BC Assessment has released their annual assessments, and, for the fourth year in a row, values are up in Tumbler Ridge, climbing 13 percent over 2024 values.
That means the average property value in town is now $ 203,000, up from $180,000 last year.
Last year, the average property value in Tumbler Ridge shot up nearly 20 percent, with the typical assessed value of a house going from $151,000 in 2023 to $180,000.
In 2022, the average housing value was $145,000, and in 2021, it was $132,000.
This is the first time in a decade that the average housing price has been over $200,000.
In 2013, Tumbler Ridge property hit a record high value, with the average house valued at $246,000, but over the next two years the value of houses went down over $100,000, or 40 percent of the total value.
In 2014, the average home price was $210,000, which was the last time the average price for a house in Tumbler Ridge has been above $200,000. In 2013, the price plunged to $138,000, a 36 percent drop in one year.
Prices have slowly been recovering ever since. Last year saw the biggest gain, with house going up nearly 20 percent.
Across much of the province, house prices remained within five percent above or below last year’s value, the second year in a row where values remained fairly stable.
Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon says that this is due at least in part to steps the province has taken to limit short-term vacation rentals, as well as other reforms over the last few years.
But other experts say that high interest rates have a role to play as well.
This holds true among larger centres in the north. Prince George and Fort St. John both saw value increases of three percent while Prince Rupert and Dawson Creek both saw two percent increases.
The largest valuation increase was in Burns Lake, where the average home is now selling for 19 percent higher than it was last year, or $265,000, up from $222,000.
Chetwynd saw a two percent increase, up to $261,000 from $254,000, while Hudson’s Hope and Mackenzie were some of the few places where homes actually lost value, though only dropping by one percent.
In addition to Burns Lake and Tumbler Ridge, the only other locations to see double digit increases in property value were Wells and Williams Lake, both seeing ten percent increases, Wells to $175,000 and Williams Lake to $419,000, pushing it to the fifth most expensive place to buy a house in the north after Smithers ($506,000), Terrace ($484,000), Prince George ($451,000) and Telkwa ($434,000).
BC Assessment released its 2025 property assessment on January 2, which reflected the assessed value of nearly a quarter million properties across the north and central BC.
Expect the Property Assessment Notice for your property in the mail over the next week or two, or search online at bcassessment.ca.
“Most North Central home owners can generally expect to see assessment changes in the range of approximately -5% to +10% when they check their updated 2025 values with some exceptions depending on the community,” says Deputy Assessor Teria Penner. “Arrival in the mail of 2025 Assessment Notices might be delayed due to ongoing Canada Post backlogs, but 2025 values are readily available at bcassessment.ca, using our online property search service.”
Overall, North Central BC’s total assessments increased from about $95.2 billion in 2024 to over $99.8 billion this year, says BC Assessment, with about $1.3 billion of that coming from new construction, subdivisions and the rezoning of properties.
The North Central BC region encompasses approximately 70 per cent of the province: stretching east to the Alberta border, north to the Yukon border, west to Bella Coola including Haida Gwaii and to the south, just north of Clinton.
The average price listed is for a single-family residential property, and may be higher or lower than your property.
The assessed value of a home can influence its sale price. It can also affect property taxes, but not as much as you might think.
Taxes are based on the relative assessment value of your property. That means that if everyone’s assessed property value went up $100,000 or down $100,000, you would still pay the same amount in District taxes, even though the total value of your property has increased (or decreased), because the assessed value has changed for everybody.
But, if the assessed value of your home has gone up $20,000, while everyone else’s has stayed the same, you would have to pay more, based on a percentage of the property value.
However, the actual tax rates won’t be set until the District passes its 2023 Tax Rates Bylaw. It has until May 15 to do so.
Trent is the publisher of Tumbler RidgeLines.
