Homes in Grand Forks have gone up by 11 per cent over the past year, according to BC Assessment’s latest report.
The annual assessment, released Jan. 3, shows homeowners the market value of their property as of July 1 each year. Every municipality assessed in the Kootenay Columbia region saw their average price increase.
The mean single-family residential property in Grand Forks went up from $362,000 in 2021 to $403,000 in 2022, marking the first time in history for the average price to surpass the $400,000 benchmark.
In Greenwood and Midway, the increases were six per cent and 15 per cent, respectively.
Homes in Midway went up from $293,000 to $338,000, while properties in Greenwood increased from $222,000 to $235,000. As it was last year, Greenway is, on average, the cheapest place to buy a home in the Kootenays.
“Most homeowners throughout the Kootenay Columbia region can expect an increase in assessed value between five per cent and 20 per cent,” Kootenay Columbia deputy assessor Sharlynn Hill said.
Grand Forks is credited with having four of the top 100 valued residential properties in the Kootenays. However, three of those four are actually in Big White and the other in Christina Lake.
After a 19 per cent increase, Fernie now has the highest average cost of a single family home in the Kootenays at $838,000. The city has surpassed last year’s leader, Revelstoke, which saw its own average cost rise to $801,000 — an increase of 12 per cent.
The largest increase in average home value by percentage took place in Slocan, where the single family homes went up by 29 per cent, bringing their average cost up to $381,000. In contrast, the most modest increase took place in Warfield, where property values went up by four per cent.
While this year’s assessment shows an increase in property values, it is important to remember that they reflect prices in July each year.
For about eight months after last year’s assessments, home prices continued to rise. However, widespread economic turmoil has seen prices drop since late February.
The decline in prices may not be reflected in this year’s assessment as prices continued to fall steadily after the assesment date of July 1st.
As the Bank of Canada eases up on interest rate increases and inflation begins to steady, Canadians can expect prices to stabalize. Next year’s assesments may reflect the brunt of 2022’s economic turbulence, experts predict.