{"id":9642,"date":"2026-01-12T17:06:59","date_gmt":"2026-01-12T21:06:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/?p=9642"},"modified":"2026-01-12T17:07:54","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T21:07:54","slug":"buyers-looking-for-cheaper-houses-as-property-assessment-notices-mailed-this-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/2026\/01\/12\/buyers-looking-for-cheaper-houses-as-property-assessment-notices-mailed-this-week\/","title":{"rendered":"Buyers looking for cheaper houses, as property assessment notices mailed this week"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Assessment notices were sent to property owners this week. (Rick Conrad \/ File)<\/p><\/div>\n

Nova Scotia property values continue to rise, but the double-digit increases seen during the Covid-fuelled buying spree are over.<\/span><\/p>\n

Overall, total property assessments in Nova Scotia have topped $200 billion for the first time, with residential and commercial properties combining for $206.3 billion on 2026 assessments, according to <\/span>numbers released Monday by the independent, non-profit Property Valuation Services Corporation.<\/span><\/p>\n

Residential assessments rose by 8.5 per cent over 2025. That compares to an 11 per cent increase over 2024.<\/span><\/p>\n

In Queens County, residential assessments rose by $151,836,700 or seven per cent over 2025.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2025, they rose by 9.5 per cent and the 2024 assessments were 25 per cent higher than the year before.<\/span><\/p>\n

Jeff Caddell, director of valuation standards for PVSC, told QCCR on Monday that lower-priced properties such as mobile homes are becoming more attractive. Even so, properties near the water are still popular.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re starting to see a more focused demand for property. So, we’re seeing smaller, more affordable homes increasing at a faster pace from a market perspective, than higher-value homes. We’re also seeing more of those types of homes being constructed as well,\u201d Caddell said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cQueens County is no exception. We’re seeing a trend towards smaller homes, more moderately priced homes selling, we’re seeing good market growth, and those types of properties, manufactured homes across the province, the last couple of years we’ve seen strong market demand for those properties, and that’s continuing into this year as well. Semi-detached townhouses, duplexes, multi-units, we’re seeing market increase in those types of properties as well.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Caddell said people are also looking for properties beyond urban areas like the Halifax region.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSo typically, provincially, much of that value increase is centred around HRM, the urban areas in the province, but we’re starting to see value shift outside of the urban cores in the province. So looking at small towns, small municipalities across the province, where there’s access to amenities. It’s these types of areas where we’re seeing good, strong market change, and as well as construction to meet the housing needs in those areas.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

2026 assessments are based on sales and financial data from 2024 and reflect a market value as of Jan. 1, 2025, and the physical state of properties as of Dec. 1, 2025.<\/span><\/p>\n

Municipalities received the assessment roll for their region in mid-December.<\/span><\/p>\n

The PVSC mailed 2026 assessments to more than 650,000 property accounts on Monday.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This year\u2019s Capped Assessment Program rate is 2.6 per cent, up from 1.5 per cent last year. About 72 per cent of residential properties qualify for the CAP, which limits the amount assessments can increase every year. Municipalities assess property taxes based on the CAP amount.<\/span><\/p>\n

Caddell said they received about 9,000 appeals last year, with about 20 to 25 per cent of those having their assessments adjusted.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSo in many cases, the taxable doesn’t change, because it’s already lower than the market value assessment. So it’s just an important consideration, but if property owners have questions, they can certainly give us a call on that.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The deadline to appeal your property assessment is Feb. 12.<\/span><\/p>\n

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Listen to the audio version of this story below<\/strong><\/p>\nhttps:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/propertyassessmentsjan1226.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nova Scotia property values continue to rise, but the double-digit increases seen during the Covid-fuelled buying spree are over. Overall, total property assessments in Nova Scotia have topped $200 billion for the first time, with residential and commercial properties combining for $206.3 billion on 2026 assessments, according to numbers released Monday by the independent, non-profit […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,5],"tags":[2097,2802,3711,1592,1151,1593,186],"class_list":["post-9642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community-news","category-news-posts","tag-assessments","tag-jeff-caddell","tag-property","tag-property-assessments","tag-property-valuation-services-corporation","tag-property-values","tag-real-estate"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9642"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9642\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9647,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9642\/revisions\/9647"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}