Dear Editor:
Like many North Shore homeowners, we are digesting our recently received assessment that purports to represent our property’s actual value as of July 1, 2017.
Our modest 61-year-old house saw a one-year increase in assessment of 54 per cent.
In December we also received a letter informing us that as a result of impending changes to our assessment, we would also likely see a “change” to our 2017 property taxes. Much more modest assessment increases over the past two years caused our property taxes to increase nearly 40 per cent during that period – and this in a time of extremely low inflation.
This tax increase alone took most of the rise in my salary during the same period.
An examination of supporting sales evidence provided by B.C. Assessment indicates that it has been extremely aggressive in setting 2017 assessments. This may result in property tax increases in no way justified by increases in the cost of providing municipal services.
As well, this is all the more unsettling given the province’s intervention in the real estate market a mere three weeks after the valuation date, with the foreign buyer tax of 15 per cent in addition to a new “luxury tax” rate on property transfer amounts over $2 million imposed earlier in the year.
Following the implementation of the foreign buyer’s tax, sales of homes in West Van plummeted over 90 per cent. This is not surprising, as prominent local Realtors have gone on record saying that 60 per cent or more of the buyers in the early 2016 market (widely described as a buying frenzy) were offshore investors.
Reviewing current real-estate listings in our area shows houses on the market priced at up to 28 per cent less than the 2017 property assessments, and they are still not selling.
There also seems to be little value differentiation between extensively renovated older houses and those that are likely teardowns. All seem to be considered fodder for the bulldozer, on the assumption that most buyers have unlimited funds and will build new.
After a prolonged period of denial – while filling its coffers with the tax proceeds of rapidly inflating real estate values – the province finally took action to cool the runaway market.
Now, to add insult to injury, it expects many homeowners to bear large property tax increases based on property valuations in a market that no longer exists.
David Sheffield
West Vancouver
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