Residential property assessments across the North Shore for 2014 are coming in just an eyelash below 2013's average numbers.
BC Assessment released the 2014 valuations Thursday showing the average assessments in the city and district of North Vancouver down less than one per cent each from last year and West Vancouver's down about two per cent.
BC Assessment analyzes all real estate transactions over a one-year period to calculate the property value owners will be taxed on.
Across the Lower Mainland and up the Sea to Sky corridor, most assessments are in range of plus or minus five per cent compared to last year.
"Based on those transactions, all we can say is the property market was in a stable or holding pattern with properties holding their stored value in this past year," said Dharmesh Sisodraker, deputy assessor. "Exactly why that's happening. .. the market is always cyclical. There's going to be ups. There's going to be downs. There's going to be flat points and for the last two years, we've been in a flat point for most of the Lower Mainland, actually."
While the average property value hasn't moved much, there are fluctuations depending
on the housing type and neighbourhood, according to BC Assessment's report.
In the City of North Vancouver, single family homes in the Westview and Grand Boulevard areas tended to go up in value, while denser development in Lower Lonsdale have seen assessments trickle downward with one bedroom condos falling from an average of $342,000 to $340,400 and three bedroom townhouses at $626,000, down from $650,000 the year before.
"The strata/condominium market did show a bias to being down more than up," Sisodraker said.
The District of North Vancouver too had winners and losers. Single-family homes rose about $5,000 in value to $47,000 in Lynn Valley, Delbrook and Blueridge while townhouses in Lynn Valley lost about $31,000 to come in at an average of $544,000.
In West Vancouver, the average assessed value of a home in Dundarave is up more than $100,000 to $2,432,000. Neighbours in Ambleside, however might see their assessments fall about $69,000 where the average is $1,629,300. British Properties homes tended to increase while waterfront properties slid.
Unlike homes, valuations on commercial and industrial properties were on the incline in the last year with the average assessment up between 2.9 and 3.5 per cent on the North Shore. That is in keeping with a province wide trend, Sisodraker said. While most of the $20-million-plus mega-mansions are in Vancouver's Point Grey, six West Vancouver properties are in the top 30 most valuable homes in the province. The most expensive is 3330 Radcliffe Ave which was $24,411,000.
Assessments should be in the mail this week, but are also available online.
