Increases in homes’ appraised values stayed steady in Johnson County for 2026, hovering near 6% for the third year in a row, according to the county appraiser’s annual revaluation report released last week.

Values of single-family homes, excluding apartments, increased 5.92% for this year — dropping only slightly from 6.08% and 6.4% increases in 2025 and 2024, respectively, County Appraiser Carolyn Logan told county commissioners at their meeting on Thursday, Feb. 26.

Although property values are still increasing, the statistics suggest much calmer waters than in 2022 and 2023, when home values increased by more than 10%.

Still, ever-rising home values and the increasing property taxes that come with them remain a politically potent issue. Lawmakers in Topeka are debating a proposal to potentially cap annual appraisal increases, and the issue of property taxes is likely to play a major role in upcoming elections for statehouse and county commission later this year.

The total of appraised and assessed values for all markets in Johnson County increased by about 6% over last year.

Among the categories, apartment properties showed the highest increase, at about 11%. Appraised value for office property decreased slightly, by about 1.6%.

More building permits were issued in 2025 than in each of the three previous years, Logan said, with 2,014 last year up from 1,752 the year before.

Both of those years show an upward trend from the slower years in 2022 and 2023. The apartment market continued to be strong, she added.

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Residents balked last year over rising property taxes

The appraisal report is issued each year at around the same time that property owners get their mailed notices and is a first indication of how they might be affected by property tax rates, which are based on home values.

Last August, about 200 people turned out for a public hearing on the county budget in an Olathe conference center. Home valuations last year went up 6.6%. Most attendees at the August hearing were upset that a proposed flat mill levy, or property tax rate, by the county would still result in more money collected from taxpayers due to rising home values.

It’s understandable for people to be concerned about property valuations, especially those struggling on fixed incomes, said Kristy Baughman, executive director of United Community Services of Johnson County.

“Any time we see an increase, it becomes really difficult for people to maintain stability,” she said.

Baughman noted that the increase in appraised values for apartments is 11.6%, about double the increase for single-family residences.

Landlords will pass that along to renters, she said, adding that there has been an almost 300% increase in the number of rental units available for more than $2,000 a year in the past five years.

Meanwhile, the number under $2,000 a year has dropped by about 66%, she said.

Tim Suttle, co-president of the Good Faith Network, said the rising home values present a housing problem that needs to be addressed.

“When the average home costs more than $500,000 and homes under $300,000 are disappearing, the market alone isn’t going to solve this,” he told the Post via email. “Johnson County needs dedicated funding for affordable housing so the people who work here can still afford to live here.”

Kansas lawmakers are taking a stab at property taxes this year, with one, a constitutional amendment, that would cap valuation changes at 3%. Another would allow citizen petitions with 5% of the vote in the most recent secretary of state’s election to block property tax spending increases of more than 3%.

The hot spots

Home values are rising fastest in a few specific areas of Johnson County, rising between 8 and 9.4%.

Those areas include:

• northeast Johnson County, near the county line along I-35, in Merriam and Shawnee
• a small patch near the corner of the state and county lines near Fairway, Mission Hills and Prairie Village
• an area of Overland Park and a little bit of Leawood, just north of I-435
• and a smaller zone in Olathe near the center of the county, where I-35 and K-7 meet.

The areas of the slowest increases were in the southeastern corner of the county, plus a small section in the northeast, where values increased about 0.4% to 4%.

Almost the entire western edge of the county showed increases of 4 to 5%.

What homes are selling for

There’s still a sizable gap in selling price between new and existing homes, according to the report.

Last year, existing homes sold for an average price of $566,000 while newly built ones went for $719,000 on average.

“For the first time in many years you can see the average sales price of new construction has dropped a little bit,” Logan said last week, noting that the 2024 average for newly built homes was $785,000.

Existing home sales prices still increased over the previous year, when the average price was $535,000.

Logan told commissioners there had been some new homes last year that sold in the $150,000 to $300,000 price range.

“In terms of attainable housing or affordable housing, I think that’s a step in the right direction,” she said.

However, a chart of single-family value ranges by city shows the lowest value price range continues to dwindle as property values increase.

The chart showed a drop, from 315 homes to 152, in the number of homes available that were under $150,000, a more than 50% decrease.

In the next most expensive category, $150,000 to $300,000, there were 25% fewer homes available in 2025 than in 2024.

Categories over $500,000 all increased by double digits.

Commercial property changes

In the commercial sector, apartments continued to have the largest value increases compared to office and industrial.

Commercial construction overall declined a bit in 2025, with fewer square feet being built in industrial and office space but more in apartments.

According to the appraiser’s report, 2,645 apartment units were completed last year, compared with 1,890 in 2024.

Another 1,349 units are under construction and 6,401 have been proposed.

Meanwhile, hotels, which have had zero growth for the past four years, are being built again. Some 484 rooms were built for three new hotels, about twice the number for 2020, the last year any new hotel space was built.

Commission Chair Mike Kelly said the $1.4 billion in new construction of all types “continues to show we are a desirable market.”

But he added there is still a lot of work to do to encourage affordable housing for first-time buyers and people who want to downsize.

The report was issued just as notices of the new valuations went out Feb. 25. The deadline for appealing is March 27.