Assessed Value
Explore what assessed value means in Canadian real estate, how it’s calculated, and how it affects your annual property tax bill.
May 22, 2025
What is Assessed Value?
Assessed value is the dollar amount assigned to a property by a municipal or provincial authority for the purpose of calculating property taxes.
Why Assessed Value Matters in Real Estate
In Canada, assessed value is used to determine how much property tax a homeowner must pay each year. It is not the same as market value or appraised value, though the three may be similar.
Municipalities or agencies like MPAC (Ontario) or BC Assessment calculate assessed value based on:
- Comparable sales
- Location and land value
- Size, age, and condition of the property
- Zoning and permitted uses
Understanding your assessed value is important for:
- Budgeting property taxes
- Appealing over-assessments
- Comparing tax burden across neighbourhoods
Example of Assessed Value in Action
A homeowner receives a notice showing their assessed value is $680,000, which the city will use to calculate their annual property tax.
Key Takeaways
- Used to calculate annual property taxes.
- Determined by local assessment authorities.
- May differ from market or appraised value.
- Can be appealed by the homeowner.
- Updated periodically by municipality or province.
Related Terms
- Property Assessment
- Property Tax
- Market Value
- Mill Rate
- Assessment Appeal
95 Clegg Road in Markham, Ontario. (Colliers)
95 Clegg Road (centre) in Markham, Ontario. (Colliers)
Small-scale infill share of housing starts in Toronto, Vancouver, and Edmonton/CMHC
Housing starts for one to eight unit developments/CMHC
An overview of Hedge Road Landing. (Alliance Homes)
6525 Mississauga Road and its surrounding context. (RBC Capital Markets & CBRE)
Property details for 6525 Mississauga Road. (RBC Capital Markets & CBRE)
National average resale-price growth and housing-starts growth, smoothed over three months. The comparison illustrates the cycle; it does not establish how much a price change causes construction to change.
Trailing 12-month starts in centres of 50,000 or more remove the usual monthly seasonality. Ownership combines the homeowner and condominium categories; rental is shown separately.
Six-month averages of provincial starts, expressed at annual rates. The smoothing reduces the influence of individual apartment projects.
The same August benchmark compared with two different starting points. Three-month changes are not annualized.
Average sale prices show the difference in purchase costs across markets. They do not measure affordability relative to local incomes or construction costs.
Newfoundland and Labrador remains above its pre-pandemic sales pattern, but August activity was below last year. Historical lines retain their original release vintages.