Georgina, Innisfil, listed among 10 highest property tax rates in GTA: study

Property tax often not top of mind with homebuyers

Yorkregion.com
July 18, 2018
Heidi Riedner

Municipalities in York Region and Simcoe County have some of the ‘worst’ property taxes in the GTA, according to real estate brokerage and website company Zoocasa.

Georgina residents pay some of the highest average amount of taxes in the GTA and highest in York Region, according to the real estate portal’s best and worst list of 33 regions released this month.

Innisfil and Bradford top the list in Simcoe County.

Zoocasa calculated the average amount of tax paid, based on the municipal tax rate and average home price, in each region of the GTA.

Cities with the highest home values, such as the Toronto, Markham and Richmond Hill, tend to have the lowest property tax rates while cities such as Oshawa and Orangeville with the lowest average home values have some of the highest tax rates.

For example, Georgina’s average home price based on Toronto Real Estate Board figures is $595,946.

At a tax rate of 1.12810 per cent, the average homeowner pays $6,723 in taxes, which ranks Georgina ninth out of the 10 municipalities with the highest tax rate in the GTA.

While Bradford West Gwillimbury’s northern neighbour of Innisfil has lower home values of $603,978 on average, it has a higher tax rate of 1.05760 per cent, which equates to an average property tax bill of $6,388, and rounds out the bottom 10.

BWG residents, who pay an average $6,676 on a home assessed at $665,640 based on a tax rate of 1.05760 per cent, aren't far behind, however.

Compare that to Orangeville, which pays the highest percentage of property taxes in the GTA. The average homeowner there pays $7,906 in property tax on an average home assessment of $560,735.

Zoocasa’s Penelope Graham said while affordability and mortgage costs are typically top of mind for homebuyers, the amount of property tax you’ll need to pay each year is often overlooked.

For example, Oshawa, the most affordable GTA city where the average home price is $515,261, has the second highest property tax rate of 1.40690 per cent, resulting in annual taxes of $7,249.

Meanwhile, the average Richmond Hill home is worth twice as much at $1,033,754, but the owner pays about the same amount in property taxes at $7,418 because the tax rate is substantially lower at only 0.71760 per cent, explains Graham.

While King Township residents pay a whopping $12,182 in property taxes, that’s based on average home prices of $1.4 million and a tax rate of 0.86820, which is close to the GTA average.

GTA cities with lowest property tax rates

1. Toronto -- 0.6355054% ($5,532 taxes based on $870,559 average June 2018 home price)

2. Markham -- 0.6938% ($6,762 taxes based on $974,626 average June 2018 home price)

3. Milton -- 0.6979% ($4,896 taxes based on $701,595 average June 2018 home price)

4. Richmond Hill -- 0.7176% ($7,418 based on $1,033,754 average June 2018 home price)

5. Vaughan -- 0.7281% ($6,850 based on $940,866 average June 2018 home price)

GTA cities with highest property tax rates

1. Orangeville -- 1.4099% ($7,906 taxes based on $560,735 average June 2018 home price)

2. Oshawa -- 1.4069% ($7,249 taxes based on $515,261 average June 2018 home price)

3. Brock -- 1.2860% ($7,490 taxes based on $582,455 average June 2018 home price)

4. Clarington -- 1.2228% ($6,516 taxes based on $532,908 average June 2018 home price)

5. Whitby -- 1.18090% ($8,023 taxes based on $679,406 average June 2018 home price)