Home values throughout the Okanagan up again

OKANAGAN – Property owners throughout the Okanagan can expect another big increase in property assessments this year, B.C. Assessment says.

Property values for the Okanagan region for 2018 were released January 1 on the B.C. Assessment website and will should arrive in mail boxes beginning this week. Communities in the Central Okanagan posted the largest average valuation increases for single detached homes with Kelowna and Lake Country at 17 per cent and West Kelowna and Peachland at 16 per cent.

An average house in Kelowna is worth $725,000, in Vernon it’s worth $493,000 and in Penticton, the average single family home is worth $502,000.

Average assessments in Vernon rose 12 per cent while Penticton saw an increase of 16 per cent in the value of single family homes.

Overall, the Okanagan’s total assessments increased from $98 billion in 2017 to $119 billion this year. A total of over $2.5 billion of the region’s updated assessments is from new construction, subdivisions and rezoning of properties.

“Some properties in our region were impacted by spring floods or summer wild fires. The local BC Assessment staff have identified most of these properties to ensure they receive an accurate assessment,” Wall says. "It is still possible that some properties may still need to be reviewed, so owners may want to contact our office for more information if they have not already been contacted.”

The Okanagan forms part of B.C. Assessment’s Thompson Okanagan region. The Okanagan portion includes the Shuswap (Sicamous to Sorrento) in the north, then south through all of the Okanagan communities to the Canada/U.S. border at Osoyoos and west to Princeton.

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