Homeowners brace as B.C. Assessment 2017 valuations go online
B.C. Assessment property valuations for 2017 are now available online. And while the red-hot Metro Vancouver real estate market has cooled in recent months, a random survey of homes currently for sale in the region suggests the assessment valuations are generally close to the mark or below today’s asking prices.
Assessment figures reflect property values as of July 1, 2016, a month before a provincial 15-per-cent tax on foreign buyers took effect Aug. 2 — with a chilling effect on the market.
In normal years, assessment figures are often considered lower than true market value. A random online sample of 10 residential properties currently for sale throughout Metro shows that is still frequently the case — with exceptions — despite the market volatility of the past year.
Dan Morrison, president of the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver, cautioned Monday that asking prices aren’t necessarily reflective of the real value of the property: “There could be no logical reason why a seller picks a certain asking price for their property. You can get a distorted view from one-off comparisons.”
He also noted that B.C. Assessment conducts a “mass appraisal” every year that can’t account for the fact that “every house and neighbourhood is different.” He added that “everybody thought the selling prices would be coming down a lot, but they haven’t” after the foreign-buyers tax, especially in the townhouse and condo market.
Even among detached single-family homes, “there hasn’t been that big price drop that everyone anticipated.”
Currently, about 12 per cent of listed homes are sold monthly — the tipping point before it becomes a buyer’s market, Morrison said. “We’re just on the border, so we haven’t seen the pressure on prices yet.”
Tom Davidoff at the Sauder School of Business at the University of B.C., also observed that in some markets prices continued to appreciate past July 1. Sellers also tend to be slow in adjusting list prices to market conditions. “Since prices have been falling, transaction prices may be closer to these assessments.”
Finally — “and this is conjecture” — B.C. Assessment “may shade assessments somewhat below their best guess of value to avoid conflict,” he added.
A three-bedroom, three-bath, 2,494-square-foot home is selling for $4.18 million at 2134 West 53rd Ave. in Vancouver. B.C. Assessment places the value at $3.48 million.
A two-bedroom, three-bath, 1,656-sq.-ft. condo at 301-1985 Alberni St. in the West End is selling for $2.5 million, but has an assessed value of $2.19 million.
A four-bedroom, four-bath, 1,716-sq.-ft. home at 1890 Grant St. near Commercial Drive is selling for $1.59 million, but is assessed at $2.27 million.
A six-bedroom, three-bath, 2,483-sq.-ft. home at 5638 Rupert St. is selling for $1.59 million, but is valued by B.C. Assessment only marginally higher at $1.61 million.
In North Vancouver, a five-bedroom, two-bath, 1,914-sq.-ft. home selling for $1.96 million at 236 West Balmoral Rd. is valued slightly less by B.C. Assessment at $1.86 million.
Meanwhile, assessments of B.C.’s most-expensive homes kept increasingly at a dramatic pace.
The sprawling Kitsilano home of Lululemon founder Chip Wilson topped last year’s most-expensive properties. The latest figures show the home at 3085 Point Grey Rd. has increased in value to $75.8 million, up from $63.8 million last year.