It’s the highest spike in B.C. property assessments in about a decade with some home owners seeing the value of their properties jump nearly 30 per cent.
“It’s more like a rope on my neck,” said 77-year-old Giovannino Giambattista after new property assessment numbers came out Monday. “Every year my house goes up and I’m going backwards, I don’t have enough money.”
The assessment of Giambattista’s East Vancouver home jumped 26 per cent from last year. With no intention of selling his home after 39 years, he says that only means more money out of his pocket.
Homes in the Lower Mainland saw the greatest increases of about 15 to 25 per cent. Stratas are also seeing gains of about five to 10 per cent.
“Really any property, single family, within 30 minutes of the city of Vancouver has performed very well,” said Jason Grant of the B.C. Assessment Authority.
“I’m most worried about those that are on fixed incomes,” said Vancouver Councillor Raymond Louie, pointing to seniors like Giambattista as the most susceptible to the change in assessments. “Our seniors, for instance, that are capital rich… but they don’t have the income to deal with any increase in taxes.”
An increase in property taxes isn’t the only cost associated with the assessments, as the increase is pushing many homes outside limits of the basic home owner grant. When the value of a home rises above $1.1 million, the grant begins to fall by $5 for every $1,000 in property value. That means the grant is reduced to $0 when a home is valued at $1.214 million.
Councillor Louie wants the province to adjust the limit so people aren’t getting hit twice.
“Rather than leaving the number exactly the same, let’s figure out how many people the program actually supports and keep that number stable and make adjustments on the exemption,” Louie said.
The highest-value property in the province remains Lululemon founder Chip Wilson’s home on Point Grey Road. The assessment value of his property jumped more than $6 million in a single year.
All property assessment values are searchable here.
Comments