Property owners throughout BC received their 2012 assessment notice the first week of January from BC Assessment (BCA).
This notice is BC Assessment’s estimate of a property’s value as of July 1, 2012, and for new construction or substantially renovated homes, the physical condition as of October 3, 2012.
BCA is the government agency responsible for determining and reporting property value estimates for the 1,935,426 properties in its database, a 0.92% increase in the number of properties since 2012.
BC Assessment and a REALTOR® assessment. Why the difference?
BCA’s assessment and the market value determined by a REALTOR® may be different. Why?
Both BCA assessors and REALTORS® calculate market value by analyzing sales of comparable homes within a local market, and look at factors that affect value such as size of home, view, location – on a busy or quiet street, number of bedrooms, construction quality, floor level, and garage or parking stalls.
Where every lots and every home on a street are typically the same, both BCA’s value and a REALTOR’s® value will be similar during stable market conditions.
Differences occur in neighborhoods where lots have been rezoned or are different shapes and sizes, where architecture and views are unique, and where owners have made changes that BCA hasn’t yet taken into account. Differences also occur during market instability when prices rise or fall during the six-month period between July 1 and January1 of the following year.
Property values stable
Since July 1, 2012 home owners may have seen prices stalling in some neighbourhoods and rising in others. BCA reports that the majority of residential homeowners will experience an assessment change of less than 5% compared to last year’s assessment roll.
The deadline to appeal an assessment was January 31, 2013
Property owners who disagree with their assessment should do their homework by visiting www.bcassessment.ca and then e-valueBC to compare their assessment with those of their neighbours. Each year, typically less than 2% of all BC property owners appeal their assessment.
Property owners should first contact their local assessment office and talk to staff who can make adjustments if there is an obvious error, for example if BCA included a complete renovation, when it was merely a spruce-up.
Tax Rate x Assessed Value / 1,000
If the tax rate for residential property is 4.01, taxes of $4.01 are charged on every $1,000 of assessed value. Residential property valued at $1,000,000 will have property taxes of $4,010 ($4.01 x $1,000,000/1,000)
New features
New features on the BCA website at www.bcassessment.ca include:
- Assessment roll total value by area and property class.
- Provincial median sale price to November 2012 for single family residential for strata residential.
- Photos (thumbnail size) for some properties from communities where BCA has been working on its Property Photo Update initiative.
- Top 200 Valued Residential Properties in all of BC.
- Top 100 Valued Residential Properties in Vancouver Sea to Sky assessment region (Includes Vancouver, North Vancouver City & District, West Vancouver, Squamish, Whistler, Pemberton, Bowen Island, Sunshine Coast).
- Top 100 Valued Residential Properties in North Fraser assessment region (Includes Burnaby, New Westminster, Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, Port Moody, Anmore, Belcarra).
- Top 100 Valued Residential Properties in the Fraser Valley assessment region (Includes Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows).
- Top 100 Valued Residential Properties in the Richmond/Delta assessment region (Includes Ladner and Tsawwassen).
Save assessment data
Visit www.bcassessment.ca and select e-valueBC to view and compare the assessed value of any BC property. Download and save assessment data as a PDS or an Excel file.
Source REBGV
Source REBGV
