The decline might cause property owners to pay higher or lower taxes depending on the location of the house, East Lansing City Assessor Dave Lee said.

The city’s overall taxable value for residential homes is based on a formula that looks at the past year’s taxable value of each house in the city and then subtracts any losses in value on the property — such as physical damage — before factoring in inflation and additions that cause the property’s value to increase, Lee said.

An overall drop in the state housing market is causing East Lansing’s taxable values to plunge as well, Lee said.

Lee said rising unemployment and a struggling nationwide housing market also affected local housing markets. Still, the drop is not as extreme in East Lansing as in other cities, he said.

“I would say Ingham County has fared better as a whole than some spots in Michigan,” he said.

East Lansing resident Devon Glass said since purchasing his house in 2006, its value has declined “precipitously.”

Glass said he has paid lower property taxes and lost money on his home because of the drop.
“It’s obviously not welcome news,” he said.

Despite a drop in the property value of residential homes, declining property values have not affected the rent levels of rental properties in the city.

Matt Hagan, an agent for Hagan Realty, 927 E. Grand River Ave., said the rent and taxes owed on rental properties for the most part continues to go up at normal levels on the company’s East Lansing properties.

Hagan said even as rent goes up, demand for rental properties remains stable because of an increasing student population.

Environmental biology junior Justine Becker said she’s still worried about the cost of moving into her own apartment next year.

“It’s so expensive,” she said. “I don’t really know why.”