Home assessments up 10-30%
Increase in Kelowna property values outpaces those for Vancouver area
The value of homes has climbed faster in Kelowna than Vancouver over the past year, new assessment information shows.
Owners of single-family homes in Kelowna can expect a 10-20 per cent increase in the valuation of their home when assessment notices are mailed in January.
By contrast, home values in most areas of Vancouver are said by BC Assessment to have experienced only “nominal changes in the zero to five per cent range.”
Owners of condos in Kelowna can expect to see valuation changes between 10 and 30 per cent, among the highest rate of increase for residential properties anywhere in B.C.
Last January, the average single-family home in Kelowna had an assessed value of $624,000, up 11 per cent from the year before. The most expensive single-family homes in the Okanagan were in Lake Country, where the average assessed value was $634,000.
A 20 per cent valuation increase in a typical Kelowna home would bring the average assessment up to $748,000.
“The preliminary market analysis for 2018 property assessments is showing strong market conditions across most areas and property types in the province, with few exceptions,” assessor Tina Ireland says in a release.
“Assessments for detached single-family homes in central parts of Metro Vancouver, for example, will be relatively stable, while other parts of the province will see increases when compared to last year’s assessments.”
Assessments that are mailed out in January are said to reflect a property’s market value the preceding July.
Between July 2015 and July 2016, typical single-family homes in most Vancouver area neighbourhoods rose between 30 and 50 per cent. Over the same period, single-family homes in Kelowna rose in value between five and 20 per cent.
Assessments are based on sales of similar properties, as well as a home’s size, age, quality, condition, view and location.
A big jump in assessment does not necessarily indicate an equivalent rise in property taxes. The key factor is whether the value of a person’s property has increased by a greater or lesser extent than the average for similar properties.
For example, detailed information in January from BC Assessment might indicate the average single-family detached home in Kelowna has risen by 18 per cent.
Anyone whose home has climbed in assessed value by exactly that amount would see a tax increase of 3.6 per cent, the rate that was announced Thursday by the City of Kelowna.
Conversely, the owner of a property that has risen in value by more than 18 per cent would see a tax hike of greater than 3.6 per cent. And the owner of a property that has risen less than 18 per cent in value, or declined in value, would see a tax increase of less than 3.6 per cent.