Property values have held “flat” throughout much of British Columbia, according to the province’s 2025 property assessments.
Bryan Murao, BC Assessment’s assessor for residential Lower Mainland said the latest round of assessed home values — which reflect assessments on July 1, 2024 — was “very stable,” for the most part holding within a range of plus or minus five per cent.
“I think the trend that it speaks to when you see that it’s flat everywhere,” he told Global News.
“So whether you’re looking at strata properties or detached properties, whether you’re looking at properties in the lower mainland or properties in the suburbs, with everything changing about the same, it says that it’s probably interest rates that have had the biggest impact on the 2025 assessments.”
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The margins were even smaller in major urban areas.
In the Lower Mainland, virtually all municipalities saw values hold to within a three-per cent increase or drop. Burnaby, with a four-per cent increase, was the outlier.
The assessments paint a similar picture in Greater Victoria, where a five-per cent value drop in the District of North Saanich was the only change to fall outside the three per cent range for single-family homes.
Only three Vancouver Island communities experienced valuation changes beyond three per cent among strata homes, with values falling in View Royal by four per cent, but rising in Courtenay and Campbell River by four and five per cent, respectively.
Flat trends continue in the southern Interior and northern B.C., where single-family home values dropped by one per cent in Kelowna and West Kelowna, while Prince George saw a three-per cent rise.
Among the few communities that saw values spike by double digits were Williams Lake and Wells, where single-family home valuations rose 10 per cent, while valuations spiked 13 per cent in Tumbler Ridge.
Murao said industry analysts will be closely watching home sales in the coming months, when the effects of a series of interest rate cuts totalling 1.75 per cent since June are expected to be felt.
“What we haven’t seen is a lot of market reaction to that,” he said.
“I am very interested to see what is going to happen in the spring.”
Homeowners can check their property assessment online. BC Assessment has also mailed assessment notices to homeowners, but notes their delivery could be delayed due to the impacts of the Canada Post strike.
— with files from the Canadian Press
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