What the Royal Oak study shows
Every Michigan community publishes the sales it used to set this year’s values. In the City of Royal Oak 2026 residential economic condition factor studies, 25 of 1,186 homes that sold in 2024 and 2025 carry an assessment more than 10 percent above what the buyer paid. That is about 1 in 47. Across all of them, the typical assessment is 47 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.
Royal Oak’s assessments track its sales more closely than most communities we have checked. Most Royal Oak buyers are assessed in line with what they paid, so a review there is as likely to confirm your number as to challenge it.
One Royal Oak sale, from the study
A Royal Oak house that sold in December 2024 for $275,000. The study lists its assessment at $163,220, which values it at $326,440: 19 percent above the sale.
Assessor’s value
Twice the assessment in the city’s study.
$326,440
Sold for
The recorded sale, which the city’s own study counts as a valid market sale.
$275,000
Tax on the gap, per year
$976
Half the gap between the assessor’s value and the sale price, at the 37.96-mill homestead rate for Royal Oak 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 Royal Oak
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. Assessed, state equalized and taxable value, explained.
For a primary residence in Royal Oak Schools, the 2025 rate is 37.96 mills, or 3.80 percent of taxable value. Homes in the Berkley and Clawson school districts pay about 42 to 43 mills. At that rate, every $10,000 the assessor overstates your home’s value adds about $190 a year to your bill, and keeps adding it every year you own the home.
How to appeal in Royal Oak
The Royal Oak Assessing Department, at City Hall, sets values and runs the Board of Review. 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.
- If the board says no, you can appeal to the Michigan Tax Tribunal’s Small Claims Division by July 31.
Bought in the last two years?
We check your assessment against the city’s 2026 residential studies at no charge, and tell you whether an appeal is worth it.
Source: the City of Royal Oak 2026 residential economic condition factor studies. 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.