Ann Arbor property tax appeals

What the Ann Arbor study shows

Every Michigan community publishes the sales it used to set this year’s values. In the City of Ann Arbor 2026 residential economic condition factor analysis, 114 of 861 homes that sold in 2024 and 2025 carry an assessment more than 10 percent above what the buyer paid. That is about 1 in 8. Across all of them, the typical assessment is 46 percent of the sale price, close to the 50 percent the law targets, so most buyers are assessed fairly. The ones who are not can pay hundreds or thousands of dollars a year more than they should.

Ann Arbor has the highest homestead tax rate of any community on this site, so every dollar of over-assessment costs more here than almost anywhere else we have checked.

One Ann Arbor sale, from the study

An Ann Arbor house that sold in February 2025 for $421,000. The study lists its assessment at $256,600, which values it at $513,200: 22 percent above the sale.

Half the gap between the assessor’s value and the sale price, at the 52.67-mill homestead rate for Ann Arbor Public Schools. A gap is a reason to look, not proof the value is wrong; the house is shown without its address.

How property tax works in Ann Arbor

Your bill is figured from your taxable value. While you own a home, it can rise each year by no more than inflation or 5 percent. The year after you buy, that cap comes off and your taxable value resets to the full assessment, so a buyer’s first full bill is set by what the assessor thinks the house is worth. Why taxes jump the year after you buy · Assessed, state equalized and taxable value, explained.

For a primary residence in Ann Arbor Public Schools, the 2025 rate is 52.67 mills, or 5.27 percent of taxable value. At that rate, every $10,000 the assessor overstates your home’s value adds about $263 a year to your bill, and keeps adding it every year you own the home.

The Ann Arbor assessor’s office

The City of Ann Arbor Assessor’s Office, on the fifth floor of Larcom City Hall, sets values and runs the Board of Review. Ann Arbor Township is a separate community with its own assessor.

How to appeal in Ann Arbor

Your assessment notice arrives in late February and lists your assessed and taxable values, the Board of Review dates and how to book a time. You can also look up your record on the city’s online property lookup.

• March Board of Review. The only time of year to appeal the value itself. Most boards require an appointment, booked by the deadline printed on your notice.
• Bring evidence. Comparable sales, an appraisal, photographs of anything the city’s record gets wrong. A board will not lower a value on an owner’s opinion alone. That evidence is exactly what our appeal packet puts together: your home rebuilt against the city’s own study, the comparable sales that support a lower value, and the filing instructions for your board, for a flat $350.
• Or have us handle it. With full representation, we file your appeal and present it to the board as your authorized agent, so you never have to appear. It costs a $250 filing fee plus 40% of your first-year tax savings, and the 40% applies only if your value comes down.
• If the board says no, you can appeal to the Michigan Tax Tribunal’s Small Claims Division by July 31. With full representation, we take it there at no extra fee.

Our step-by-step guide to appealing in Michigan walks through each stage.

Source: the City of Ann Arbor 2026 residential economic condition factor analysis. Sales coded as arm’s length, 2024 and 2025. A sale counts when its assessment is more than 55 percent of the price. Tax rates from the Michigan Department of Treasury’s 2025 Total Rates report. How our figures are calculated.