All property owners in Invercargill and Bluff will soon receive a 2017 Notice of Rating Valuation with an updated rating value for their property.
This is a result of the triennial rating revaluation being carried out by Quotable Value (QV) on behalf of the Invercargill City Council. The updated rating values, once finalised, are used as one factor to help Council set rates for the next three years from 2018.
A Rating Valuation is the estimated price a property would sell for at the effective date of the rating revaluation, which is July 1, 2017, but it does not include chattels (movable personal items such as curtains and appliances).
Since the last rating revaluation as at July 1, 2014, property values have seen a moderate rise across the region by 13.4 per cent overall.
Residential values overall are now, on average, more than 18 per cent higher across the district than they were three years ago and residential land values are, on average, over 21 per cent higher than they were three years ago.
The farming sector has seen limited growth with a 2.1 per cent value increase overall and 1.6 per cent growth in the land value. Lifestyle properties have seen an 11.4 per cent overall increase in values with a 4.4 per cent increase in land values.
The average residential dwelling within Invercargill City is now valued at $254,000, up from the average of about $210,000 in 2014.
Summary of the overall value changes for property category groups
| Number of properties | Capital Value Change | Land Value Change | |
| Business | 1714 | +6.4% | +5.8% |
| Farming | 376 | +2.1% | +1.6% |
| Lifestyle | 2029 | +11.4% | +4.4% |
| Residential | 20859 | +18.5% | +21.4% |
| Other | 755 | +6.7% | +12.4% |
| Total | 25733 | +13.4% | +13.7% |
Some areas have risen more than others in the district too, particularly in the Windsor area where land values have increased by 45 per cent, which has been driven by good demand and a shortage of available land.
Residential Dwelling Movements
| Average dwelling value | Dwelling % change since 2014 | Average house land value | Land % change since 2014 | |
| Appleby, Georgetown | $181,000 | +21.6% | $29,100 | +33.7% |
| South Invercargill | $186,500 | +25.3% | $25,790 | +27.9% |
| Bluff | $155,600 | +25.9% | $30,500 | +0.8% |
| Otatara | $402,000 | +17.5% | $126,200 | +15.1% |
| Richmond | $262,900 | +16.1% | $135,000 | +35.2% |
| Appleby Kew | $156,700 | +20.7% | $32,200 | +14.7% |
| Waikiwi, Grasmere | $285,600 | +16.5% | $96,300 | +10.0% |
| Rosedale, Waverley | $352,000 | +14.9% | $161,000 | +19.0% |
| Gladstone, Avenal | $366,000 | +15.1% | $169,000 | +21.3% |
| Windsor, Richmond | $351,000 | +18.0% | $185,000 | +45.2% |
| Glengarry, Hawthornedale | $226,000 | +18.3% | $72,000 | +14.9% |
| Central City | $173,400 | +21.2% | $51,800 | +34.2% |
A new rating value may show a change in value, but it doesn’t necessarily follow that future rates will proportionately change. When Council sets rates, a rating value is expressed as a percentage of the total value of all properties in an area.
Property owners will receive letters including their new rating valuation in the post after October 18, 2017 and new Council rates taking into account the new rating values will be effective from 1 July 2018.
The new rating values are available on the Council website.
If you don’t have internet access, you can pop into the Civic Administration Building or Bluff Service Centre, and Customer Services staff will print off the information from Council’s website for you. Alternatively, both the Invercargill and Bluff libraries will have at least one computer reserved for people to access the Council website and their rating valuation, using the Property Search tool via the website.
If property owners don’t agree with their new rating value or if they have made refurbishments and improvements to their property that didn’t require a building consent and believe this added value is not being reflected in the new rating value, they have the right to make an objection. The objection close-off date is November 24, 2017 and there will be information on how to object on the owners’ notice. For more information on rating valuations and what they are for, visit www.ratingvalues.co.nz
It is important to remember that rating values are not designed to be used as current market valuations which can be provided to banks for use in raising finance or for other legal purposes. Current market valuations require an individual inspection of a property and full written report by a registered valuer.
Rating values are also not designed for insurance purposes to reflect the replacement value of a home – an insurance valuation is required for this purpose.
