps increases up to 2 percent annually based on the purchase price at the time of the sale.

“Prop. 13 is a static measurement,” he said Monday. “It provides a reliable government funding source for key services.”

Property values have grown considerably since 1990 when San Diego County was assessed at $123.7 billion. The most values ever went up in a year was in 2005, at the height of the housing boom, when it increased 13.3 percent.

The Great Recession caused property values to drop 2.31 percent in 2009, 1.56 in 2010 and 0.14 in 2012. Part of the reason for lowered valuation besides homes selling for less money was Prop. 8, which allowed California assessors to reduce the assessed value of properties if market values dropped significantly.

While that may be a possibility for some homeowners if home values are hurt by the economic fallout of COVID-19, home prices in San Diego County are still on the rise. As of May, the median home price was at a near-record high of $590,000, increasing 3.5 percent in a year. Analysts point to a variety of factors keeping prices up: Low inventory of homes for sale causing price wars, the increased value put on homeownership as workers continue to work from home and low mortgage rates.

Residential properties make up the vast majority of taxable land in the county with 936,884 parcels. It is followed by commercial with 27,087 parcels, industrial with 11,233 parcels and recreational with 15,319.

National City saw its assessed value grow the most under the new valuation, up 7.1 percent in a year. It was followed by Santee at 7 percent, Chula Vista at 6.26 percent and Del Mar at 6 percent. The lowest increase was Poway at 4.33 percent.

In terms of overall values, the city of San Diego has the highest assessed land at $291.3 billion. It was followed by Carlsbad at $37.3 billion and Chula Vista at $33.7 billion. Lemon Grove had the lowest at $2.53 billion.

The majority of taxes, around 45 percent, collected went to schools in the last fiscal year in San Diego County. The other big recipients were the county with 13.1 percent and individual cities at 12.6 percent.

The biggest property taxpayers that fiscal year were SDG&E with $148.3 million, Qualcomm with $25.6 million and the Irvine Co. with $14.4 million.

Source: SDuniontribune by Phillip Molnar