Assessment Notices Out, and Up
Prince George, B.C.- Property assessment notices are in the mail and most residential properties in Prince George will see an increase in their assessed value.
B.C. Assessment Authority’s Deputy Assessor with the North Region, Geoff Radtke says most homes in the area are worth more in value compared to last year’s assessment roll “Most home owners in the Prince George Assessment Area will see changes in the – 5% to + 15% range.”
The overall increase in value of residential assessments in Prince George is 2.92% while the overall increase in the assessed value of commercial properties is 2.4%
More than 78 thousand properties have been assessed in P.G.. Overall, the Prince George Assessment Area’s Assessment Roll increased from $16.004 billion last year to $16.572 billion this year. A total of almost $567 million of this growth includes subdivisions, rezoning and new construction.
Of the communities listed below, it is Mackenzie that is seeing the greatest change, as that community’s average assessed value of a residential property is up 19.2% over the previous year, while the total increase for all classifications of property is up 12.5% in Mackenzie.
The table below shows the average assessed value for single family residential properties in several communities:
|
Jurisdiction |
2013* |
2014** |
Change |
|
City of Prince George |
$236,000 |
$242,000 |
2.54% |
|
District of Mackenzie |
$125,000 |
$149,000 |
19.20% |
|
Village of Burns Lake |
$128,000 |
$139,000 |
8.59% |
|
District of Fort St. James |
$166,000 |
$168,000 |
1.20% |
|
Village of Fraser Lake |
$159,000 |
$159,000 |
0.00% |
|
Village of Granisle |
$55,000 |
$55,000 |
0.00% |
|
Village of McBride |
$130,000 |
$130,000 |
0.00% |
|
Village of Valemount |
$151,000 |
$153,000 |
1.32% |
|
District of Vanderhoof |
$199,000 |
$212,000 |
6.53% |
* Valuation date of July 1, 2012
** Valuation date of July 1, 2013
“Property owners who feel that their property assessment does not reflect market value as of July 1, 2013 or see incorrect information on their notice should contact BC Assessment as indicated on their notice as soon as possible in January,” said Radtke.
If a property owner is still concerned about their assessment after speaking to one of our appraisers, they may submit a Notice of Complaint (Appeal) by January 31, for an independent review by a Property Assessment Review Panel.
The Prince George Regional assessment office is located at 200 – 1488 Fourth Avenue in Prince George. During the month of January, office hours are 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday to Friday. Property owners can contact BC Assessment toll-free at 1-866-valueBC (1-866-825-8322) or online by clicking “CONNECT” at www.bcassessment.ca.
Comments
Assessed values are a bit of a red herring. Regardless of whether assessed values average out at $1,000, $100,000, or $1,000,000 per home, the City will adjust mill rates to get the money it needs.
Few people understand that. That is the sad part.
If our assessments went up by 300%, we could all move south to buy a similar property …. ;-)
Yeah.. We will get gouged no matter what happens.
“If our assessments went up by 300%, we could all move south to buy a similar property …. ;-)”
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Yeah, but nobody would be willing to pay the property taxes on those similar homes in other cities, so they would stick it out in PG and complain about how they are being gouged, LOL ;)
Well, you got me there, NMG … :-)
Then again, no one would be able to complain.
Did a bit of research on BC assessment page. It is nice to note that trying to get assessments in Ottawa or Ontario is like the stone ages. Any place in BC is almost as good as Calgary and other cities in Alberta.
Houses in the West Bowl seem to have gone up by about 10% … mine and the rest of the street has ….
Ridgeview, in the Hart has generally gone down.
So, as always, areas of town have re-adjusted to sales records.
“Yeah.. We will get gouged no matter what happens”
There folks, is one of the main reason why little happens in PG … the gimme, gimme, gimme attitude
Here is the equivalent of BC Assessment for Ontario:
http://www.mpac.ca/default.asp
I’ll admit I haven’t even looked at the information since I moved here, but they do look to also have an interactive tool that can be used to compare properties (need to have an assessment notice to register though).
I did find this report though (for 2012) and it has some decent summary info, although much of it is consolidated. For what it’s worth, Ottawa has been seeing average increases of 6% a year since 1980. When I moved here people told me not to expect getting rich off your house like in Vancouver or some places in the Toronto area, but you typically won’t lose your shirt either. It seems to be an incredibly stable market with steady but modest price increases year to year.
http://www.mpac.ca/pdf/MPAC_MarketSnapshot_July_2012.pdf
This is an interesting comparison between towns and cities in the north. While not the ONLY measuring stick, it is a good indicator as to where the economy is doing well and where it is not.
Mackenzie, Burns Lake and Vanderhoof have all had years where there has been positive economic inflow and the prices show it.
Mine dropped by 10% this time around. Starting to get closer to fair market value.
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