CMHC news on Assessments

Here are some numbers for you from CMHC…

MLS Activity

The BC Real Estate Association in figures released in Dec 2006 states that:

• Residential Sales volume on MLS in BC reached $1.76 billion in December 2006, down 13% from the same month a year earlier.
• MLS Sales fell to 4,402 in December, from 5,701 in the same month in 2005, a decline of 23%.
• December was the sixth straight month that sales fell short of 2005's record-breaking pace.
• The average home price rose to $400,939, up 16% from a year earlier.
• Greater Vancouver MLS sales down 26% in December, 650 units lower than December 2005, and dollar volumes down 14%.
• Fraser Valley and Chilliwack MLS sales down 25% in December, 300 units lower than December 2005, and dollar volumes down 20%.
• Okanagan (incl. So. Okanagan) down 20% in December, 100 units lower than December 2005, and dollar volumes down almost 10%.
• Victoria and Vancouver Island down 7% in December, 58 units lower than December 2005, with no significant change in dollar volumes.

BC Assessments  increases as recently reported in the Vancouver Sun:

Provincewide

• 1,781,424 properties were valued for the 2007 roll compared to 1,749,347 on the 2006 roll
• 87.3% of all properties are classified with some residential
• Single-family-home assessments increased just over 20% on average
• $131 billion of the $150-billion gain was driven by hot property markets in communities around the province
• New construction added 106,734 new properties to the roll and pumped $19 billion into assessments
• The number of BC Real-Estate Millionaires nearly doubled in BC with 51,059 units valued assessed over $1 million
• Of these properties, 38,027 are single-family houses and 3,260 are condos
• According to Landcor president Rudy Nielsen,  Albertans bought about $1.5 billion worth of second homes in BC
• The authority's assessment period is from July 1 to July 1.  Helmut Pastrick, Credit Union Central B.C.'s chief economist, said that period certainly captures the hottest part of 2006 real estate markets, but markets have cooled and sales have slowed since then.

Vancouver

• The overall assessment value of Vancouver area properties jumped 25.8% to almost $156 billion from a year ago
• The Vancouver assessment area's property roll increased 25.5% to almost $164 billion. Most of that was within the city of Vancouver itself.
• Vancouver's average house assessment rose 23% to $896,979
• Downtown condominiums rose an average of 21% to $418,000, while condominiums in the Coal Harbour area showed the biggest jump in the city, up an average 37% to $1.5 million
• With an increase of almost 35%, Anmore's total property roll rose to a value of $626 million.
• Little Belcarra, just to Anmore's west, saw its property values rise almost 33% from 2006 assessments, while Port Moody's values increased almost 29%

Regional

• The Vernon assessment region, which includes Vernon, Armstrong, Salmon Arm and surrounding communities, had the biggest assessment gain at just over 30% to $21.3 billion.
• The Penticton assessment area was another big gainer, with its roll increasing just more than 27% to almost $18 billion.
• Whistler is the only municipality to buck the trend. Although the resort community's assessment is up 0.9% to just over $10 billion, area assessor Jason Grant said many homes on the 2007 roll are worth a little less than they were in 2006.
• Tumbler Ridge average assessments shot up 73% to $158,384