Barrie added more than $185M in new assessment value this year

'One area that saw substantial growth (in Ontario) was the warehousing and logistics sector,' says MPAC official

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The assessed value of all Ontario properties is now estimated to be more than $3 trillion.

These changes are summarized in the annual assessment rolls, which were delivered to municipalities across Ontario on Tuesday.

“Even during a pandemic, Ontario continues to grow as evidenced by the $37.3 billion in new assessment across Ontario from new construction and improvements to existing properties,” said Nicole McNeill, president and chief administrative officer of the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC).

She said in 2020 this province saw more than 36,000 new residential units and 16,000 residential condominium units. And with people spending more time at home this year, because of COVID-19, there was a 28 per cent increase in the number of renovation permits this year as people invested in making improvements to their homes.

“We valued nearly 1,700 new commercial and industrial buildings across Ontario,” McNeill added. “One area that saw substantial growth was the warehousing and logistics sector as we assessed eight new distribution centres with a total value of more than $405 million.”

Across Ontario, more than 60 per cent of new property value was located in 10 municipalities. New assessment is new construction and/or additions to existing property that have not been previously assessed.

Toronto led the way with $11.65 billion new assessment, followed by Ottawa at $2.68 billion, Vaughan at $1.49 billion, Hamilton at $1.15 billion and Mississauga at $1.14 billion.

Barrie’s total new assessment this year is just more than $185.3 million.

In other areas of the province, a major driver of property value was the construction of seasonal properties.

Cottages accounted for nearly $600 million in new assessment. Muskoka Lakes had the largest growth with $59 million in new assessment, followed by Lake of Bays with $41 million, Seguin Township with $37 million, Innisfil with $28 million, and the Kawartha Lakes with $21 million.

Property values and new assessment numbers for the province are based on Jan. 1, 2016, the valuation date for the last province-wide assessment update.

MPAC updates the current value assessment of every property in Ontario every four years to capture changes to properties and the real estate market.

In March, the Ontario government postponed the provincewide assessment update that was scheduled for this year.

MPAC is an independent, not-for-profit corporation funded by all Ontario municipalities, accountable to the province, municipalities and property taxpayers. Its role is to assess and classify all properties in Ontario in compliance with the Assessment Act and regulations set by the Ontario government.

More than five million properties in Ontario, representing $3 trillion in property value, are assessed and classified by MPAC. Its assessments provide the foundation that municipalities use to base the property taxes needed to pay for community services.