What is assessed value?

Municipalities must base property tax on the value of the property.  They consider the age of the home, size of the property, location, construction materials and improvements. They consider the market value, and in Alberta the benchmark date for identifying this value based on current statistics has been legislated to be July 1 of the previous year.  The assessed value is the tax value.  It has nothing to do with the market price if you were to sell your property today.

What is market value?

The price of your home should it go up for sale is the market value.  It’s determined by what properties in your vicinity have sold for, or are listed for at the present time.  Several factors can drive prices up, like inventory, renovations, curb appeal and multiple offers on properties which drive the final selling price sky high.  Buyers help set the market value.  Assessed values are often way behind what the marketplace dictates.

How does a real estate professional determine the value of your property?

A Realtor® has access to Calgary’s Multiple Listing Service (MLS) and can pull all sorts of statistics together to compare your property with recent sales in the vicinity of your property.  A walk-through of your property combined with his or her experience is what buyers want, need and will pay top dollar for will help establish a fair price.  Differences in similar properties in similar neighbourhoods can’t be calculated in a spreadsheet.