Some parts of Porirua City will see up to 60 per cent rises in valuations from three years ago.
New property values are being posted to owners this week, and are also available on the qv.co.nz website. Ratepayers will have until 31 January 2020 to object.
“The new valuations have been released by Quotable Value for almost 19,800 properties in Porirua City,” says Council Chief Financial Officer Roy Baker.
“The figures show that the capital value of residential property has increased by 34.5% with a new average capital value of $643,800. The biggest component of this increase is because average land values have increased by 74.6% and are now $326,000.”
He says the new property values don’t mean that rates for your property will change by the same proportion.
“The new valuations also don’t change the amount of rates money the Council receives but it will mean that the residential, industrial and some larger rural properties will contribute more while the shopping plaza and commercial sectors will contribute less.
“This is a direct result of the percentage value increase for the residential, industrial and some larger rural properties being higher than the shopping and commercial values.”
Every three years Quotable Value determines a new valuation for all properties in the Wellington region to help councils set rates. For Porirua City the new valuations are based on property values as at 1 September 2019, says Quotable Value Senior Consultant Paul McCorry.
“Porirua City residential property has experienced significant growth in value over the last three years, particularly in more affordable suburbs around the city. Areas such as Waitangirua/Cannons Creek (61.9%) and Ranui (47.8%) have led the way. That said some of the areas with more recent subdivisions of higher value new homes such as Whitby and Aotea have also performed well with values increasing 26.1% and 30.2% respectively. We have also seen a lot of first homebuyers considering a move to Porirua where they can get more value for money when compared to Wellington but still have close transport links to the capital city.”
“Commercial and industrial property in the city has also seen strong growth with commercial capital values increasing 21.6% and commercial land values up 45.5%. The growth has been more pronounced in the industrial sector with capital values increasing 34.4%. Declining investment yields have been a theme in the commercial and industrial market for a number of years now, and whilst rental growth has been reasonably modest in the retail sector, we are seeing a significant upswing in rents in the industrial market, with new construction often setting the benchmark, particularly around Broken Hill.”
Lifestyle property continues to be popular with the average value of a lifestyle house and block in and around the city now $1,441,500, up 28.5% since 2016. The corresponding land value is now $690,000.
“The lifestyle market in Porirua is popular due to the ability to have a rural setting in a commutable distance to the city and value growth has been underpinned by a shortage of stock coming to the market. There has also been an increasing appetite to develop larger rural blocks for lifestyle subdivisions”
Mr McCorry says it’s important to remember the new rating values are a snapshot of a property’s value on 1 September 2019, taking account of any market movement since September 2016.
“In carrying out the rating revaluation for Porirua City Council, a mass appraisal process is used which takes into account recent sales of similar properties around the effective date of the revaluation and establishes a market trend which is then applied to similar properties in that area. Following that, the rating values are independently audited by the Office of the Valuer General. Rigorous quality standards need to be met before the new valuations will be confirmed.”
You will have the opportunity to object to the valuation for your property free of charge as long as you submit your request by 31 January 2020. Information on how to do this is on the back of the Notice of Rating Valuation that you receive this week.
Council rates will not be updated based on the new 2019 rating valuations until 1 July 2020.
“We will use the new rating valuations to set rates from 1 July 2020. Other factors we take into consideration when setting new rates are the total income needed to run the city and provide services. Information will be available in your rates account then,” Mr Baker says.
Porirua City Council and the government offer help to ratepayers to subsidise the cost of rates or to get short term relief if you have financial hardship. You can also pay your rates weekly, fortnightly or monthly by EasyPay direct debit. Just call the Council on 04 237 5089 if you’d like to do this.
For more information please see the Porirua City Revaluation 2019 document here https://poriruacity.govt.nz/services/rates-property/property-valuations-objections/
16 Dec 2019
