A typical house in Kelowna has an assessed value of $938,000, down a scant 1% from the $952,000 it was a year earlier.
A typical strata home (condominium and townhouse) came in at $493,000, a 4% dip from the $512,000 a year before.
Remember, these are numbers for 'typical' homes.
The assessed value of your house, condo or townhouse could be higher or lower, depending on whether it's above or below average and what similar homes are selling for in your neighbourhood.
For West Kelowna, typical assessed value for a single-family home was $904,000, just 1% off the $912,000 it was a year earlier.
West Kelowna strata came in at $538,000, a 3% bump from $523,000 a year earlier.
"Assessments came out today," said Boris Warkentin, the Southern Interior deputy assessor with BC Assessment.
"While the numbers were released today, it's actually a look back because the typical assessed value is what it was on July 1, 2024."
The first business day of the new year is always anticipated by homeowners because that's when they get their assessment notice in the mail and find out what their home is worth for the purpose of municipal taxation.
With December's mail strike, there's a backlog so assessments likely aren't arriving in the mail today.
But, you can always go to www.bcassessment.ca, plug in your address and get your assessed value.
"BC Assessment analyzes all home sales in your area and comes up with median value representation," explained Warkentin.
"What the 1% and 4% drops in single-family home and strata home assessments in Kelowna indicates is that the real estate market is stable. This is the second year in a row that assessed values have been stable."
Stability hasn't always been the case.
We only have to go back to COVID-era 2020 to see that the typical assessed value of a single-family home in Kelowna was $650,000.
A post-pandemic boom saw the assessed value jump an astounding 34% to $869,000 in 2021 and then another 14% to peak at $987,000 in 2022.
By the time 2023 rolls around, the market is cooling amid high inflation, high mortgage interest rates and battered consumer confidence, so the typical assessed value slips 2% to $952,000, which is considered the first year of stabilization.
And that brings us to the second year of stabilization in 2024 with just a 1% dip to $938,000.
The stagnation could continue this year as inflation and interest rates come down.
Or, the market could take off a little under such circumstances and assessed values could go up.
While assessed values are used to help determine what your municipal taxes will be, tax rates don't exactly mirror the percentage change in assessments.
For instance, if your house, condominium or townhouse assessment falls in the typical 1% or 4% slip, your municipal taxes will go up around 4.34%, the rate determined by the City of Kelowna for 2025.
In all, BC Assessment generates values for 2.2 million properties throughout the province -- a total of $2.83 trillion in assessed values.
In the Okanagan, the numbers are about 400,000 properties valued at $315 billion.
Thumbnail photo credits: Realtor.ca
