The 2021 property assessment you'll get in the mail in the next few days will likely show your house is worth about 3% more and your property taxes will go up 4.2%.
"Assessment and taxation are two separate things and are a complicated relationship," said City of Kelowna revenue supervisor Angie Schumacher.
That's why a 3% assessment jump doesn't directly translate to a 3% property tax hike, but is instead used as a basis for determining tax rates.
BC Assessment figures show the 2021 typical assessed value of a fully-detached, single-family home in Kelowna is $650,000, up 3% from $629,000 a year before.
The 2021 typical assessed value of a strata home (condominium and townhouse) in Kelowna is $372,000, up 2% from $364,000.
Those values are based on assessments made July 1.
That's six months ago and the Kelowna real estate market has been hot that entire time, meaning values have gone up.
As well, market value, or what you can sell your house for, tends to be higher than assessed value.
For instance, statistics from the Okanagan Mainline Real Estate Board show the average selling price of a fully-detached, single-family home in the Central Okanagan was $857,000 in November, much higher than the typical assessed value of $650,000.
Board numbers put the average selling prices of condos and townhouses in November at $361,100 and $583,900, whereas BC Assessment lumps the two into the strata category with a typical value of $372,000.
"Market value and assessed value are different, but they are linked," said Thompson Okanagan deputy assessor Tracy Wall.
"The market is very fluid and we saw that in 2020. I've been doing this job a long time and it was definitely an interesting year. The market came to a standstill when COVID first hit in March and April, but has rebounded and grown quickly since then."
The property tax estimator tool on the City of Kelowna's website shows a home assessed at $650,000 will likely generate a tax bill of $3,469 at the end of May, which will have to be paid by July 2.
That's a tax increase of 4.2% based on the 2020 bill for a home assessed at $629,000 coming in at $3,329.
2021 typical assessed values for single-family homes in other Thompson Okanagan communities are as follows, with the percentage increase from last year in brackets: West Kelowna $632,000 (4%), Lake Country $673,000 (7%), Peachland $590,000 (3%), Kamloops $488,000 (6%), Vernon $479,000 (3%), Penticton $479,000 (2%), Summerland $517,000 (minus 2%), Osoyoos $433,000 (1%), Oliver $416,000 (7%) and Coldstream $606,000 (4%).
BC Assessment's annual release also includes lists of the top-valued homes in the Thompson Okanagan and all of BC.
Locally, the waterfront home on 1.3 acres at 12990 Pixton Rd. in Lake Country was assessed at $10.7 million.BC Assessment's annual release also includes lists of the top-valued homes in the Thompson Okanagan and all of BC.
An internet search shows it's a 13,178-square-foot, five-bedroom, seven-bathroom estate with pool and beach.
According to Redfin.ca, it was purchased by the current owner in August 2019 for $12 million.
In all of BC, the biggest assessment of $66.8 million was for the mansion at 3085 Point Grey Rd. in Vancouver's tony Kitsilano neighbourhood.
It's owned by Lululemon founder Chip Wilson and has seven bedrooms, nine bathrooms, grassed courtyard, tennis court and swimming pool.
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