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More than half of North Shore readers polled say house assessments up more than average

Just over 14 per cent of North Van and West Van residents responding said they don't own property – and the current sky-high assessment values are a factor
Jane Seyd
Jane Seyd
Foreign Ownership WV Homes MW Web
More than half of readers polled said their property assessments are up more than "average."Mike Wakefield, North Shore News

For the second pandemic year in a row, 2021 saw North Shore property assessments pushed into double digit increases.

Assessment notices sent to homeowners in January showed values of typical single-family homes up between 21 and 22 per cent on average in North and West Vancouver.  "Typical" single-family homes on the North Shore now range from $1.78 million in the City of North Vancouver to $2.99 million in the District of West Vancouver.

But "average" and "typical" don't apply to all homeowners. An analysis of changes to assessments on the North Shore by Landcor showed assessments in some neighbourhoods were up by a whopping 45 per cent, while homes in other areas went up by less than the average increase.

So who is on what side of that ledger on the North Shore?

Over half of residents responding to a recent online poll said their assessment was up more than the "average" 21 or 22 per cent. Over 30 per cent of locals who responded said their property assessment was up, but by less than the average increase.

Just over 14 per cent of residents responding said they don't own property – and the current sky-high values are likely a factor in that.

Less than three per cent of those responding said their assessments were the same or less than they were last year.

Go figure.

North Shore News polled 1,314 North Shore News readers and asked the question: What happened with your property assessment this year?

The poll ran from Jan. 13 to Feb. 9. Of the 1,314 votes, we can determine that 587 are from within the community. The full results are as follows:

My property assessment was significantly up this year - equal to or more than the 22 per cent "average" on the North Shore. 51.62% local, 49.39% total    
My property assessment was up this year, but not as much as others on the North Shore. The increase was under 21 per cent. 31.18% local, 27.32% total    
My property assessment was the same or less than it was last year. 2.56% local, 2.66% total    
I don't own property on the North Shore and these insane assessments will likely preclude that possibility. 14.48% local, 20.62% total    
  Local   Total

Results are based on an online study of adult North Shore News readers who are located in North and West Vancouver. The margin of error – which measures sample variability – is +/- 2.69%, 19 times out of 20.

North Shore News uses a variety of techniques to capture data, detect and prevent fraudulent votes, detect and prevent robots, and filter out non-local and duplicate votes.