6 minute read
Creating Uniform Assessments and Trusted Property Information
Jason Grant
Jason has also been an active member of the Real Estate Institute of BC (REIBC) since 1994, having served on the Board of Directors as well as being elected President from 2014-2015. It is through his association with REIBC that Jason has gained an appreciation for the important work of BC Notaries.
As an Accredited Appraiser with the Appraisal Institute of Canada (AACI), Jason first joined BC Assessment in 1991. Over the years, he moved into various leadership roles including Greater Vancouver Assessor and then Vice President of Assessment with the responsibility for overseeing the province’s assessments for over 2 million properties with a combined value of more than $2 trillion. That has provided him an extensive amount of experience with complex appraisal and related legal matters.
During the 1990s, the shifts in BC’s real estate market were relatively uneventful. By 2004, Jason became the Greater Vancouver Assessor, just as property values began to skyrocket—and have continued to do so almost every year since.
“For years, BC Assessment had delivered our annual assessment notices within a mostly stable market of gradual ups and downs, and then in the 2000s, percentage increases suddenly started going up in the double-digits each year,” explains Grant. “In places such as Vancouver, homes were rapidly growing in value, reflecting the very hot real estate market that has never really slowed down.”
“When the pandemic hit in 2020, we initially did not know what to expect with the impact on the market,” adds Grant. “But, it quickly became apparent that there was not only a heighted demand among homebuyers during COVID-19, but also that demand was everywhere across the province in communities of every size. As we do with each year, we carefully analyzed all our market data and determined property values to be uniformly up in most areas of BC.”
First founded in 1974 and governed by a Board of Directors appointed by the provincial government, BC Assessment is a Crown corporation that serves as BC’s trusted provider of property assessments. It collects, monitors, and analyzes data throughout the year and provides property assessments as per the Assessment Act for over 2 million properties across the province.
“Our vision is to be a dynamic and reliable assessment-services provider that supports strong and vibrant communities in BC,” states Grant. “For everything from schools and hospitals to public safety and transportation to libraries and parks and rec centres , our assessments provide the foundation of funding for the important local services that we all rely on every day.”
BC Assessment independently and uniformly determines all property assessments based on their market values as of July 1 each year. By early January, those assessments are delivered to
Jason Grant, President and Chief Executive Officer of BC Assessment since 2017, has spent his entire career analyzing and determining British Columbia property assessments over the past 30 years.
each property owner as well as to local governments and other taxing authorities to determine the equitable distribution of property taxes.
“The most common question that I get is whether increasing assessments equate to an increase in property taxes,” says Grant. “It is important to understand that changes in property assessments do not automatically translate into a corresponding change in property taxes.
“How your assessment changes relative to the average change in your community is what may affect your property taxes. If your assessment goes up 10 per cent, but the average increase for your community was 15 per cent, then you are actually more likely to see a reduction in your taxes because the taxation distribution will be higher for those above the average, and lower for those below the average.”
To assist property owners with that calculation, annual assessment notices provide the percentage change for both their property as well as the average change for all properties within their community, typically being the local municipality.
What can British Columbians expect when they receive their 2022 assessment notices?
First, Grant states that he has been extremely impressed with the dedication and commitment of the nearly 750 BC Assessment employees across BC who rapidly adjusted to the COVID-19 pandemic and—through innovation, agility, and expertise—have managed to deliver two annual assessment rolls in back-to-back challenging years.
“Early in 2020, we quickly overcame all the obstacles we were up against, to maintain uninterrupted operations during COVID,” recalls Grant. “I put the
challenge to our people and they responded resoundingly that we can find a way to get this done; they did so with the same BC Assessment reliability and accuracy that British Columbians have always depended upon.”
Consistent with past years, only about 1 per cent of BC property owners appealed their 2021 assessments, reinforcing a high level of confidence among British Columbians.
For 2022 property assessments, based on the July 1, 2021, valuation date, the characteristically active residential real estate market of 2021 will be reflected in the continued upward movement of property values throughout the province when 2022 Assessment Notices arrive in January.
“Most homeowners, regardless of where they live in BC, can expect to see the strong 2021 real estate market reflected in their 2022 assessments,” reports Grant, “the general rule being that your home assessment will be up noticeably in value, which reinforces just how resilient our province’s real estate is and continues to be.”
Commercial properties are somewhat more complex with various sectors adjusting differently, depending on the lingering impacts of the pandemic and pace of economic recovery.
“Similar to homes, most commercial and industrial properties can also expect notable increases, with some exceptions such as office buildings.”
In all, the Assessment Act includes nine property classifications, all of which BC Assessment must carefully monitor, analyze, and evaluate. That property information is valued and shared with a variety of partners and customers including governments, Indigenous communities, university researchers, realtors, bankers, lawyers, title search companies, and BC Notaries.
“At BC Assessment, we value properties but we also greatly value our relationships,” states Grant. “We embrace partnerships and we are committed to continuous improvement in how we can best serve the needs of British Columbians.”
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In that vein, BC Assessment believes strongly in transparency with all its property assessments easily accessible and searchable at bcassessment.ca.
“I welcome all BC Notaries and all interested British Columbians to visit our website in January to search and compare the 2022 assessments for the province’s 2 million properties,” concludes Grant.
BCAssessment.ca provides self-service access to a free, online property-assessment search service that allows anyone to search, check, and compare 2022 property assessments for anywhere in the province.
Additional property-search features can be unlocked by simply registering for a free BC Assessment custom account to check a property’s 10-year value history, store/access favourites, create comparisons, and monitor neighbourhood sales and the use of an interactive map. s
