Ferndale Property Taxes After Buying a Home: Why Bills Rise

How much does the annual tax figure on a Ferndale listing tell the buyer about their own first full tax bill? In Michigan the answer is usually "less than it seems." By Oakland County's own 2026 numbers, it tells a Ferndale buyer less than it tells a buyer in any of the nearby suburbs this post compares.

The reason is a gap between two numbers on every Michigan assessment notice. Assessed value, also called state equalized value or SEV, follows the market. Taxable value is the number the bill is actually figured from, and the law holds it back while one owner keeps the home. A sale releases it. In Ferndale, the citywide gap between those two numbers is wider than in Huntington Woods, Royal Oak, Birmingham, West Bloomfield or Bloomfield Hills. So the jump after a sale tends to be bigger, even though the homes cost less.

The bill on a listing reflects the seller's years

Under Proposal A, taxable value can rise each year by no more than the lesser of 5% or inflation, and it never goes above SEV. The State Tax Commission set the 2026 inflation rate multiplier at 1.027, so taxable value could grow by up to 2.7% this year. That is down from 3.1% in 2025. You can read the 2026 multiplier bulletin yourself.

When home values climb faster than that cap, SEV pulls away from taxable value a little more every year the same owner holds the home. Then the home sells, and state law sets taxable value equal to SEV in the calendar year after the transfer. Oakland County's 2026 Proposal A guide gives an example. A home with a true cash value of $210,000 has an SEV of $105,000. Without a sale, its capped taxable value would be $82,160. After a purchase, the next year's taxable value becomes the full $105,000.

The City of Ferndale says the same thing in its Headlee and Proposal A FAQ. It explains that taxable value uncaps and is reassessed after a sale, and that this can mean a significant tax increase for the new owner.

Ferndale's gap is the widest of these suburbs

Each spring, Oakland County publishes total assessed and taxable value for every city and township. The April 30, 2026 equalization report makes it possible to measure the cap's built-up effect place by place. Divide a city's 2026 real-property taxable value by its assessed value. The lower the result, the more value is sitting under the cap, waiting for a sale to release it.

Ferndale is the only community on that list below the countywide figure by a wide margin. If a property sat exactly at the citywide average, resetting taxable value to SEV would raise it by about 53% in Ferndale. The same reset would add about 19% in Bloomfield Hills and about 28% in Birmingham.

These totals cover all real property in each city, commercial parcels included, so they are citywide aggregates rather than a typical home's ratio. Any single parcel can sit well above or below its city's figure, depending mostly on how long the current owner has held it and how much values moved in that time. The table shows where the reset tends to bite hardest. It does not predict a particular house.

The pattern does run against price. The suburbs with the most expensive homes on this list show the smallest citywide gap, and Ferndale shows the largest. A buyer comparing a Ferndale listing's tax line with one in Bloomfield Hills is comparing two numbers that understate the next owner's bill by very different amounts.

What the reset looks like on a hypothetical Ferndale home

The city gives a simple formula for estimating a bill: taxable value divided by 1,000, multiplied by the millage rate. The example below is hypothetical. It uses Ferndale's citywide ratio and the city's most recent full rate sheet, which covers 2025 for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2026. In that sheet, the combined homestead rate for the Ferndale Schools district is 48.6909 mills.

1. Assume an SEV of $150,000. In the county's example, SEV is half of true cash value, so this stands in for a home valued around $300,000.
2. At Ferndale's citywide ratio of about 65%, the seller's capped taxable value would be roughly $97,890.
3. Seller's bill at 48.6909 mills: about $4,766 a year.
4. In the year after the sale, taxable value resets to the full $150,000 SEV.
5. Buyer's bill at the same homestead rate: about $7,304 a year, or roughly $2,500 more than the figure on the listing.

Run the same home with a Bloomfield Hills-style ratio of 84% and the difference shrinks to about $1,170. The house and the rate stay the same. Only the gap that built up before the sale has changed.

Why the homestead filing matters on top of the reset

The example assumes the buyer has claimed the Principal Residence Exemption, known as the PRE. It exempts an owner-occupied primary home from up to 18 mills of local school operating tax. Ferndale's 2025 sheet shows how much that is worth here. In the Ferndale Schools district, the combined rate is 48.6909 mills with the exemption and 66.6909 mills without it. The part of the city in the Hazel Park Schools district runs 55.7929 and 73.7929.

On the hypothetical $150,000 SEV, the non-homestead rate brings the bill to about $10,004. The exemption is claimed on Form 2368, filed with the local assessor. Under the Treasury's filing guidance, a form filed by June 1 applies to that year's summer levy. A form filed from June 2 through November 1 applies starting with that year's winter levy. Ferndale's tax forms page explains the exemption locally. In a city where taxable value is already climbing to SEV after a sale, filing late stacks a second increase on top of the first.

The rates themselves have been moving

The reset changes the taxable value. Voters change the rate it is multiplied by. Several Ferndale measures from the past 18 months affect the bill a buyer will see:

• City operating override. In the May 6, 2025 election, voters approved the city's 5.4452-mill Headlee restoration for 2026 through 2035. The city's FY27 budget lists that 5.4452 mills, so the 2025 rate sheet above is the latest full composite rather than a confirmed 2026 total.
• School bond. Ferndale Public Schools' $114.8 million bond passed the same day. The district described it as carrying no increase to the current tax rate.
• Library. On August 4, 2026, Ferndale Area District Library's operating proposal of up to 3.31 mills, a 2.81-mill renewal plus 0.50 mill of new levy, passed 5,149 to 2,438. A separate 0.50-mill capital proposal passed 5,102 to 2,464, as MLive reported. Both library proposals cover 2027 through 2036.
• Countywide school enhancement. The 1.5-mill regional proposal on the same August ballot failed countywide, 51.01% to 48.99%, according to Oakland County Times.
• November 3, 2026. Ferndale Public Schools has an operating millage replacement on the ballot. It would authorize up to 20 mills, with no more than 18 levied, on non-homestead property only, through 2046. The district says it does not raise the current 18-mill rate. The vote is three weeks away and the outcome is pending.

That last measure applies only to property without the homestead exemption. That brings the subject to the owners for whom the reset question is often most tangled.

When an inherited Ferndale home does not reset

Not every change of ownership uncaps a home. Michigan law excludes a transfer of residential property to the transferor's or spouse's mother, father, brother, sister, son, daughter, adopted son or daughter, grandson or granddaughter. The condition is that the property is not used for a commercial purpose afterward. The assessor or Treasury may ask for proof within 30 days, and failing to provide it carries a $200 fine. A separate provision covers distributions under a will or by intestate succession. Since December 31, 2014, that provision has extended the same treatment to residential property passing to those listed family members, under the same no-commercial-use condition.

In Ferndale, where the citywide gap is widest, that capped value can be worth more to an heir than it would be farther north. Holding the home and selling it are also different events for tax purposes. A later sale to an outside buyer is a transfer like any other, and the reset applies to that buyer the following year. An heir who keeps the home but does not live in it may also lose the homestead exemption, which puts the November school measure on their tax bill. Whether a specific transfer qualifies is a question for the estate's attorney or tax advisor. Our trust and probate page outlines how those conversations fit into a sale, and this guide to clearing out a loved one's Ferndale home covers the practical side.

A few questions that come up

Does the cap start over after a purchase? Yes. Once taxable value resets to SEV in the year after the sale, it is capped again going forward, at the lesser of SEV or the prior year's taxable value adjusted by inflation or 5%, whichever is lower.

Where can I see a specific Ferndale parcel's numbers? Ferndale points owners to its BS&A online portal for parcel-level taxable value and millage detail, through the city's property tax page.

Is 65% the ratio for any one Ferndale house? No. It is a citywide figure that includes commercial property. A home bought recently may have little gap at all, and one held for decades may have far more.

Whether you are an executor weighing what an inherited home will cost to hold, or a buyer trying to read a Ferndale tax line accurately, the useful number is that parcel's own SEV and taxable value. Abby Kushner works with families, trustees and their attorneys to put those figures into the timeline and pricing of a sale before decisions are made. Schedule a Confidential Consultation.

This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.