Every three years councils must revalue all properties in their localities for rating purposes. Tauranga’s 2018 revaluation is due to be completed by independent valuation company Opteon by the end of this month.
The new valuation notices will be sent to property owners from 28 November, once the updated values have been audited by the Office of the Valuer General. The valuations will be based on property market conditions at 1 July 2018.
High-level estimates of the average increase in capital values by suburb (residential properties only) since 2015 are available at www.tauranga.govt.nz/revaluation.
These estimates indicate significant increases in capital values across the city, averaging at an estimated 48% for residential properties. Mayor Greg Brownless said that this reflects the buoyancy of Tauranga’s property market over the past three years.
“Our population has grown by 10,000 people, or 8%, since the last revaluation and Tauranga is a desirable location for property investment. As a result owners have seen the value of their properties increase significantly over the past three years”, he said.
“With this revaluation, capital values in the valuation roll will reflect the market more closely.”
Property owners should note that any change in their property’s value does not mean that their rates will increase or decrease by the amount of this change, as property revaluations don’t affect the total amount of rates collected by Tauranga City Council. Instead, they help work out everyone’s share of rates.
Usually only properties that have valuation increases that exceed the average increase for all rateable properties (estimated at 44%) would pay higher rates from 1 July 2019, if the total amount of rates collected stays the same as it is now. As an indication, a 48% valuation increase would mean a $20 rates increase, based on the current budget for the city.
Property owners are invited to sign up at www.tauranga.govt.nz/revaluation by Saturday 24 November to receive their valuation notices via email instead of paper.