Hi Paul,
I enjoyed your article on property assessment so I did a little research on my neighbourhood in Comox. There are 18 homes on my street, 10 to 12 years old and assessed at $600,000 to $700,000. The 2020 assessment indicates a decrease of $1,000 to $7,000 for all 18 homes. The news appears correct that property assessments throughout the province are lower than in 2019. However I don’t understand Union Bay, when I checked a dozen random assessments they appear to have increased by $30,000 or more. Am wondering what would trigger such an increase.
PS, 5633 6th Street increased by $61,000
So, I decided to research a bit more……….
The Assessment Process (Three Steps)
1. Information collection
Information is collected and analyzed by BC Assessment appraisers for all properties in British Columbia. (Most often this information collection occurs when properties are created/constructed, but can also occur at other times like when properties are renovated.)
2. Information analysis
Property sales are analyzed by BC Assessment appraisers to understand the property market as at July 1st of each year. This new market information is used to set the new assessments.
3. Create and deliver assessment notices
https://info.bcassessment.ca/Services-products/Understanding-the-assessment-process
Over time, BC Assessment has collected information about each property inBritish Columbia from many sources, including: the province, your city, site visits, and even homeowners.
- Building permits
- Land titles office
- Real estate transactions
- Property owner initiated updates
- 3D modelling of Vancouver’s downtown condos to determine views
- Requests sent to property owners
- A visit to the property
- Aerial and street-front imagery
Your assessment is based on the market value of your property as of July 1st of the previous year. When determining the assessed value, our appraisers consider your property’s unique characteristics, including:
- The location of the home
- The view from the home
- The size of the home
- The age of the home
- Garages, carports, decks, pool, etc.
- Comparable sales prices and other real estate market information
Our appraisers also consider recent sales of properties with similar characteristics to your property.
Market value assessment is widely considered the fairest system for distributing the property tax burden.
In any tax area, properties of equal value contribute the same tax. Higher-value properties will contribute more. Assessment Search is available for you to compare your property with recent sales and assessments of similar properties in your neighbourhood.
Contact Us
At BC Assessment, our ongoing continuous improvement includes our customers. The best way for you to connect with us is to use our online customer form or to contact us at 1-866-valueBC (1-866-825-8322).
