Most of the province can expect ‘moderate’ changes in their property values, in large part because of a sluggish housing market in 2019.
On Thursday, BC Assessment released its annual assessments, based on market projections as of July 1, 2019 for more than two million properties.
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On the whole, property values dipped about 2.5 per cent to $1.94 trillion, but assessor Tina Ireland said it depends on where you live.
“For example, assessed values of homes in many areas of Metro Vancouver will see a softening in value,” Ireland said in a news release, “while other markets and areas of the province will see minimal change and even modest increases over last year’s values.
“Commercial properties continue to trend upwards in many parts of the province, but have stabilized within the Lower Mainland.”
Within Metro Vancouver, each municipality saw a decrease in single-family residential property value except for Whistler and Pemberton, which saw five-per-cent increases. In Whistler, the average benchmark became more than $2 million, up from $1.9 million.
West Vancouver saw the largest drop in value, at 16 per cent, from $2.8 million to $2.3 million on average.
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On Vancouver Island, the biggest spikes were in Tofino and Alert Bay at 15 per cent. Tofino’s average home price rose from $767,000 to $883,500.
In the Thompson-Okanagan region, the majority of homeowners should see an increase in value, deputy assessor Tracy Shymko said in the release.
“Comparing July 2018 and July 2019, home values have risen consistently for most of Kamloops and the Thompson with a few communities seeing increases slightly higher than others, especially in Clinton, Lillooet, Ashcroft and Lytton,” she said.
The biggest hike was in Lillooet, from $215,0000 to $257,000, or roughly 25 per cent.
Meanwhile, Kelowna, West Kelowna and Peachland saw one- to two-per-cent dips.
Properties in northern B.C. earned a mix of modest increases and decreases.
“There are some exceptions such as Terrace and Kitimat where most homeowners will see increases of 20 percent and 40 percent respectively,” said deputy assessor Jarret Krantz.
Values slid five per cent in Dawson Creek and Fraser Lake, and dropped one per cent in 100 Mile House and Burns Lake.
Region by region, properties in Kootenay-Columbia saw the most widespread overall increase. The only areas where values went down were Slocan at one per cent and Midway at seven per cent.
Deputy assessor Ramaish Shah said assessed property values rose in this region largely because of unusually high demand. Proprieties in Salmo rose an average of 20 per cent in value, followed by a 16-per-cent jump in Warfield and 11 per cent in Creston.
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ashley.wadhwani@bpdigital.ca
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