A red hot condo and townhouse market means owners of those properties in Delta will see their assessments rise significantly.
Property owners will receive their 2018 assessment notices in the mail this week, figures that reflect market value as of July 1, 2017.
As opposed to last year when single-family homes saw huge assessment increases, some as much as 50 per cent, this year it’s townhouses and condos that are seeing the largest hikes.
According to the figures released by BC Assessment, townhouses in Delta are up in the neighbourhood of 12 per cent over last year, while many condos have increased in value by close to 20 per cent.
As far as single-family homes go, values in Delta are generally flat and in some cases are actually down from last year.
Most other Fraser Valley communities have also seen sharp increases in strata values, although most cities have also seen modest jumps for single-family homes.
“The majority of residential home owners within the region can expect an increase compared to last year’s assessment,” said assessor Laura Schwagele. “This year, we have seen a strong demand in our residential strata market and this has resulted in a larger increase compared to the residential single-family detached homes.”
BC Assessment’s website at bcassessment.ca includes more details about the 2018 assessments, property information and trends such as lists of 2018’s top-valued residential properties across the province. The website also provides self-service access to a free, online property assessment search service that allows anyone to search, check and compare property assessments for anywhere in the province.
“Those who feel that their property assessment does not reflect market value as of July 1, 2017 or see incorrect information on their notice should contact BC Assessment as indicated on their notice as soon as possible in January,” added Schwagele.
“If a property owner is still concerned about their assessment after speaking to one of our appraisers, they may still submit a notice of complaint (appeal) by Jan. 31, for an independent review by a property assessment review panel.”
The review panels are independent of BC Assessment and are appointed annually by the provincial government. They typically meet between Feb. 1 and March 15 to hear formal complaints.
