Revaluation and the Valuation Date

North Carolina requires every county to reappraise real property at least once every eight years (G.S. 105-286, as the Department’s page names it), and many counties revalue more often. Everything about an appeal — the value you argue, the evidence you bring, even which arguments the law allows — flows from one date: the county’s most recent revaluation date.

Between revaluations, the value holds

The assessed value carries over from revaluation to revaluation. Off-cycle changes are limited by statute (G.S. 105-287) to what the property itself does: new construction, demolition, remeasurement, or similar physical and legal changes. A market boom or bust after the revaluation date does not change the value — by design.

Orange County is the verified example: a revaluation effective January 1, 2025, the previous in 2021, the next planned for 2029. Every appeal in that window — 2025, 2026, 2027, 2028 — is argued on the property’s worth as of January 1, 2025.

What this tells you: the most common evidence mistake in North Carolina is bringing current-market comparables to a 2025-date value. Sales must be close to the revaluation date — a sale from last month proves little about a value set three years ago, and the board knows it.

What it does not tell you: when your county revalues. The eight-year figure is a ceiling, not a schedule; each county’s calendar is its own and is published locally.

The burden of proof is on the owner

North Carolina statutes put the burden of proof on the property owner, and the law is specific about what wins:

• The assessed value is more or less than market value as of the revaluation date — a market-value argument pinned to that date.
• Or the value is inconsistent with the assessments of similar properties — an equity argument, proven with sales and assessment data for comparable parcels.

And two arguments the counties expressly exclude: the percentage increase or decrease in the value (the size of the change is not evidence of error — the revaluation itself explains it), and the owner’s ability to pay the tax (irrelevant to value by statute).

What this tells you: North Carolina is the state on this site where the evidence brief matters most, because the owner starts with the burden and a restricted list of arguments. Comparable sales near the revaluation date — or the equity comparison — are the two doors; everything else is preparation for the appeal process.

Personal property: listed every January

Real property needs no annual listing — it stays on the roll from revaluation to revaluation. Personal property is listed during January of each year with the county assessor: a separate obligation with its own deadline, and the trigger for the county’s personal-property audits.

What this page does not cover

The reappraisal methodologies (sales, cost, and income approaches) and the present-use value program for agricultural and forestland are outside this page. The Department’s pages and Orange County’s revaluation page cited below are the authorities for the cycle and the statutes it names.