Property valuations
About rating valuations
The valuation of a property helps determine how the rates are set.
Search your property under the rates and valuation information page here Rating Information Database Far North District Council.
All properties must be valued every three years, according to the Rating Valuations Act 1988, to help set the local body rates. We refer to this as a General Property Revaluation. Far North District Council contracts Quotable Value to value properties on its behalf. They are New Zealand’s largest valuation and property services company.
Click here to find the current valuation of your property on the QV website.
- Land value
- Capital value
- Improvement value
Some of the property information used to assess the valuation of your property are:
- Zoning
- Land size
- Location
- House size
- Sale prices
In the Far North district, it is the value of your land that is used to calculate most of your rates bill.
Far North District Council uses standard rating valuations governed by the Rating Valuation Act 1998 and audited by the Office of the Valuer-General.
Valuation explained
How is the valuation done?
Quotable Value assesses properties using a mass appraisal process. Rather than inspect every property, QV takes similar property sales in each area at the time of the valuation and establishes a market trend. Sometimes roadside inspections are carried out to check the accuracy of proposed values. QV also uses property information like building consents held by the council.
What do land value, capital value and improvement value mean?
- Land value is the most likely the selling price of bare land at valuation date. It includes drainage, excavation, filling, retaining walls, reclamation, grading, levelling, vegetation clearing, soil improvement, and protection from erosion or flooding. It does NOT include buildings.
- Capital value is the most likely selling price of the whole property at valuation date. It includes buildings and improvements. It does NOT include chattels, stock, crops, machinery or trees. Only capital value includes GST, other property types do not.
- Improvement value is the difference between the capital value and the land value. It reflects the value of the property’s buildings and other structures.
How land value affects your rates
Learn how the council calculates your rates invoice, in particular how the General Rate is impacted by an increase in the value of the land your property sits on.
Common questions and answers
Useful links
Find the valuation for your property
Find the rates and valuations for your property
The capital value is determined by recent sales in the area, which creates a market trend. Even if you have not made improvements to your land or property, its value may have increased because of strong sales in your area.
It is not practical to inspect every property, nor is it necessary. Council holds a lot of information about properties. Council tells QV about major changes like subdivisions and building consents. Roadside inspections can also confirm other changes.
Yes, but only some of the information. The council is required by law to make some information public. The contents of your valuation notice are contained within a public register known as the District Valuation Roll. This is available for public inspection at council offices for a limited time. You can access any information held about your property and ask for corrections to be made.
You can ask for your name to be removed from the District Valuation Roll. Visit a council service centre or phone us on 0800 920 029 or 09 401 5200.
Phone Quotable Value on 0800 787 284. Alternatively, go to QV's website for online property information.
What is it?
Every three years every district in NZ is revalued to set the values that councils will use to charge the rates for the next three years. The latest revaluation took place in October 2022. Revaluations set the value of the land (LV), capital (CV) and improvement value (IV).
Far North District Council rates on land value, so the value of the land determines how much the rates will be.
The valuation process is undertaken by the council's valuer - Quotable Value - whose team of valuers assist with assessing values across NZ. They use current market data (sales and productivity), information from the council and discussions with real estate agents to work out the land and capital values across the district. The results are then audited by the Valuer-General.
2025 Revaluation dates
The next revaluation will take place during the last quarter of 2025. We expect confirmation from the Office of the Valuer General (OVG) around mid-March of the effective date for the Far North district.
What did the 2019 Property Valuation tell us?
The 2019 Far North revaluation has mostly recorded increases in value across the board from the previously 2016 valuation date. The overall average residential movement from the 2016 valuations is 30 per cent on Capital Value and 35 per cent on Land Value. (Different locations have increased at varied levels. This is the average across the district).
Key points to keep in mind - a lower-value property may have moved at a greater percentage than a higher-valued property in the same area. The lifestyle market has also increased at a similar level to that of the residential market. Other sectors of note:
- Dairy and pastoral land movement was 20 per cent on average across the district
- Horticulturally categorised property had the largest increase with an average land value increase of 49 per cent
- Forestry the least with an average movement of 3.6 per cent on Land value from 2016
- Commercial and industrial land values shifted 30-35 per cent on average. Location was a factor to growth in this sector.
- Across all sectors in the Far North district, the average Capital Value movement was 25 per cent and 30 per cent for Land Value movement from the previous 2016 valuation levels.
What did the 2016 property valuation tell us?
The 2016 property valuation revealed that values increased in all areas except Kaikohe, Kaitāia township and Awanui. Moerewa saw no change. Looking at the Far North as a whole, land values rose by 11.7 per cent and capital values rose by 12 per cent. That increase largely reversed losses recorded by the 2013 valuation.