Nearly a year after a Sechelt neighbourhood was evacuated over sinkhole fears, BC Assessment has declared the homes essentially worthless.
The sharp drop in value for the evacuated homes was not unexpected.
The properties, valued in most cases at more than $1 million in 2019 and which many of the owners are still carrying mortgages on, have now been assessed at just two dollars – one dollar for the land and one dollar for the building.
A home at 6657 Gale Ave. North, which was declared uninhabitable in 2015 when a sinkhole opened up in the front yard, had already been written down to $1 for the building but the lot was still estimated to be worth $50,000 in 2019. That land, too, is now assessed at $1.
BC Assessment deputy assessor Brian Smith told Coast Reporter that the Seawatch properties were evaluated using the same “snapshot” approach as any other property – looking at the likely market value as of Oct. 31, 2019.
“We still have to provide them with an assessment and the one dollar on each the land and the building is the lowest that we’re able to reflect on that,” he said.
“Of course if things get fixed and as of Oct. 31, 2020, these properties are being lived in and fully functional as a house and land then the assessment would more reflect the market.”
The remaining vacant lots in the development are now assessed at $1, but large plots of vacant land above the subdivision, which were covered by the evacuation order, did not see the same significant loss in value. The largest, a 27.5-acre (11-hectare) block at 6453 Gale Ave. North – which is owned by Concordia Seawatch, the developer of the subdivision – was assessed at $3.4 million in 2019 is now valued at $2.7 million.
Smith said BC Assessment is trying to gather more information about the evacuation area and whether those properties could be considered within that. “Those properties, being outside of that subdivision, we didn’t include … but we are taking a look at that based on some of the inquiries we’ve had from property owners.”
