Property Valuation And Your Rates

Does your property valuation accurately reflect it’s current market value?

When local government updates the rating valuation of your property, this is typically done without a thorough onsite inspection. This means the current condition of your property and any improvements you have made, inside or outside, may not be reflected in your updated Rating Valuation (RV) or GV as it used to be know. Why should this matter to you?

• If your Rating Valuation is too high, you may end up paying too higher rates.
• If your property valuation is too low and you look to sell your home in the next 3 years, buyers may use this assessment as an indication of your property’s value and offer a lower price.
• If you think your valuation is inaccurate, you can seek independent advice from a registered valuer. If figures do not add up, you can lodge an objection with your local council for a limited time.
• Your local Property InDepth valuer can inspect your property and provide a detailed valuation report in support of your Rating Value objection. Auckland People looking at property valuation report.

Property InDepth has been making life easier for Kiwis buying and selling property for more than a decade. So, book an experienced residential Property InDepth valuer to complete a comprehensive valuation now.

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So, what is rating value?

Like many other city, district and regional councils around New Zealand, Auckland Council recently completed its systematic Three-yearly revaluation. In the case of Auckland there are 525,000 properties in its city most of which are residential. Based on these new Rating Valuations , the rates are set for the next 3 years. Although many Auckland residential property owners will be looking forward to their new valuations to provide market values for their properties Auckland Council strongly warns against this:

“Our valuations are used for setting rates and as such, they are not intended for other purposes such as marketing or for mortgages. We strongly recommend that private registered valuations be obtained for these purposes,” it states. Auckland Council houses ready for revaluationProperty owners are also being advised by the council that they should not use the “improvement” portion of their rates value for insurance purposes. “It reflects the differences between the capital and land value and it does not necessarily equal the amount that it would cost you to rebuild your property (replacement value) or depreciation replacement value,” Auckland Council warns.

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And, how do they calculate the value of 525,000 properties

Well, they don’t knock on everyone’s doors and ask to look through their houses. Auckland Council openly admits such an exercise would be “logistically impossible”, Instead, it uses its own in-house valuers and other qualified valuers to assess its rating values “using mass appraisal techniques”.

To achieve an assessment of the value of your property and thousands of others similar to it within a short time frame, they rely heavily on automated computer modelling to crunch the many calculations involved in the overall equation. This is different from the complex site-specific, hands-on way professional valuers would normally establish the current market value of an individual property. Given this, it is not surprising to see Auckland Council’s disclaimers on the limited way that their rates-related valuations should be used. Clearly then, if homeowners want to find out an accurate current market value of their property – say for loan finance (mortgage) purposes, selling purposes, insurance purposes – or simply to understand the likely value of their property before and after renovations take place – they should seek expert help. What they need is a comprehensive valuation performed by a professional, registered valuer. Property InDepth valuers are such valuers, specialising in residential and lifestyle properties.

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