2024 Pre-Roll Consultation Period is Underway

The City of Calgary invites commercial property owners to participate in the Pre-Roll Consultation Period, a valuable opportunity to review their preliminary 2024 assessment values. This period, taking place from October 2 to November 3, allows non-residential and multi-residential property owners to assess their values based on market conditions as of July 1, 2023. The finalized property values and assessment notices will be mailed in January.

Eddie Lee, City Assessor and Director of Assessment & Tax, highlighted the significance of Pre-Roll: “Pre-Roll is a crucial part of our ongoing efforts to enhance customer service and transparency within Assessment & Tax.”

During this period, commercial property owners have access to market data and trend information, providing insights into how their preliminary property values were determined. This information is shared through one-on-one meetings, the Pre-Roll Symposium scheduled for October 5, and on our dedicated Pre-Roll webpage on calgary.ca/assessment.

Based on our preliminary market value real estate analysis reflecting the valuation date of July 1, 2023, Calgary’s market exhibits a strong and stable property base.

Non-residential properties continue to show steady resilient growth: 

• Retail property values are anticipated to increase modestly due to growing investments and sales over the past year. While the sector has experienced the departure of a few major retailers leaving Canada, it continues to reimagine and reshape shopping experiences. This creates new opportunities which attracts new businesses and builds the retail sector’s resiliency. 
• The office market is showing signs of a turnaround with a slight increase in office property values. In the downtown, sales activity has increased, and there is notable demand for higher quality spaces, resulting in lower vacancy and increasing rental rates. Calgary continues to see positive momentum with the Downtown Development Incentive Program. More conversion projects are being formally approved to address the oversupply of office space and create a greater diversity of uses in a more vibrant downtown. 
• Industrial property market values are performing well due to the demand for distribution warehouses and growth. Market value changes are anticipated to be high, showing continued interest in this property type and its strength in the marketplace. 
• Hotel and motel market value assessments are steadily raising, with occupancy, average daily rate, and revenue per available room showing improvements over the previous year. This suggests significant market value increases in the accommodation sector.

For residential properties, we are noting that:

• Single residential properties continue to increase in value with strong sales throughout all quadrants.
• Residential condominium sales are robust with buyers selecting this property type over higher valued single residential and townhouse properties. This level of demand hasn’t been seen in quite some time.
• Multi-residential property values continue to show their strength as a result of higher net migration. This drives vacancy rates down and rental rates up.
• Townhouse values continue to be strong and stable.

While The City is noting these trends, assessment values may change as property owners and agents begin to exchange important and specific real estate market findings with us. We will work with owners and agents to validate real estate data before mailing the 2024 assessment notices in January.

It’s worth noting that increases or decreases in the property assessments do not automatically lead to the same increases or decreases in The City’s overall tax revenues collected. That’s because the reassessment process is revenue neutral. Decisions on revenues, including tax revenues and investments are yet to come with deliberations in November. The City will continue to adjust the tax rate to collect the amount of tax revenues needed to provide Calgarians with high quality services.

An important aspect of Pre-Roll is to provide commercial property owners and their agents with preliminary estimate of their tax responsibility.  To do this, The City offers a preliminary tax calculator on Assessment Search and on calgary.ca/assessment. This offers property owners with a better understanding of their tax obligations as early in the process as possible. Pre-roll also provides Council with valuable tax planning information prior to the budgetary process.

Calgary property owners’ next opportunity to check, review and compare their home and commercial property values will start on Jan. 3, 2024, when The City delivers the 2024 property assessment notices and the 2024 Customer Review Period begins.

To learn more about The City’s property assessment processes, visit calgary.ca/assessment.

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