In the province of British Columbia, the property assessments for this year were just released to the public via web site. I was unaware of this but earlier in December BC Assessment sent out letters to hundreds of property owners warning them that they assessments would see massive jumps relative to previous years. I did not get one of these letters.
This week, people found out exactly how big these jumps were. My apartment was assessed at a record high, far exceeding any increases that I’d seen previously. As a comparison, I believe the largest increase I saw in years past was perhaps 3-4%. For this year, the assessed value of my apartment increased by 23%. According to the government, my apartment is now well over $300K which is ridiculous because it’s certainly not worth that much. This does, however, back up some of the things I’ve seen a post I wrote earlier.
It’s interesting to note, however, the assessed value was calculated in July of 2016. The market has changed since then. A new foreign buyer real estate tax was introduced after July, which did have an effect on prices. Though I would say the effect was not anywhere near a “crash” or a “bursting of a bubble”.
The new assessments have been the talk of the town all week. Some are wondering if their property taxes will also shoot sky high. I would say not necessarily. Property taxes don’t follow assessment values in a linear scale, if they did we’d all be in trouble. For the most part, municipalities take what they need to make the budget work for that year. I would expect my property taxes to increase but not anywhere near 23%.
If you know anyone who lives in this province, enter in their address and find out how much their property is worth!