St. Louis City Assessor

If you own a home or business in St. Louis or St. Louis County, you may have received a letter about your property's value going up.

Residential property values on average went up 12% in the city and 15% in the county, according to assessors’ preliminary calculations.

That’s mostly good news, said St. Louis Assessor Michael Dauphin. Increasing property values mean that real estate investments are worth more. But for some, they could also mean higher tax bills.

The St. Louis assessor’s office on Friday sent out letters to the owners of 235 properties listed on Airbnb, informing them that their property value — and taxes — are going up.

The properties have been reclassified from residential to commercial, taking their property tax rate from 19% to 32%.

St. Louis Assessor Michael Dauphin said his office combed through hundreds of properties listed on Airbnb to find ones they believe are commercial enterprises, where the owner lives off-site. They found that the owners of more than half of the reclassified properties live outside of St. Louis, in states as far as California, Colorado and Arizona.