Steinbach home values decrease

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This article was published 23/06/2017 (2498 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

City councillors are digesting a report presented by a representative from the province’s municipal relations department that indicates single family residential properties decreased slightly in value during the most recent reassessment period.

Legislation mandates the province-wide property reassessment process every two years, explained Ed Kolodziej, acting district supervisor with the province’s assessment services office. The reassessment reflects how property values have changed during a period spanning April 2014 to April 2016.

“What that means is every single property is valued as if it had sold on Apr. 1, 2016,” he said. Numbers contained in the report will be a factor in determining 2018 property taxes. New construction, renovations, and fluctuations in real estate supply and demand are factors in the reassessment, Kolodziej said.

The report stated the market value of a single family residential property in Steinbach has fallen 1.5 percent during the aforementioned time frame. Provincially, the same property class increased in value by 1.3 percent. Steinbach apartment blocks, however, rose in value by 4.2 percent, while the value of farms and commercial properties increased by 7.1 and 4.8 percent, respectively. Condominium values in the city saw an uptick of 1.5 percent.

Councillor Jac Siemens noted the figures mean a couple downsizing from a house to a condominium would lose value on the sale of the former while paying more for the latter.

Within the report’s two-year time period, 926 properties sold in Steinbach, out of approximately 5,900 in total. Kolodziej praised Steinbach for its diverse assessment base, saying the community possesses a strong commercial base that accounts for one-third of its portioned assessment value.

While the report’s implications on ratepayers will depend on future calculations at the provincial and municipal level, according to Kolodziej, properties with an assessment increase less than 1.1 percent should see a municipal tax decrease. In addition to increasing or decreasing taxes, municipal councils can vary property class portion percentages or establish a tax credit program, he said.

Mayor Chris Goertzen later said the figures on residential properties were not surprising.

“We know that in 2015-2016, the market was quieter…We’ve been growing substantially for 15 years, and to have two years where there’s more moderate growth, I think, is understandable,” he said. Currently, more development is occurring, Goertzen said, and home prices are on an upswing.

Moving forward, city council will use the report’s findings when it crafts its preliminary 2018 budget, Goertzen said. However, a municipal mill rate hike is far from certain, and a decrease is also possible.

“The mill rate, in the past, has been adjusted to alleviate any increase in the assessment…It’s been more or less depending on what the projects are,” he explained.

The report also offered a glimpse into Steinbach’s role in the provincial market. While the province’s taxable assessment has increased by 6 percent to $78.4 billion, Steinbach’s has increased 1 percent, to $919 million.

Ratepayers can receive additional information about the 2018 reassessment, and the reassessment process more generally, by logging on to www.gov.mb.ca/assessment.