For the first time since 2008, the total assessed value of property in town has increased.

That may signal a turn-around in real estate values. But, most immediately, it comes as good tax news to the many property owners whose assessments have not changed within the past year.

Assessments for the purpose of setting 2014 taxes list the town’s total taxable property as $3.14 billion, up slightly from the $3.11 billion recorded in 2013 – and a sharp contrast to years of decline.

Last week, the state Department of Revenue set Wareham’s 2014 tax rate at $10.77 per $1,000 of assessed property value, up slightly from 2013’s $10.47. The rate is arrived at by dividing the amount of money the town is allowed to raise under the tax-limiting Proposition 2-1/2 by the total assessed value of property in town.

For years, falling total assessed value meant the actual tax rate rose sharply year-over-year. Last year, for instance, the tax rate rose by more than 11 percent.

Director of Assessment Elsa Miller said the value was stable compared to last year due to the housing market.

“Things are the same because of the sales market – the buyers,” said Miller.

Assessments are meant to loosely represent how much a property would cost on the open market.

While town assessments are not exactly in line with what individual properties would sell for on the open market, they are intended to reflect that open market value. In addition to periodic routine reassessments, using a mathematical formula for valuation, assessments are reset when a property changes hands for a price different from the assessment.

The total taxable property number is dragged down every time a home sells for less than its assessed value in three ways: That property’s assessment is reset. The basis on which similar houses are routinely reassessed declines. And, over time, owners of similar houses have a better basis on which to seek a lower assessment through the abatement process. The town’s total assessed value in 2014 still has a ways to go to catch up to the 2008 figure of $3.92 billion.

Overall, the total assessed value in 2014 is still 19.9 percent lower than the number in 2008.

That year marked a high for the town’s assessed value.

Wareham Crossing had just opened, but several years of housing development led to the nationwide of “bubble” of inflated home prices.

When the bubble burst, the total assessed value totals fell by at least $76 million from 2009 to 2013. From 2012 to 2013 it fell by $252 million.

In contrast the number rose by $30 million this year.

The fiscal year begins on July 1 and ends on July 30 the following year.

The tax rate for the Wareham Fire District is $2.08, while Onset’s is $2.52.