Minor changes in property taxes expected for Regina homeowners

The City of Regina says there will likely be little change to property taxes this year.

“For the majority of people with this reassessment, the majority of residential property owners will see a decrease. There’s more properties decreasing than increasing with this,” Don Barr, city assessor, said.

According to the city, 90 per cent of properties will see a change of less than 10 per cent in their municipal taxes because property values have been stable.

“On average the decrease is about $85 per property and the increases are about $75 per property,” Barr said. “The major reason there’s more properties decreasing in the residential group is there is some shifting to the multi-family properties, which are increasing in value faster than other residential properties.”

“Generally, the lower-value properties have increased at a higher percentage than the higher-value properties,” Barr said.

If the tax jump is big enough, it could affect potential homebuyers, Chris Parrott, a licensed realtor, said.

“For qualifying for a mortgage, there have been some changes, and also a lender will factor in what your property taxes are and your ability to service that. So a major increase on your taxes would offset your ability to take on a mortgage amount,” Parrott said.

Multi-family properties will see the biggest change at about 27 per cent.

“For the multi-family properties, the rents have increased and the prices that are being paid for those properties have increased, and this is just a rebalancing of the assessment and the taxes for those properties,” Barr explained.

There are 83,000 properties in Regina. The average assessment of a residential property is $350,000.

For those who are curious about their neighbours’ assessment, property values can be checked out online.

Property owners have until March 6 to appeal their assessment.

“Each reassessment we get about five per cent of commercial properties appealing and about one per cent of residential properties appealing,” Barr said.

It’s important to remember the assessed value of your home is typically lower than its market value, Gord Archibald, Association of Regina Realtors’ CEO, said.

“It’s also important to recognize that even though a property’s assessed value may increase since the last assessment, that does not necessarily mean there’s going to be an increase in property tax,” Archibald said.

Final tax amounts still need to be approved by city council. The bill will be sent to property owners in May.