City's values tipped to rise again

Whangarei's new property values will be released early next month, but the total value of the district is expected to be higher than the $18.067 billion valuation three years ago.

Quotable Value (QV) carries out a rating valuation every three years on behalf of the Whangarei District Council and the new values will be sent to property owners early next month, Thomas Ujdur, QV team leader Whangarei, says.

While the new total valuation of the district, and individual property valuations, can't be released until they have been fully audited by the government, Mr Ujdur said the amount should be higher than the last valuation on September 1, 2012.

"The 2012 valuation was $18.067 billion, but throughout the last three years there have been new properties built, subdivisions and other work that have lifted that valuation to $18.72 billion, backdated to the 2012 valuation," he said.

"I think everybody knows that the market has risen in the last three years, so it's expected that the overall valuation will reflect that."

Mr Ujdur said there was a buoyant property market in Whangarei, with large numbers of Aucklanders getting into the market here.

A rating value reflects the likely price a property would sell for at the effective date (not including chattels and movable personal items such as curtains and appliances). The effective date for the Whangarei rating revaluation is September 1, 2015.

The council uses the QV rating values as part of setting rates, but any changes to council rates won't come into effect until July 1 next year.

QV uses a mass-appraisal process to get the new rating values.

This involves taking relevant property sales in an area around the effective date - except mortgagee sales - and establishing a market trend which is then applied to similar properties in that area.

The mass-appraisal process is also supported by some valuation assessments of individual properties every year which are done as a result of building consents, subdivisions, sales inspections, objections and ratepayer requests to update rating values.

Following that, rating values are independently audited by the Office of the Valuer General. Rigorous quality standards need to be met before a rating revaluation is confirmed.

"When viewing the Whangarei property value index over time, you can see the change in property values that occurred up to 2015," Mr Ujdur said. "Since the last revaluation in 2012, residential property values had been trending up within a relatively narrow band until mid-2015.

"Values are now slightly higher than they were three years ago and there has been increasingly strong interest for properties since the middle of this year."

If a property owner's land value moves by around the average for their sector, they can expect a general rate increase in line with the council's overall rates increase.