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Properties in the Regional District of Nanaimo add up to $66 billion in total assessed value

RDN receives report on home assessments as well as value of new builds
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B.C. Assessment updated Regional District of Nanaimo directors on information for properties across the region in the 2023 assessment roll at a meeting Jan. 10. (News Bulletin file photo)

The value of Regional District of Nanaimo properties increased by more than 13 per cent the last year, to $66 billion, says the provincial body which assists governments with taxation.

With RDN directors about to begin 2023 budget talks, Maurice Primeau, B.C. Assessment regional deputy assessor, informed the board, at its Tuesday, Jan. 10 meeting, about changes in the latest assessment roll.

Between July 2021 and 2022, the typical assessed value of a City of Nanaimo single-family dwelling rose 12 per cent, while strata buildings followed suit at 16 per cent and commercial properties 12 per cent.

“We can all recall the numbers that we saw last year on the assessment notices … Last year in the City of Nanaimo it was about 32 per cent for single family dwellings and this year being 12 per cent so it’s nice to see it come down,” said Primeau.

The District of Lantzville had typical assessed value of single family dwellings changing 14 per cent and commercial properties up 20 per cent.

In Cedar, Cassidy, Yellow Point and South Wellington (Area A), single-family homes increased by 19 per cent and commercial by 36 per cent.

For Gabriola Island, market change represented an 18 per cent rise for single-family dwellings, 20 per cent for stratas and 16 per cent for commercial properties.

Area C, encompassing Extension, Arrowsmith-Benson, East Wellington and Pleasant Valley, saw residential properties increase 23 per cent and commercial rise by 30 per cent.

Nanoose Bay (Area E) had single-family dwellings increasing 14 per cent, stratas 16 per cent and commercial properties 10 per cent.

Primeau told directors numbers used are based on values from the summer.

“We look at sales every year around July 1 to give us our market value for the assessment roll,” he said . “We are very aware that the market’s changing, interest rates are rising … we’re already seeing downward trends in real estate values, and we have quite a few predictors that can tell us where the market is heading and I’m very confident that we’re going to see lower assessed values next July 1.”

Activity not related to market movement (non-market change), such as new construction, subdivisions, changes in property class and zoning, demolitions and extensions of boundaries, totalled $808 million region-wide.

The City of Nanaimo’s non-market change activity totalled $320 million, according to Primeau, while it was $46 million in the District of Lantzville. For rural districts, Area A’s non-market change value was $63 million, Area B’s was $27 million, Area C was $106 million and Area E was $51 million.

“This is something we strive to get on the assessment roll,” Primeau said. “We do it now in a cumulative fashion so the local governments can look at their non-market change on a very regular basis … it helps with early budget planning discussions, before you actually get into setting your rates for the new year and finalizing your budget.”

Notices of assessment have been sent out and people wishing to appeal have until Jan. 31.

In all, 79,449 properties were on the assessment roll in the RDN, according to B.C. Assessment.

More information can be found at www.bcassessment.ca.

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karl.yu@nanaimobulletin.com

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Karl Yu

About the Author: Karl Yu

After interning at Vancouver Metro free daily newspaper, I joined Black Press in 2010.
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