Saanich's Blenkinsop Valley, situated in the Capital's core. BC Assessment figures for 2023 show assessed land values rose by an average of 11% in the municipality, while the rest of the region saw increases ranging from 9% to 14%. Citified.ca
Langford, Sidney and Highlands lead region for 2023 property assessment uplifts, but there’s a catch
Mike Kozakowski, Citified.ca
Published January 2, 2023
The province has released its property assessments for the New Year, and while increases were tempered compared to 2022, the Capital Region’s municipalities and districts saw average land value uplifts of 9% to 14%.
However, the 2023 assessments were captured in July 1st of 2022, and fail to reflect the real-estate market downturn since then. BC Assessment issued a notice on December 5th advising property owners that their new assessments would be out of sync with market sentiment that took hold in the second half of the year.
"Most homeowners around the province can generally expect about a 5 to 15% rise in assessment values when they receive their notices in early January," said Assessor Bryan Murao. “I want to emphasize that assessments are based on July 1 values of [2022], meaning that when similar properties were sold up to and around July 1, those market value sales are used to calculate your assessed value.”
“Since July 1, we know that the real estate market has changed as interest rates continue to rise and overall sales volume has declined," adds Murao. “As a result, [the 2023] property assessment will likely be higher than what the current market value might be, but that will be the same for everyone."
It should be noted, though, that assessments are generally not used to appraise real-estate for the open market, and property sellers typically sell their holdings for amounts higher than the assessed value, or lower. The assessment is used primarily for calculating each property’s municipal property tax levy, and can be significantly different than transactional values.
As for the real-world decrease since July, the general sentiment in Greater Victoria is property prices are down 10% to 15% from their peak in mid-2022, which may or may not correlate with what assessed values would show if calculated today, rather than in mid-2022.
Nevertheless, we’ve tabulated how south Island municipalities stacked up against reach other for the year, based on their average assessment calculations as of July 1st.
- The municipalities of Highlands, Langford and Sidney top the region for 2023 with average assessment lifts of 14%.
- At 13% are Central Saanich and Colwood.
- Esquimalt, North Saanich and View Royal average an increase of 12%.
- Metchosin, Saanich and Sooke rise 11%.
- The unincorporated areas of East Sooke, Jordan River, Otter Point, Shirley, and Willis Point reflect a 10% increase.
- And finally, the City of Victoria and Oak Bay average a 9% rise apiece.
Up in the Cowichan Valley, Shawnigan Lake has an average uplift of 15% along with some southern Cowichan areas (others averaged 10%), while the City of Duncan saw 14%, as did north Cowichan.
Below is a list of south Island districts, in order of value increase:
- Highlands - 14%
- Langford - 14%
- Sidney - 14%
- Central Saanich - 13%
- Colwood - 13%
- North Saanich - 12%
- Esquimalt - 12%
- View Royal - 12%
- Metchosin - 11%
- Saanich - 11%
- Sooke - 11%
- East Sooke - 10%
- Jordan River - 10%
- Otter Point - 10%
- Shirley - 10%
- Willis Point - 10%
- City of Victoria - 9%
- Oak Bay - 9%
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Article resources
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