Property Tax Assessments to Rise

Residential property owners in Ontario can expect an average assessment increase of five per cent in 2009, the first year of a four-year phase-in plan.

"Residential property values have increased by an average of about 20 per cent across Ontario since 2005, when the last assessment update was done," says Carl Isenburg, president and chief administrative officer of the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC).

With a four-year phase-in, taxpayers will see an average assessment increase of five per cent next year.

An increase in assessment does not necessarily mean an increase in property taxes. If the assessed value of a home has increased by the same percentage as the average in the municipality, there might be no increase in the property taxes paid by a taxpayer.

The phase-in program doesn't apply to decreases in assessed value. The full amount of a decrease will be applied during the 2009 tax year.

"Our values are based on actual sales and trends in real estate markets across the province," Isenburg explains. Municipalities establish tax rates that are applied to assessed values to pay for local services and the provincial government sets rates for the education portion of the tax.