L.A. County property values edge higher

The 2.5 percent increase for the county comes out to an extra $110 million $24.8 billion in taxes - good news for struggling cities. Higher valuations are also a relief for homeowners who remain underwater - that is, owing more than their property is worth. Beverly Hills had the biggest increase in valuation, at 6.5 percent, followed by Rolling Hills, at 6 percent. Values in Lancaster dropped by 1.2 percent. From NBC4:

The increase in overall value for property tax reasons does not mean that houses are selling at the inflated prices they commanded during the housing bubble, experts said. Indeed, some of the rise in assessed value came from homes bought for very little years ago, whose value for tax purposes rises very slowly under California's landmark Proposition 13 tax law. Still, taken together with an increase in the number of homes that are selling in the region each month - and the prices of those homes - the assessment report shows that real estate is making a recovery, said Jordan G. Levine, director of economic research at Beacon Economics in Los Angeles. "The pace of the improvement isn't really anything to write home about," Levine said. "But it's two years of consistent improvement."

Here are some percentage changes in L.A. County (from County Assessor's Annual Report)

1. Los Angeles +2.5%

2. Long Beach +2.6

3. Santa Monica +4.6

4. Torrance +0.5

5. Glendale +0.9

6. Beverly Hills +6.5

7. Pasadena +1.9

8. Santa Clarita -0.9

9. Burbank +1.6

10. Carson -0.1