The NSW Acting Valuer General has completed land values for every parcel of land across NSW and the land values reflect the value of land only, as at 1 July 2019, which was around the time that the Sydney real estate market.bottomed out.

The councils use these Valuer General land valuations to calculate the rateable value of a property and they use a multiplier to assess how much they will charge for the land rates portion of your rates.

There are many residents who are very angry with the exorbitant rates council are currently charging amongst the acreage areas, especially when you consider the services or lack thereof that councils actually provide amongst the acreage areas.

New valuations from the office of the NSW Acting Valuer General will be progessively issued to land owners from January 15 to the end of April 2020, but bushfire victims will receive their statements later than everyone else.

It’s good to see that the Acting Valuer General, Paul Chudleigh has showed compassion for the bushfire victims by holding off from issuing valuations to bushfire victims, when he said,

“I acknowledge that issuing new valuation notices at this time may cause distress to some property owners who have been impacted by the bushfires so we will delay the issuing of notices in bushfire affected regions until April. People in bushfire affected communities are hurting. Many have suffered property damage or lost homes, and some have also lost loved ones. Many will be living in areas that remain devastated for some time following these tragic events.”

It’s surprising to see that even though the rural areas of NSW have been suffering from one of the worst droughts in Australian history and yet the rural property valuations increased (which doesn’t make any sense. I think there will be a lot of objections from the rural communities if their Land Taxes and Council Rates increase as a result of these increase valuations.

Whilst I appreciate that there are some rural areas that would naturally be exceptions, for example Parkes, which has a 600 hectares National Logistics Hub which is set to be Australia’s largest intermodal site, integral to the national freight solution along with the inland rail project, however, other rural areas have had a devastating past few years and the rural communities certainly don’t need any more financial hardship.

There must be a case for some sort of reduction, especially when you consider…

Overall, land values decreased across NSW by 5.4% to $1.73 trillion in the 12 months to 1 July 2019. Land values were assessed by independent contract valuers based on the value of land as at 1 July 2019 following analysis of over 57,000 sales statewide. The valuations were then quality assured by valuers from Property NSW.

Source: TheRealEstateConversation.com.au

With Council elections scheduled for later this year, if there’s no reduction to rates then questions as to why not need to be asked of the existing Councillors and candidates who will be seeking election.

if you own acreage and have any questions regarding your valuation or need help with who to speak with regarding your rates, don’t hesitate to get in contact with me

For more information, see the full article about NSW land owners to receive updated land valuations

Regards

Greg Vincent