Some Metro Vancouver single-family home assessments will increase by 50% in 2017: B.C. Assessment

Single-family homes in Metro Vancouver and Squamish will face hikes of up to 50 per cent on their 2017 B.C. Assessments to be mailed out in the new year at the same time as homeowners learn house prices are dropping. And a Vancouver appraiser who sits on a review panel that hears homeowners’ complaints about what the government thinks their houses are worth expects to hear from more than usual this year. Almost five per cent of homeowners across B.C. can expect higher taxes because their properties have risen higher than the average in their municipality, according to assessor Jason Grant. Courtesy notification letters will be sent to homeowners whose assessed values are at least 15 per cent higher than average in their municipality and they can expect taxes to go up by the same amount. Assessments for all homes will be mailed in the first week of January and be posted online Jan. 3,

Grant said. Homeowners have until the end of January to have the assessed value reviewed and their complaint will be heard before March 15. “I would expect a lot of complaints this year,” said Jason Upton, an appraiser with Aedis Appraisals, who chairs one of several review panels that hears homeowners’ and businesses’ complaints about their yearly assessments. He said the real estate market peaked in mid-June, just before B.C. Assessments carries out the annual assessment, held July 1 of every year, “and it’s been declining since.” “This is the first year when the assessed value will actually be higher than the house is worth,” said Upton. Assessed values of singlefamily homes in Vancouver, Burnaby, Richmond, Surrey, the Tri-Cities, Squamish and on the North Shore will rise 30 to 50 per cent, said Grant. Condo and townhouse stratas in Metro will face increases of between 15 and 30 per cent, while commercial and industrial properties will go up 10 to 30 per cent, he said. The assessed values reflect market activity between July 1, 2015, and July 1, 2016, said Grant. “It’s based on what properties are transacting for in your particular market” in the year ended July 1, 2016, he said. Other factors that can affect an assessment are significant renovations, how attractive the neighbourhood is to investors and homebuyers, and zoning changes, for instance to increase density. Not all properties that are assessed at a higher value will see their taxes rise, said Grant. “It all depends on how your property performs compared to others in your taxing jurisdiction,” he said, adding some taxes can decrease. If a property goes up 50 per cent and the average for that municipality is 30 per cent, “then that homeowner will see a tax increase,” he said. About 4.5 per cent of all properties provincewide will receive the letters, said Grant. The highest percentage is in Squamish, where 10 per cent of the 9,000 properties will be assessed at higher than the average increase. Squamish realtor Pat Place said she’s not surprised because the Squamish market was booming for the first eight months of the year. She estimated prices have risen 50 per cent between July 2015 and July 2016. She said that 10 per cent of Squamish residents are facing higher property taxes, “That comes with the territory.” Other cities with a larger percentage of higher-than-average assessed values include Richmond, at 6.5 per cent of all homes, and Surrey, at six per cent. In Vancouver, 3.5 per cent of property owners will receive an early notification letter, Grant said. Upton said his review panel of two or three appointees hear four to eight complaints a day for three or four days a week between Feb. 1 and March 15. About half of the assessments are changed after panel members review evidence from homeowners or businesses who argue they’ve been assessed incorrectly. “Sometimes they have a good point,” said Upton. “One time the kitchen was gutted and I had to ask why the assessor didn’t go there (to see the property). They don’t go out as much anymore. They sit in their office and use Google.” But he also said there are repeat complaints every year from the same homeowners and “they don’t often win. ”News of the increases comes days after the B.C. Real Estate Association released its forecast for an 8.7-per-cent drop in 2017 real estate prices for Metro. “Anything that’s happening in 2017 will be reflected in the 2018 assessment notices,” said Grant.