Just opened the land valuation notices... huge jump in valuations.

For those who want to check online -

BIG-IP logout page

Edit: Just got home, added this link and realised it is already posted.

 

I think we are talking different things here though. We had dinner with a developer friend last night. He said in the street (Greenslopes) that he is developing right now, the land valuations for the various developments being built have jumped substantially. He had already lodged an appeal last night. The houses right next door to his development rose, but not substantially. Someone has specifically targeted that street and the development sites copped a huge whack whilst right next door, a small increase.

So, I guess you need to look at similar properties and see if your 60% increase is "normal" for similar properties (without even considering what is "on" the property). It is AFAIK the unimproved land they are looking at. They aren't (or used not to be) interested in what is on that land. That came straight from a valuer's mouth years ago when they knocked on my door and wanted to see what my view was like.

So, why does the block being developed cop a huge increase when the one next door (not yet developed) get next to no increase? That doesn't make sense.

 

Exactly!

 

I get all that. But I would point out that when our PPOR was revalued (when the valuer came into our back yard to see our view), our whole street rose substantially. We were the highest on the hill, and as the hill dropped, the values were less.

At the same time (must have been 20 years ago), our house was worth about $250K and there was an outcry about the valuations. A moratorium was called and I know for a fact that at East Brisbane there was a 1900 built house, ballroom, tennis court, more than triple the size of our block that had just sold for $800K and its UCV was $75K. Ours had gone to something like $200K.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that there is no consistency in valuations between areas, and they were (and I believe still are) cherry picking those who they believe can afford it, and those that have potential for development, but even that doesn't explain why a house just sold in an exclusive pocket of an expensive suburb had just sold for $800K and had a UCV value of $75K whilst our small block had such a high valuation.

There was a court case at the time run by someone we had met and I believe they won that case and their values (near the river, expensive street, beautiful area) were adjusted down.

It is a double edged sword. We will pay a whack more land tax and the rates are going to rise substantially over the next three years and I believe we already pay more than our fair share of taxes.

 

I've just looked up both those properties I mentioned earlier.

The big house built in 1900 with ballroom, tennis court etc sits on 1852sqm and was last sold in 1996 for $750K. Its UCV now is $2.7M.

The house we lived in build in 1932 on 658sqm was last sold in 1996 for $302K. Land value is now $1M.

Clearly, that moratorium ran its course and the UCV are likely to be fair now for the properties of each house, but 20 years ago, they were not... and that is what I find wrong with this whole process.

 

One of ours has just pushed me over the threshold... just one house. If it was in a trust, I would be well over the threshold. I did look at buying this one in a trust but was told by my broker that (in my particular circumstances with limited lenders willing to look at me) I would have had trouble getting a loan in anything more complicated than my name. He might have been wrong, but I had no time to waste as I needed this funded quickly in order to allow our son to settle.