Saturday 31 March 2007
Real Estate Assessment Debate
284 detached single family freehold properties in the City of Moncton were sold on MLS® in the second half of 2006. Analysing these 284 sales reveals that only 32 sold below their assessment. Of these 32, one was a former marijuana grow operation seized by the federal government, five were sold under power of sale, and three were estate sales. All these selling situations are not conducive to achieving a higher market sale price and in my opinion they should not be considered.
Thus, I will categorize 23 of these 284 sold properties as probably over assessed in 2006. My analysis also shows that of these 23 sales, thirteen sold for amounts within 5% of their assessed value. In the City of Moncton in the second half of 2006, assessments exceeded sale prices by more than 5% in a mere 10 of 284 sales. 252 sold for more than their assessments.
Now if anyone wants to fire off a skyrocket, guess how many of the 284 sold for more than 125% of their assessment.
Friday 30 March 2007
Property tax revolt?
If one wishes to reduce property taxes then one must reduce the spending! It's this tax warrant that keeps going up. The math is simple. Estimated spending for the year divided by the property assessment base equals the mil rate. If tax warrant spending stays the same and the assessment base goes up then the mile rate goes down and the property taxes stay the same. Got that?
And who sets these spending budgets? The municipal councils and local service districts the citizens elect. Grass roots governments. I didn't bother attending the public part of the Moncton City Council's budget presentation. But I'm not complaining.
However I do wonder if the disgruntled were at that meeting?
I also wonder if they are the same disgruntled that want a government rebate on their heating bill but won't spend some money on better insulation, windows or ventilation to lower their heating bill? But that's another blog.
Thursday 1 March 2007
Moncton Real Estate Market Report for February 2007
House price bubble? Not in Moncton. Year to date sales are up. Sales to listing ratio is strong. The only area where the average sale price is down somewhat is Moncton East, mainly due to a large number of sales in the lower price range dragging down the average. Moncton North continues to be the most expensive area of the city.
I caution that average price information can be useful in establishing trends over time, but does not indicate actual prices in areas comprised of widely divergent neighborhoods.
2007-02 | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Listings | Sales | Sales/Listings Ratio | Average Sale Price | |||||
Area | Feb | YTD | Feb | YTD | Feb | YTD | Feb | 12 Month |
MC | 26 | 63 | 22 | 43 | 85% | 68% | $132,068 | $128,131 |
ME | 21 | 42 | 17 | 28 | 81% | 67% | $135,376 | $159,639 |
MN | 18 | 46 | 15 | 29 | 83% | 63% | $181,153 | $175,649 |
MW | 1 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 200% | 80% | $156,450 | $136,717 |
Total | 66 | 156 | 56 | 104 | 85% | 67% | ||
2006-02 | ||||||||
MC | 24 | 53 | 22 | 40 | 92% | 75% | $122,018 | $121,329 |
ME | 22 | 46 | 12 | 22 | 55% | 48% | $136,546 | $148,184 |
MN | 18 | 46 | 15 | 27 | 83% | 59% | $178,953 | $170,040 |
MW | 2 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 50% | 33% | $124,000 | $117,767 |
Total | 66 | 151 | 50 | 91 | 76% | 60% |