Assessed values and market values don’t always match. But for many homeowners, the B.C. Assessment valuations that occur on July 1 every year provide a pretty good snapshot of the value of their property. Property-assessment review panels sit from February to March 15 to provide people with an opportunity to appeal.

This year, there are a couple of twists in the normal order of business. At the B.C. Liberal convention on November 1, Premier Gordon Campbell announced that the government would “lock in assessments” at the 2007 level. The government introduced legislation later that month requiring assessments to be based on whichever was lower: the 2007 or the 2008 valuation.

Another twist is what has happened in the real-estate market since July 2007. According to news releases from the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver, the benchmark prices for various properties are lower now than they were in the summer of 2007.

So if homeowners’ assessments have been locked in at the 2007 valuation level, they likely won’t reflect the current market value of housing in this region.

Here’s what the REBGV stated in a news release reporting statistics for July 2007: “The benchmark price of a detached unit is $714,810, up 10.9 percent from last year.”

And here’s what the REBGV stated in a more recent news release about the Janaury 2009 statistics: “The benchmark price for detached properties declined 11.2 percent to $659,638 in January 2009 compared to $742,490 [in] January 2008.”

If you compare the two news releases, it’s pretty easy to see that the benchmark price for detached properties fell from $714,810 to $659,638 between July 2007 and January 2009. That’s a drop of $55,172, or 7.7 percent. But the assessed value, according to the premier’s announcement, remains locked in at the July 2007 levels. Don’t be surprised if some people show up at the review panels this month and claim that those levels aren’t fair.

Now, let’s look at attached property sales. In July 2007, the benchmark price, according to the REBGV, was $448,383. In January 2009, that price was $425,309—a drop of $23,074, or 5.1 percent. For apartment properties, the benchmark price fell from $364,510 to $334,602. That’s down $29,908, or 8.2 percent.

On January 22, area assessor Jason Grant and deputy assessor Grant McDonald gave a presentation on the assessment process to Vancouver city council’s city services and budgets committee. They provided some interesting information, noting that the valuation of all properties in the city is $183 billion in the 2009 assessment roll. The downtown area has the highest value: $16.2 billion.

However, Grant and McDonald did not mention the significant drop in the market value of properties between July 2007 and January 2009. None of the councillors raised this issue, either.

Grant emphasized that more than 98 percent of the property owners in Vancouver will not see increased assessments this year. McDonald pointed out that the few instances of higher valuations were typically due to an improvement to the property.

In addition, McDonald said, the July 1, 2007, valuation date is reflected in the 2008 assessment-roll value. Without last November’s provincial legislation, the 2009 assessment roll would have been based on July 1, 2008, valuations, which were significantly higher than today’s market values.

It seems that many homeowners are satisfied with this. Perhaps they haven’t paid a great deal of attention to the REBGV news releases, which chronicle how market values have fallen. McDonald told the council committee that inquiries from property owners were down about 50 percent this year compared with previous years. That means the review panels won’t deal with as many appeals this year.

At the B.C. Liberal convention, Premier Campbell said that locking in property assessments at July 2007 levels would create “stability” for homeowners. In reality, the B.C. government’s move created stability for municipal governments, which won’t have to increase mill rates to offset declining property values. Many property owners haven’t paid a great deal of attention to the implications of the premier’s announcement, so they might not realize that their assessed values likely exceed the market values of their homes.