Fair go needed for flood impacted land valuations
04 April 2022
New land valuations for property owners released Thursday, 31 March, show Ipswich properties have increased by 23 per cent overall since the last valuation was issued in 2019.
The Valuer-General released valuations for 82,349 properties with an overall value of $22.4 billion, which is up from $18.2 billion.
Ipswich Mayor Teresa Harding said while it was positive to see the city’s properties growing in value and increasing equity for property owners, it makes no sense to those with flood impacted properties.
“Across Ipswich there has been quite a level of variability of the valuations with changes from decreases of 10 per cent to increases greater than 40 per cent,” Mayor Harding said.
“Overall, Ipswich has seen its property values grow by an average of 23 per cent. However, this will be cold comfort to those who are still cleaning up from the floods.
“Our hardest hit flooded suburbs have all had increases - Goodna averaged an increase of 19 per cent, Bundamba a 26 per cent increase and North Booval increased by 20 per cent.
“After the 2011 floods and Cyclone Yasi, the Queensland Government held back valuations for flood impacted properties to allow them to be properly assessed.
“The State should be applying a common sense approach here, as seen after past disasters, to ensure flood impacted families don’t wear the financial burden for this decision.
“A land valuation may be amended if land has been permanently damaged by flooding, and I urge you to contact the Valuer-General to apply for a change in valuation if you think this might apply to you.”
Governance and Transparency Committee Chair Councillor Jacob Madsen said valuations aim to reflect market value and are used by council as a factor in determining rates.
“This range of valuations movement makes the process of council setting rates more challenging but while the valuations have gone up, this does not mean that rates will go up at a similar level,” Cr Madsen said.
“Council will be working hard over the coming months to deliver the 2022-2023 budget that includes rating policies that minimise impact of these valuations changes for ratepayers.
“Council has several tools available to it under the Local Government Act to help cushion the impact of valuation changes for residents and business, these include rate capping and valuations averaging, however valuations still form the primary basis of rating for all local governments.”