Higher valuations point to rates shock for property owners

A rates bill shock is in store for thousands of owners of town, beach and lifestyle properties with new valuations showing rises of 100 per cent or more in the last three years.

Quotable Value assessments will be used to calculate individual property rates from July 1 by Waitakere City Council and Rodney District Council.

The valuations, which are based on sale prices, guide the sharing of rates revenue needed to cover council's costs.

Auckland, Manukau and the North Shore take their turn for the three-yearly revaluation during this year, with the impact of that coming in the 2006-07 rates.

The actual effect of new valuations on individual rates in Waitakere and Rodney in 2005-06 is not clear as councils begin their public consultations on rates.

But the Waitakere City Council wants to warn people of how valuation changes, as well as increased council requirements, will influence their rates so that they have three months to prepare for payment.

Waitakere City's residential land values rose 65 per cent on average.

Rodney residential land values rose by 77 per cent, rural by 93 per cent and lifestyle properties 82 per cent.

Rodney revenue manager John McLaren said a revaluation did not result in more rates revenue for the council but it changed how the rates were shared between ratepayers.

Those ratepayers whose land values had risen above the average increase will pay more as a result of the revaluation.

On the other hand, those whose land values had risen at less than the average increase will pay less.

Land value doubled at the beach resort of Omaha in three years.

The revaluation would mean Omaha properties paying an 8 per cent greater share of total rates.

The council says an Omaha property, with a land value of $345,000, could pay nearly $2000 rates.

Neighbouring settlements of Leigh, Whangateau, Matheson Bay and Ti Point would contribute 5 per cent more and Riverhead, in southern Rodney, 9 per cent more.

On the other hand, Matakana and Warkworth would provide 5 per cent less than last year because their land values increased below the average.

Orewa and Whangaparaoa town centre would drop 1 per cent but rural parts of the Hibiscus Coast, which had 145 per cent value increases, would pay 31 per cent more of total rates.

Overall, the council proposes to increase its 2005-06 rates take by 6.5 per cent from Hibiscus Coast and 7.2 per cent from rural and townships.

Waitakere rating manager John MacKenzie said rates movements were unavoidable in the first year after a revaluation.

If the rate for 2005-06 was unchanged, about 54 per cent of homes in the council's inner area for rating - some 28,000 of them - can expect increases of 1 to 20 per cent or more because of property value movements.

In the outer area, about 2200 homes can expect the same.

However, Waitakere is proposing to fetch 7.15 per cent extra in rates for 2005-06. The council's draft annual plan say this means the average home with a land value of $150,000 will pay $117 a year more.

High valuations are a mixed blessing for property owners.

Real Estate Institute president Howard Morley said rateable values were accepted by some banks for lending and some buyers looked at them when determining the value of a property.