City of Airdrie assessment notices should be in your mailbox very soon.

Either in your snail-mailbox or your email inbox if you were one of the 3,500 property owners who opted-in to receive their notices electronically, something the city is providing for the first time this year.

The assessment values this year show the residential market has been relatively stable, according to City Assessor Valerie Cottreau.  The assessment value of a property is based on economic conditions as of July 1st and the physical condition of a property on December 31st.

"I would say the residential sales volumes were lower than typical, that we saw in the spring.  The assessments are reflective of economic conditions as of July 1st of 2020 and that's province-wide.  So based on legislation we're only allowed to use sales that have occurred up to July 1st so we only had three-and-a-half months worth of sales data in that pandemic period."

Cottreau explains that the city hadn't seen a lot of change at that point.  Properties were holding their values and only the sales volume had declined.  "So, we may not see the full impact (of the pandemic) until next year's assessments when we have more data to work with and more sales have come through."

Cottreau says the demand for townhouses/apartments has decreased while the demand for larger dwellings seems to have increased. A trend that can be seen across Canada is an increased demand for suburban housing versus condos/apartments near the downtown core. Cottreau speculates that this could be because more people are working from home and needing more space for home-offices and don’t need to commute. Additional factors that have stabilized values are low mortgage rates and property renovations.

The non-residential market has seen an overall decrease in value with exceptions like distribution facilities and big-box stores.  "We're seeing an impact primarily on our hotels, and retail space are the predominant properties that have been impacted thus far," Cottreau says.  Once again she believes the city won't be able to ascertain the full impact of the pandemic until next year's non-residential assessments.

The Assessment department looks at Multiple Listing Service (MLS) and other technology during their sales investigation to get the most accurate information possible. Assessment information and comparable properties can be found at  www.airdrie.ca/propertyassessmentviewer. If there are discrepancies with the information that Assessment has on-file, property owners are encouraged to complete an online verification form or call the Assessment Department at 403 948-8855. Owners have until March 29th to request an assessment value review. After that date, the tax rate bylaw process will begin and property taxes will be evenly distributed based on assessment values.

Residents can view their property assessment details on MyAirdrie.ca.  Anyone without an account can sign up at MyAirdrie.ca using the web code provided on their Assessment notice.

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