Rates increases next year are on the cards for some Invercargill and Bluff homeowners as the Invercargill City Council announces drastic increases in rating valuations across the city.

In a statement released today (November 18), the ICC said since the last rating revaluation in July 2017, there had been a "strong rise" in property values throughout the region by 35.1% overall.

A rating valuation is the estimated price a property would sell for at the effective date of the rating revaluation, which was September 1, 2020.

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Finance and assurance group manager Michael Day said the rating valuation increase was positive for the city but would impact on the distribution of rates across the city.

“Rates which are based on properties’ rateable valuations are calculated on the valuation for each individual property throughout the city. 

“Different increases across the city will change the distribution of rates accordingly,” Mr Day said.

However, he stressed that the percentage increase on an individual's property valuation was not the proportion by which the rates would increase by.

“The total value of the city has gone up; our rates take is exactly the same from that perspective and it just gets redistributed across those different rating values proportionately.

“So those who have had less of an increase will potentially get less of that rateable value.”

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The average residential dwelling within Invercargill City is now valued at $384,000, up from the average of about $260,000 in 2017.

Furthermore, residential values are overall 48.2% higher than they were three years ago, with residential land values on average more than 59.8% higher in this same period. 

Land values in some areas have risen more than in others, particularly in Appleby, Georgetown (up 143.2%), and South Invercargill (up 181.2%).

However, land values for areas traditionally considered ‘higher value’ have experienced a more modest average increase (for example, 39.4% for Windsor and 20.7% for Otatara).

New council rates would become effective from July 1, 2021. Rating values are just one factor the council uses to set rates.

Quotable Value carried out the 2020 valuations for the council.

The new values would be posted on the Invercargill City Council website by November 20, 2020 and be mailed to property owners by November 25.

Property owners have the right to object by January 22, 2021.

The Southland App has requested a breakdown of the average rates costs across the region from the ICC.

More information is available HERE or at the council's Civic Administration Building and Bluff Service Centre.