The property tax figure on a Troy listing is the seller's bill, calculated on a capped value that ends when the home sells. Michigan caps how fast taxable value can rise while one owner holds a home. The year after a sale, that cap comes off and taxable value resets to the state equalized value, or SEV. In Troy, the distance between those two numbers is large, it grew again in 2026, and a second variable sits on top of it. One city can bill you under seven different school district millage rates.
Taken together, those two layers can put a new owner's bill thousands of dollars above the seller's on a home with the same assessment. The county's own data shows how.
Troy's Gap Is Visible in the County's Own Books
Oakland County's 2026 Equalization Report breaks Troy's property out by class. For residential real property in 2026, Troy's SEV totals $6,866,814,460. Its taxable value totals $4,904,251,100, spread across 28,149 residential parcels.
Run the math and taxable value comes to about 71% of SEV across Troy's residential parcels. Turn that around and a typical Troy home's taxable value would rise by about 40% if it sold and reset to SEV.
The per-parcel averages make the same point in dollars. These come from dividing the county totals by the parcel count. They don't describe any specific house:
- Average residential SEV per parcel: about $243,900
- Average residential taxable value per parcel: about $174,200
- Average gap that a sale would erase: about $69,700
The tax on that gap is what a buyer picks up and the seller never paid. How much it costs depends on which school district the house is in.
Seven School District Lines Inside One City
The City of Troy publishes its 2026 summer millage rates for principal residences, broken out by school district: Avondale, Birmingham, Bloomfield, Lamphere, Royal Oak, Troy and Warren Consolidated. County, city, library and refuse millages are the same at every Troy address. What changes is school debt, supplemental and sinking fund levies, a small administration fee that runs from 0.1847 to 0.2380 mills, and the intermediate school district line. That line is 3.1105 mills everywhere except Warren Consolidated, where it is 4.5282.
The city's formula is simple. Taxable value times the millage rate, divided by 1,000, gives the estimated tax. Here is that formula run on the average parcel above at each district's 2026 summer PRE total. Treat these as illustrations of how rate and reset work together. They aren't quotes for any home.
| School district | 2026 summer PRE mills | Average parcel at taxable value | Same parcel reset to SEV | Added by the reset |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bloomfield | 28.3987 | about $4,950 | about $6,930 | about $1,980 |
| Avondale | 28.4453 | about $4,960 | about $6,940 | about $1,980 |
| Royal Oak | 28.5871 | about $4,980 | about $6,970 | about $1,990 |
| Troy | 29.1308 | about $5,080 | about $7,110 | about $2,030 |
| Birmingham | 30.3490 | about $5,290 | about $7,400 | about $2,120 |
| Lamphere | 32.0824 | about $5,590 | about $7,830 | about $2,240 |
| Warren Consolidated | 33.7791 | about $5,880 | about $8,240 | about $2,360 |
Across districts, the spread is 5.38 mills from top to bottom. On the reset average parcel, that comes to roughly $1,310. Compare a seller with a capped value in the Bloomfield portion of Troy against a buyer at full SEV in the Warren Consolidated portion. The illustrated difference is about $3,290, and both homes carry the same Troy mailing address.
So the district line and the reset act as two separate multipliers. A buyer comparing two Troy homes at similar prices can end up with quite different carrying costs. A buyer judging either home by the seller's bill will underestimate both.
Why the Gap Grows When Values Outpace the Cap
The cap on taxable value grows by the inflation rate or 5%, whichever is less. For 2026, the Michigan State Tax Commission set that multiplier at 1.027, or 2.7%. For 2025, it was 1.031.
SEV has no cap. It tracks the market, and in 2026 it outran the cap. Residential equalized value across Oakland County rose 6.34% in 2026. In Troy, combined all-property SEV rose 5.76% from 2025, while total taxable value rose 4.47%.
In any year when SEV rises faster than the cap, as it did in 2026, the gap grows for every home that stays with the same owner. If values fell, the gap would shrink. After a run of rising years, though, a house held for a long time usually carries a bigger gap than one that sold a few years ago. That's why two neighboring homes can show very different tax lines on their listings even when they would carry nearly the same bill once each one sold.
How the Reset Plays Out for a 2026 Purchase
Oakland County's Proposal A guide lays out the order of events:
- The year you buy. Taxes for the rest of 2026 are still based on the seller's capped taxable value.
- The following year. The 2027 SEV becomes your taxable value. This is the reset.
- The second year after the sale. The cap applies again, and taxable value grows by the lesser of inflation or 5%.
Your purchase price doesn't automatically become your taxable value. The county guide says the price paid in a transfer is not presumed to be the property's true cash value. Assessors aim for assessed value to average 50% of the usual selling price. Half the purchase price gives you a rough sense of where SEV is aimed. The assessor's figure on the next notice of assessment is the one that actually counts.
As of this writing, the State Tax Commission's archive lists 2026 as its most recent multiplier year. The 2027 cap rate hasn't been published yet.
The Paperwork That Decides Which Rate Table You're On
Every rate in the table above assumes the Principal Residence Exemption, or PRE. The city publishes a separate, higher non-homestead table for property that isn't the owner's principal residence. The PRE exempts an eligible principal residence from local school operating millage, up to 18 mills. A new owner claims it by filing Form 2368 with the local assessor.
Michigan Treasury lists two deadlines. A filing by June 1 can reduce that year's summer taxes and later bills. A filing between June 2 and November 1 applies starting with that year's winter levy. For a Troy purchase closing in October 2026, the November 1 date is only a few weeks away.
Separately, a new owner files the Property Transfer Affidavit with the city or township assessor within 45 days of the transfer. That filing tells the assessor ownership has changed, and the change in ownership is what triggers the reset.
What 2026 Elections Did and Didn't Change
The millage table is a snapshot, so recent ballot measures matter. In August 2026, voters rejected a 1.5-mill Oakland Schools Regional Enhancement Millage. The Detroit Free Press reported unofficial results of 51% no to 49% yes. In May, the Avondale School District passed an operating millage that applies to non-homestead property, along with a 1-mill sinking fund the district describes as a renewal with no tax increase.
Troy's official election notice for November 3, 2026, published October 8, includes no proposal from the City of Troy, Troy School District, Troy Public Library, Warren Consolidated, Avondale, Bloomfield Hills Schools or Lamphere. According to the Oakland County proposal list, the ballot does include these items:
- A Detroit Zoo renewal and restoration at 0.10 mill, covering 2028 through 2037
- A new 0.2-mill Southeast Michigan Public Historical Museum Authority levy for 10 years
- A Birmingham Public Schools bond of up to $240 million, with total debt millage expected to stay at or below 3.80 mills
- A Royal Oak Schools bond of up to $165 million, with total debt millage expected to stay at or below 2.20 mills
Both bond proposals say their debt levies wouldn't rise above the 2026 rates, which match the school debt figures in Troy's table for those two districts. None of these items changes how the reset works. The countywide items would add a fraction of a mill at every Troy address, depending on how the vote goes.
FAQ
Does the listing's tax figure help at all?
It shows what the current owner pays under a capped value. Next to the home's SEV, it also shows roughly how big the reset will be. The listing figure alone tells you very little about your own bill.
Is a home in one Troy school district always cheaper to own?
Millage is only half of it. A home with a higher SEV in a lower-millage district can still cost more in taxes than a home with a lower SEV in a higher-millage district. The bill comes from multiplying the two.
When does the cap start protecting a buyer again?
The cap applies in the second year after the sale. From then on, taxable value grows by the inflation multiplier or 5%, whichever is less.
Before you write an offer in Troy, it helps to know three things about the specific address: its SEV, its school district line, and how far its taxable value sits below SEV. Showtime Realty can pull those numbers for any Troy home you're considering and show you what the bill looks like after the reset. Schedule a consultation and bring the addresses.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
