The three yearly council property revaluation cycle is always met with great anticipation by property owners and aspiring owners alike. Property owners are initially excited by what the council thinks their property is worth. This is often followed by a bit of worry about what the new value might do to their rates bill.
How does the council value my property?
There are simply too many properties to value each property individually so complex algorithms are used to estimate property values. Some of the variables used are recent comparable sales, property type, zoning, land size, location, school zones etc.
The valuations don’t consider anything that councils don’t know about so if you’ve replaced your roof or carpet, this won’t increase the CV of your home. If, however you’ve added an additional room to your home, and it has been consented, this will increase the value of your home.
What about my rates?
All councils are required to revalue all the properties within their boundaries every three years to ensure rates are apportioned fairly. Property values don’t change uniformly and can be impacted by several factors. Councils use the valuations as the primary way of measuring the total rates they require for the coming year.
Why is this important?
A CV certainly provides a ballpark of what a property is worth, so it is a useful piece of information to start your research if you are considering buying a new property. In truth, due to the changing property market, your valuation is out of date by the time you receive it and of course gets less and less accurate as time goes by. Some property apps and websites available for public use, probably give a more accurate assessment of what a property is worth as they feed their algorithms with more up to date data.
Council Valuations become important if you are looking to buy a new property, or if you wish to use the equity built into your existing home to buy another one. For any of these scenarios it helps having an Apex Home Loan Specialist to help you assess what a property is worth. We have access to Property Information platform that can help you find out what your property is worth.
