In the Lower Mainland, only Whistler saw widespread declines in assessed values
Michael McCullough
Sun
Owners of homes and property in the Lower Mainland are likely to feel a good deal richer when they open their mail this week.
The B.C. Assessment Authority sent assessments to 1.75 million property owners across the province Tuesday, and most will record some of the largest annual increases in value in more than a decade. Most Lower Mainland homeowners can expect to see an increase in the assessed value of their homes of anywhere from 10 to 35 per cent.
The City of Vancouver‘s assessment roll rose to $109.5 billion from $93.7 billion a year ago. The assessed value of the average downtown condominium or townhouse jumped to $320,000 from $257,000, while a West Side house averaged $806,000, up from $695,000 in 2003. Detached houses on the East Side were assessed at $384,700 on average, compared to $317,400 the previous year.
The estimated value of real estate in Surrey soared 21 per cent overall, with newer, two-bedroom strata homes assessed at an average of $181,100 and a single-family dwelling in Morgan Creek at $440,000.
Property assessments rose by 14 per cent in Richmond, where the average older, one-bedroom condo might have an assessed value of $140,000 compared to $655,000 for a new house in Terra Nova.
In Coquitlam, an older house in Maillardville was assessed at an average of $310,000, while the estimated value of a house built on Westwood Plateau in the 1990s was put at around $560,000.
In the Lower Mainland, only Whistler — already the most expensive community in the region — saw widespread declines in assessed values. A two-bedroom apartment in Whistler village slipped in assessed value to $660,000 from $666,000 last year, for example. The assessment on a single-family home in the Alpine Meadows neighbourhood similarly dropped, to an average $1.023 million from $1.056 million a year ago.
Nearby Pemberton, however, saw healthy increases — to $234,000 from $202,000 for a two-bedroom townhouse, for example.
“Consistently, everything is up with the exception of Whistler,” said Jason King, assessor for the Vancouver Sea to Sky Region, which includes the North Shore, Squamish and the Sunshine Coast.
King would not account for the drop in Whistler assessments, saying only that Whistler has enjoyed above-average increases for years.
“The District of North Vancouver was a standout,” King said. There, for example, a two-bedroom apartment in Lower Lonsdale rose an average 43 per cent in assessed value to $236,400, while a three-bedroom townhouse in Upper Lonsdale would typically appreciate by 29 per cent.
Waterfront properties on the Sunshine Coast saw similar increases in the order of 30-35 per cent. While they did not see the same percentage increases, “character houses in Vancouver continue to be very popular in the market,” King said.
South of the Fraser River, older homes tended to appreciate faster than new homes, suggesting a rise in the underlying land value, said Steve Kelly, acting assessor for the region covering Richmond, Delta, Surrey and White Rock.
Steveston has become a hot spot as the redevelopment of the old fishing port’s waterfront and recreational facilities has made that part of Richmond more desirable, Kelly said. Across the municipality, several purchases of commercial property in the downtown area along No. 3 Road hint at speculation over the coming Richmond-Airport-Vancouver rapid transit line.
In Surrey, the redevelopment of areas such as Fleetwood and Morgan Creek from larger acreages to denser forms of housing is also driving up land values, Kelly said.
Double-digit increases in property values were the norm in the suburbs north of the Fraser, said area assessor Kash Kang, with particular properties and areas such as Anmore and Belcarra witnessing 25-30-per-cent increases.
© The Vancouver Sun 2005