Stouffville home values up 47% since 2012: MPAC

Yorkregion.com
June 14, 2016
By Ali Raza

There’s gold in them thar properties, Stouffville.

The Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC) delivered a presentation to Whitchurch-Stouffville town council last week outlining the details in the latest 2016 assessment of property values and taxes.

Single-family residential properties in Whitchurch-Stouffville rose in average value 47 per cent since 2012 - making it among the highest in the province.

Today those properties stand at an average value of $741,000 having risen by an average of $239,000 since 2012.

Indeed, the growth rate in the last year alone for Whitchurch-Stouffville was 12.2 per cent, compared to York Region which was 10.5 per cent.

Condominiums have had slower growth in the last year at 3.9 per cent for York Region and one per cent for Whitchurch-Stouffville. Waterfront properties rose 4.9 per cent in York Region and 4.7 per cent in Whitchurch-Stouffville.

MPAC is responsible for assessing all properties in Ontario. It’s funded by municipalities and legislated by the province. The total value of all properties assessed in Ontario stands at $2.2 trillion spread over five million properties.

“Our commitment is to share this information with municipalities to provide them an opportunity for engagement,” said MPAC account manager for municipal & stakeholder relations Natasha Dawood.

“Success of this depends on participation from the municipality,” she added.

Dawood continued the presentation by providing details of this year’s property assessments, which will reflect the valuation date of Jan. 1, 2016. Whatever the value of a property was on that date is what will be presented in assessment notices.

York Region residents, including those in Whitchurch-Stouffville, will receive their property assessment notices starting this week. Notices will be mailed to property owners during a 21-week window. Residential property owners will have 120 days from the issue date to file a request for reconsideration.

The updated property values will be used by municipalities to determine property taxes for the 2017-2020 tax years.

“Since 2014, MPAC has consulted stakeholders and municipalities in developing our assessment,” Dawood said. “Some changes are we’re mailing out notices earlier than ever.”

Additional changes include transparent market trends available online. Property owners can now visit aboutmyproperty.ca to get a full report and compare property values with their community. Login information will be available on assessment notices.

MPAC has assessed 400,000 “data elements” in York Region and 10,926 in Whitchurch-Stouffville.

“Essentially, this means that we have looked at everything from building permits to sales investigations while determining the values,” Dawood said in an email. “Ultimately, undergoing these processes are important because having accurate data relates to accurate assessments.”