Osoyoos homes saw a 9.6 per cent jump in assessments this year, reflecting a stronger real estate market throughout the Okanagan region. The jump was particularly high in municipalities around Kelowna, but less in rural areas. (Richard McGuire file photo)
Osoyoos homes saw a jump in assessments of nearly 10 per cent as assessments rose throughout the Okanagan region, reflecting a stronger housing market.
The 9.6 per cent figure for Osoyoos is based on an average of single-family homes on municipal-sized lots, said Tracy Wall, deputy assessor with BC Assessment.
Assessment notices were mailed last week to homes throughout the region.
The jump in property values in Osoyoos is significantly higher than Oliver, which only increased by 5.6 per cent and has lower-valued properties to begin with.
The average home in Osoyoos is now assessed at $406,700, while Oliver’s average is $330,400.
The Osoyoos average may be affected by high-priced lakefront properties, but it excludes acreage properties outside the town, Wall said.
Assessments are based on market value as of July 1, 2016, which may be too early to record any bump in housing prices that Oliver might have experienced as a result of the new Okanagan Correctional Centre.
Wall said the prison could affect assessments, but at this point the construction has only just been completed so it could be too early to see an impact.
“We’ll certainly be tracking the impact of sales this coming year in Oliver and in Osoyoos to see if there is more demand for housing and if that does continue to increase the values for next year,” said Wall.
“But it’s difficult to anticipate at this point. We look at things historically. We don’t try and predict what the market’s going to do.”
While assessments are used to calculate tax rates, it’s a common misconception that a rise in assessments means an increase in taxes.
In fact, if the town’s budget stays the same, only those whose assessments rose higher than the average increase will pay more in taxes.
Some people with higher assessments could actually pay less in taxes if their property’s value rose less than the average.
Strata property values, for example, may behave differently from single-family homes.
BC Assessment doesn’t provide a separate breakdown for strata homes in Osoyoos, although they do provide separate figures in Kelowna, Penticton and Vernon.
In Kelowna and Penticton, strata properties saw a bigger rate of increase than single-family homes, while in Vernon, the opposite was true.
Property owners who believe their assessments are wrong have until Jan. 31 to submit a notice of complaint to appeal their assessment to a property assessment review panel.
But before taking that step, BC Assessment encourages owners to contact BC Assessment to discuss the issue.
As well, there are online tools such as the free online e-valueBC, which allows anyone to check property assessments of their neighbours and those elsewhere in the community and province.
The increase in Osoyoos is higher than in many other Okanagan communities, including Penticton, but the highest increases were seen in Kelowna and its neighbouring towns.
The highest increase was in Lake Country, where assessments rose by 16.3 per cent, but double-digit increases were also seen in Summerland, Peachland, and West Kelowna.
Kelowna’s increase was 11.1 per cent, but strata properties increased by 14.2 per cent.
Kelowna is now the fastest growing city in B.C., especially as younger people escape the inflated housing prices of the Lower Mainland and older Albertans move to the Okanagan to retire.
Lower assessment increases were experienced in more rural parts of the Okanagan region, which also includes parts of Similkameen.
Princeton increased by just 3.2 per cent. Spallumcheen, Armstrong, Oliver and Lumby were among other rural communities with increases below 6 per cent.
One exception was Keremeos, whose 9.7 per cent increase was slightly greater than Osoyoos, even though the average assessment in Keremeos is just $256,000.
Significantly, none of the communities listed by BC Assessment for the Okanagan region saw a decrease in average assessments this year and increases tended to be higher than usual.
“It is unusual,” said Wall. “It’s the strongest market we’ve seen in many years.”
Property owners can contact BC Assessment at 1-866-825-8322 or online at bcassessment.ca.
RICHARD McGUIRE
Osoyoos Times
