Single-family dwelling valuation shoots up 18 percent
By Robert Frank
www.thesuburban.com
The good news is that your house is worth more. The bad news, though, is that its value for municipal taxes has also jumped significantly.
City hall announced that the three-year evaluation of Laval properties reflects an average increase in home value of 16.4 percent.
“The change in value is based on the evolution of the real estate market, new construction and improvements to existing buildings,” the city administration said in a statement.
The biggest spike was in the evaluation of single family, which rocketed 18 per cent.
Besides bolstering the city’s tax roll, Mayor Alexandre Duplessis sees the strong demand for housing in Laval as a plus for residents. “Compared with putting your money in the bank, buying a house in Laval represents a great investment,” he enthused.
Last week, Laval initiated a promotional campaign last week to encourage home investment, he told The Suburban.
“What other investment offers such a great return?” the city’s poster asked rhetorically. “With an average price increase of 10 percent per year, Laval single-family homes have more than doubled in value since 2001 [emphasis theirs].”
There is no guarantee that the past decade’s performance will continue, though.
As reported in The Suburban, Jan. 30, the federal government is trying to cool off Canada’s real estate sales, after the Bank of Canada warned that the housing market has been overheated by the lowest interest rates in history.
The feds introduced new mortgage rules late last year which proved highly effective, prompting double-digit drops in the sales of homes throughout most of Laval.
Ste. Dorthée home sales plummeted the furthest of any Laval district, falling 27 percent during the last quarter of 2012.
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