Revaluation of Whangārei's properties under way

Whangārei's 40,000-plus properties are about to be revalued.

Revaluation of Whangārei properties has begun with official figures expected to be released in November.

Whangārei District Council is required to value all the properties in the district every three years.

The valuations are carried out by independent valuation company, Opteon, and are audited by the Valuer-General.

Opteon was appointed as the new valuation service provider last year. It provides services to several councils in Australia and New Zealand.

Whangārei District Council revenue manager Alison Puchaux said although Opteon has staff and offices in Whangārei, the council will be the people to contact with questions about valuations, not the valuers directly as was the case in the past.

"Opteon uses recent property sales data, resource/building consent and survey data along
with carrying out sample inspections to establish an updated view of values across our district."

Puchaux said the valuers are now out in the district visiting properties and will usually leave behind a calling card if no one is home when they visit.

Property owners will receive their new valuation notices at the beginning of November.

These valuations will be based on the property market conditions as at August 1, 2018.

The values will be used to calculate rates from July 1, 2019.

Any change in a property's value does not mean that the rates for that property will increase or decrease by the amount of this change.

Property revaluations don't affect the amount of rates collected by the council, but help the council work out everyone's share of the rates.

The district is revalued every three years and after the 2015 revaluation, the capital value of Whangārei's properties rose by almost 10 per cent in three years, with the district's 40,328 properties worth $19 billion.

Anyone who has any questions about the revaluation or Opteon can call the council on 09 430 4200 or 0800 WDCINFO.