Property revaluation process in Invercargill City underway

Work on property revaluations throughout Invercargill and Bluff has begun.

Rating revaluations would be prepared for every property within the city boundary by independent valuers Quotable Value (QV), with the process expected to be completed later in 2026.

Rating valuations are carried out on all New Zealand properties every three years.

Invercargill City Council Group Manager Finance and Assurance Patricia Christie said once the revaluation of properties in the city and Bluff had been audited and certified, updated values would be used by Council to set rates from 1 July 2027.

“Rating valuations are a tool used by councils throughout the country, to ensure their total rates take is divided fairly across all property owners within their rating boundary,” she said.

“It is not a live-market valuation for buying or selling properties, lending from banks when you’re applying for a mortgage, or for insurance purposes.”

Several factors went into determining property valuations, including an analysis of the real estate market across suburbs and a property data review of details such as land size, floor area, building consents, and renovations.

“A change in a property’s rating valuation does not automatically mean a change in the total amount of rates you will pay for your property. What matters is how your property’s value changes in comparison to everybody else. It is a bit like divvying up a pie: Council uses rating valuations to determine what your fair share is,” Christie said.

“Through our annual and long-term planning processes, Council determines how much money it needs to collect to provide services such as roads, water, rubbish, and community facilities. The property valuation system then determines what share of that total each property needs to pay, in comparison to every other property in our community. If values were not updated, some property owners would end up paying more than their fair share, while others would pay too little, because property markets fluctuate over time.”

The revaluations ultimately set by QV later in the year would reflect each property’s likely selling price, had they been sold on 1 July, 2026.

The new rating revaluations would not come into effect until 1 July, 2027, Christie said.

QV South Island Revaluation Manager Melanie Halliday said rating valuations were carefully calculated using all recent local property sales.

“We have also visited a large number of properties throughout Invercargill, particularly those that have been issued building consents in the last three years.

“Following careful analysis of all the data by our team of expert property valuers, the updated rating valuations will be independently audited by the Office of the Valuer General to ensure they meet rigorous quality standards, before they are confirmed and sent to all property owners late this year.”

If property owners did not agree with their new rating valuation, they had the right to undertake an objection process, which would be open for approximately six weeks once values were issued. Further details on this process would be included with all Notices of Rating Valuation sent to property owners, once the revaluation had been completed and certified.

Property owners could find further information about QV’s rating valuations process here, and could also learn more here