SHIFT SHOCK Industrial Properties Shoulder More Tax Burden as Jurisdictions Update Assessments By Barbara Carss SPIKING PROPERTY tax tolls on light industrial facilities are considered a near certainty for ratepayers in Calgary and many municipalities of British Columbia’s lower mainland. Economic fallout from COVID-19 is shifting more of the tax burden to this flourishing group of assets via the mill rate, while also driving up the tax rate — presenting a double-whammy of consequences in jurisdictions that update valuations annually.
The assessed value of Calgar y industrial property has risen 6%, on average, against a 5.5% drop in value across the entire non-residential tax base, bringing dramatic tax increases for some properties even before any tax rate adjustment comes into play. Industrial values have likewise increased in the range of 10 to 15% in Vancouver and surrounding municipalities, while office and retail values have slipped about 5%.
“The valuation date for the 2021 assessment roll was July 1, 2020, just a few months after the March lockdown here, but there was no real pause at all that we observed in rental rates or in valuation parameters for industrial properties,” David Howard, Senior Director, property tax, with Altus Group in Vancouver, reported during a recent online discussion of industrial property tax trends in three markets experiencing Canadian Property Management | April/May 2021 31
