Well folks...it's time for that little piece of paper to arrive in your mailbox, to tell you if your property value has gone up or down!  Some folks will be happy, some not so much.  Sellers in the lower mainland will be happy to hear that everything has gone up!  Buyers will not be happy to pay more. 

To give you some information as to what's gone up, and what's gone down, there is little to report in the way of what has gone down, unless you are looking to purchase in Whistler or Squamish, and maybe Kelowna.

Following are some of the areas, and the percentage of increase.  These numbers are not indicitive of the whole city.  I'm guessing they have chosen the neighbourhood with the highest increases.

West Vancouver - Ambleside                    Increase of 27%

North Van. Dist. - Delbrook                                             15.88%

Vancouver - East Side                                                       26.35%

Burnaby - Westridge                                                          9.6%

Coquitlam - Central Coquitlam                                       4%

Port Moody - North Shore                                                  5.2%

Port Coquitlam - Citadel Heights                                    3.7%

Richmond - Shellmont                                                      18.5%   

Delta - East Ladner                                                             3.3%

New Westminster - Glenbrooke                                       5.16%

Pitt Meadows                                                                        1%

Maple Ridge                                                                         1%

Langley Township                                                               1.6%

Langley City                                                                           1%

Surrey - Guildford                                                                  5.8%

White Rock                                                                             10%

There is no doubt that the areas with the highest increases, also saw the influence of of Mainland Chinese buyers, who helped fuel the markets in these areas.  

Whether you are happy or not happy about your upcoming assessment, please bear in mind that the value of the assessment is based on what your property may have been worth, had it been on the market in July of 2011.   The market has changed since.  We are seeing many more price reductions, at least in some areas outside of Vancouver Proper.   What we also see though, is that there  were a lot of new listings coming on the market in the fall, which put a downward pressure on pricing, also known as more supply, less demand.   Over the holidays, there were much fewer listings coming on stream, and we are now seeing homes that have been sitting on the market for 90 days or more selling presently.  That tells me that we are "eating" through the fall inventory, and with fewer homes coming on the market (because many people like their yards looking pretty before putting it on the market), this will put an upward pressure on pricing once again.  Then come spring, when the push on listings start again, we see a jump in inventory.  If there are not enough buyers for these homes, it will once again put downward pressure on pricing.  It truly is all about supply and demand, as to which way home prices will go.

If you are looking to buy or sell, give me a call....It's free!