The B.C. Assessment Authority released its online record of property valuations for 2020 without the usual fanfare.
Traditionally around New Year’s Day, the Crown corporation issues a media release showing the percentage increases in values across different residential property types in different parts of B.C. — plus the total assessed value of all residential property in the province.
The information has been available online since Jan. 1, but the B.C. Assessment Authority waited until Monday to release the details of its valuations.
Which is surprising, because 2020 was a bizarre and totally miscalculated year for B.C. real estate — with the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation saying in April that prices could fall up to 19 per cent in 2020, and sales would likely plunge due to COVID-19.
In fact, across Canada residential property prices have jumped 20 per cent in 2020, and it was a record year for sales.
This was driven primarily by further drops in interest rates due to Bank of Canada policy.
In Metro Vancouver, property assessments saw significant gains across the region.
The average assessed value of a single family home in Vancouver has jumped 10 per cent, from $1.567 million in 2020 to $1.717 million in 2021. While the median value of a condominium in Vancouver went up three per cent from $688,000 to $711,000.