Residential and Non-residential Property Assessment Values for Taxation Year 2024

Centre for Production, Distribution and Investment Statistics, Economic Statistics Field

Introduction
Key definitions
Input data
1. Data sources
2. Unit reported
Auxiliary data
Classification
1. Geography
2. Type of property
Imputation for missing data
1. Imputation of residential values
2. Imputation of non-residential values
Price adjustments
Volume adjustments
Removals and adjustments in accordance with typical property assessment and taxation practices
Quality control
Annex 1. List of provinces and territories with microdata in tax years 2016 and 2024

1. Introduction

The Property Values Program produces annual estimates of assessment values of properties at provincial and territorial level across Canada. These estimates are produced using a common price date, which corresponds to July 1st of the year preceding the tax year under evaluation. Finance Canada uses these estimates to determine fiscal capacity with respect to property taxes for the Equalization program and the Territorial Formula Financing (TFF) program. ^{Footnote 1} To ensure comparability of the data, a number of adjustments are made. They include: the coding of property categories to a common classification; the adjustment of values to a common price base date and to a common volume state (or stock) date; and the imputation of missing property values. Additionally, other removals and adjustments are carried out to produce estimates of annual assessment values at a common price date that meet the requirements for determining fiscal capacity.

This document presents these adjustments in more detail.

2. Key definitions

a. Price base date (PBD) ^{Footnote 2}

The price base date (referred to as “valuation” by Data Providers) is the fixed point in time at which all properties are valued by assessment agencies. Within each province or territory, the same PBD applies to all properties.

The target price base date (TPBD) serves as the benchmark for price adjustments within the Property Values Program. It is set as July 1st of the year preceding the tax year under assessment. For instance, the TPBD for the tax year 2024 (TY2024) corresponds to July 1st, 2023.

b. Volume state date (VSD)

The volume state date (referred to as “condition” by Data Providers) is the fixed point in time when the full stock of active properties and their physical condition are reflected in the official Assessment Roll.

The target volume state date (TVSD) serves as the benchmark for volume adjustments within the Property Values Program. It is set as January 1st of the tax year under assessment. For instance, the TVSD for the tax year 2024 (TY2024) corresponds to January 1, 2024.

c. Residential property

Defined as all types of property categorized as residential for assessment purposes in the majority of provinces and territories. It includes single and multi-unit properties, farm residences, cottages and vacation homes, mobile homes, and vacant lands which are designated for residential purposes.

d. Non-residential property

Defined as all types of property categorized as non-residential for assessment purposes in the majority of provinces and territories. It includes industrial, commercial and institutional properties, engineering construction and mining properties, and vacant lands which are designated for non-residential purposes.

Agricultural properties ^{Footnote 3} (excluding residential dwellings on farm property, which are considered residential property for the Property Values Program) as well as the value of machinery and equipment improvements on properties are excluded from final estimates.

e. Properties subject to municipal, provincial, territorial and federal payment-in-lieu

Defined as municipal, provincial, territorial and federal government-owned property for which owners remit payment-in-lieu of taxes to municipal governments or local taxation authorities.

3. Input data

a. Data sources

Assessment data series are collected from provincial, territorial and municipal assessment entities and are based on municipal assessment rolls. Data providers agree to provide the data on a regular basis either through formal agreements or responding per data request.

Starting in January 2018, assessment roll microdata is gradually being received from every jurisdiction, to replace the use of assessment roll aggregate data. In 2025, we received assessment roll microdata for the tax year 2024 from 12 provinces and territories, up from five provinces and territories for the tax year 2016. See Annex 1.

b. Unit reported

Data series are reported either at the municipal, property or sub-property level.

4. Auxiliary data

a. Multiple Listing Service (MLS) data

Multiple Listing Service (MLS) data is produced by the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA). The data files are obtained via Haver Analytics, a company that is the sole distributor of CREA MLS data. MLS data is aggregate monthly residential sales data reported as dollar volume sales and the number of units sold by real estate boards. Data is available at provincial or sub-provincial level for all provinces and territories with the exception of Québec, for which only provincial-level data is available. No data is available for Nunavut. MLS data files are used for price adjustment.

b. Building Permits (BPER) and Investment in Building Construction (IBC) data

Data on the number of residential and non-residential building permits issued, as well as investment in construction completion, by type of work (e.g., new units, conversions, etc.), is obtained from Statistics Canada's Building Permits (BPER) and Investment in Building Construction (IBC) programs. The data is produced monthly, by jurisdiction. These data files are used for volume adjustment.

c. Census of Population

Data from Census of Population are available every five years. Between census years, yearly average owner-occupied dwelling values, referred to as "intercensal" values, are derived using linear interpolation. ^{Footnote 4} These values are used for the imputation of missing property values.

d. Municipal boundary changes

Municipal boundary changes are mapped to the 2021 census geography using the “Interim List of Changes to Municipal Boundaries, Status, and Names.”

The list is usually produced on an annual basis for changes that occurred during the previous year. A five-year list is produced on Census of Population years. The Property Values program uses the report for the mapping of new municipalities to the Census 2021 geography during the intercensal period. Upon the publication of the 2026 Census, the Property Values program will reconcile the intercensal municipal changes to the new census geography.

5. Classification

a. Geography

A municipality covered by the collected data is assigned to a Census Subdivision (CSD). The assignment of CSDs is reviewed yearly to reflect changes (municipal amalgamations, legal status changes, etc.) that occur during the year. During the period between censuses, these municipal changes are mapped to their prior census subdivisions, census year 2021. Accumulated intercensal changes are revised to their new CSDs in the year following the publication of the census.

CSDs containing First Nations or other autonomous or self-governing areas are out of scope for Fiscal Arrangements purposes. As a result, these CSDs are not included in the provincial estimates.

b. Type of property

The type of property classification is reviewed to improve comparability of the data amongst provinces and territories. The classification of properties is more precise when more details are available in the data.

6. Imputation for missing data

There exist municipalities or regions that are not assessed by provincial or territorial assessment agencies, and therefore no property taxes are levied. As a result, assessment values are missing for some jurisdictions, mostly in unorganized areas. ^{Footnote 5} Additionally, on occasion, some municipalities submit their assessment values to assessment agencies later than when the data is required. Missing property assessment values for these municipalities are imputed.

For taxation year 2024, there were 142 jurisdictions (CSDs) with missing data that were imputed, 132 of which were in Newfoundland-and-Labrador, 8 were in Northwest Territories and 2 were in Saskatchewan.

a. Imputation of residential values

The imputation strategy relies on three key assumptions: (1) the reported average owner-occupied dwelling values from CSDs in the same province and population group are expected to be similar; (2) the composition of the residential housing mix is consistent between the donor and imputed population group; and (3) property tax assessors would have valued properties similarly in both the donor group and imputed population group.

During the intercensal period, an average owner-occupied dwelling value (Intercensal OODV) is found from the forward extrapolation in time to the relevant Tax Year, for the CSD, the line that connects the owner-occupied dwelling counts from two prior census values. For Tax Year 2024 those would be the 2016 Census of Population and the 2021 Census of Population.

Residential property value in a geography is the sum of all of owner and non-owner-occupied dwellings, vacant dwelling properties and vacant residential land. Although the concept of average owner-occupied dwelling value differs from that of residential property value, under the assumptions we may assume that:

$\frac{R P V o f I m p u t e d C S D}{R P V o f D o n o r C S D} = \frac{I n t e r c e n s a l O O D V o f I m p u t e d C S D}{I n t e r c e n s a l O O D V o f D o n o r C S D} = R a t i o_{I n t e r c e n s a l}$

Therefore, the imputation formula is:

$R P V o f I m p u t e d C S D = (R P V o f D o n o r C S D) \times R a t i o_{I n t e r c e n s a l}$

Where RPV refers to the total Residential Property Value of a CSD.

In order to produce an imputed value that best reflects the price base date and volume state date:

the number of private dwellings is taken from the yearly intercensal file of the same year as the volume state date of the assessment roll file; and
the average owner-occupied dwelling value is taken from the yearly intercensal file or derived from assessed values of the same year as the price base date of the assessment roll file.

The resulting imputed values are then processed and adjusted ^{Footnote 6} using the same methodology as for assessment roll values.

b. Imputation of non-residential values

Unlike the imputation for residential property values where dwelling values from intercensal files can be used to estimate the value of residential properties, no similar direct indicator is available for non-residential properties. Therefore, non-residential values are imputed using data of CSDs with similar Census population counts within the same province or territory.

Ratios of the total non-residential values over the total population are calculated using data from CSDs for each population class (see table 1 below) for each province and territory. These ratios ^{Footnote 7} are then applied to the population count of the missing CSD to derive the imputed non-residential value. Most of the missing CSDs are from rural areas.

Table 1 – Population class used for imputation on non-residential values ^{Footnote 8}
Population Class	Description
1	Rural
2	Small Sized Municipalities
3	Medium Sized Municipalities
4	Large Sized Municipalities

7. Price adjustments

Due to differences in assessment practices and frequency of revaluation cycles, data received does not always align with the target price base date (TPBD) of July 1 of the year preceding the taxation year.

a. Choice of source data vintage

To minimize price adjustments, data from the file whose price base date (PBD) most closely aligns with the target price base date (TPBD) is used to produce estimates for a given taxation year. If two input files have the same time interval between their PBD and TPBD, the file with the smallest difference between the volume state date (VSD) and the target volume state date (VSD) is selected.

b. Jurisdictions that are not price adjusted

The following provinces do not undergo price adjustments as their PBD corresponds to the TPBD:

Quebec
Alberta
British Columbia

c. Residential price adjustment

Sale and resale values are used in the reassessment of properties by assessment agencies. Multiple Listing Service (MLS) resale data is a suitable candidate as a proxy for this information. However, sales data is not the only information that is used by assessment agencies in determining assessment values. Other inputs such as demolition/construction permits, renovation permits, construction costs, physical inspections and other indicators are incorporated into their modelling methodology. In addition, MLS resale values are a subset of all residential property values as they exclude private sales and properties that have not sold in many years. Consequently, while MLS resale values provide a useful indicator, they do not always closely reflect the price movements of assessment values.

Statistics Canada does not attempt to replicate the modelling of assessment agencies. Instead, it relies on price indices to adjust assessment values to the target price base date.

c1. Modelling of assessment values

For certain provinces, reassessments occur yearly or on a frequent basis and the target PBD is close to the PBD of the data received. To make better use of the assessment data collected since the onset of this program and to improve the quality of estimates, a price index is generated by calculating the polynomial trend^{Footnote 9} of average values by property class. Using average values excludes the effect of yearly changes in volume (new construction and demolition) and helps isolate price movements. Such an index is referred to as the Assessment Roll Trend (AR Trend). This modelling is performed at the provincial level.

This method is used in the following provinces:

Newfoundland
Prince Edward Island
Nova Scotia
New Brunswick

c2. Modelling of MLS monthly resale values

For the remaining provinces and territories (except Nunavut), to capture annual price movements, a price index is generated by calculating the polynomial trend of seasonally adjusted MLS monthly average resale values. These polynomial trend series are calculated by MLS jurisdiction and applied to the corresponding CSDs.

This method is used in the following provinces and territories:

Ontario
Manitoba
Saskatchewan
Yukon
Northwest Territories

c3. Modelling of donor values for Nunavut

As resale data do not exist for Nunavut, Statistics Canada uses data for the region of northern Quebec ^{Footnote 10} as a proxy for this territory. ^{Footnote 11} The property assessment data is provided by the provincial government of Quebec.

The Nunavut residential index is calculated using an average of residential and non-residential property values from Quebec data. ^{Footnote 12}

An annual series is generated and converted into a monthly series by adding one twelfth of the dollar difference between two observations to each successive month between observed values (linear interpolation), thereby creating a monthly index. Residential price-adjustments are then applied to Nunavut property values using the same algorithm (for ratios) developed for resale data.

d. Non-residential price adjustment

Unlike residential properties, non-residential properties (more specifically institutional, commercial, and industrial) are not often for sale. It is therefore comparatively more difficult to find appropriate market indicators for non-residential price adjustment. To overcome this, the correlation between residential and non-residential price changes was analyzed.

A regression analysis was performed, and a model was constructed using assessment data from four provinces: Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Quebec, and British Columbia. The reasons for using these specific four provinces are twofold: (1) these provinces evaluate their non-residential property stock on an annual basis ^{Footnote 13} and (2) they report data for both assessment values and numbers of non-residential properties. This level of detail allowed the derivation of the annual non-residential price movements. The conclusion was to use the model coefficient of 0.7336 as a discount factor to the residential series.

The discount factor methodology was satisfactory for several years, while MLS resale values observed consistent behaviour compared to non-residential values. However, over the years, the correlation between residential and non-residential values became weaker. Combined with the fact that assessment data was collected since 2006, it became realistic to favour the development of the polynomial trend of assessment data (AR Trend) methodology to replace the discount factor methodology, when possible.

d1. Modelling of non-residential assessment data

Similar to the modelling of residential assessment data, non-residential assessment data is modelled using polynomial trend of average values by broad property type.

This method is used in:

Newfoundland (provincial level)
Prince Edward Island (provincial level)
Nova Scotia (provincial level)
New Brunswick (provincial level)
Ontario (separate modelling for Toronto and rest of province)
Manitoba (separate modelling for Winnipeg and rest of province)

d2. Discount factor applied to MLS polynomial trend series

For the remaining provinces and territories (except Nunavut), it is not possible to model the assessment data as the reassessment cycles are long and there is not yet sufficient source data for modelling. In these cases, the discount factor is used to adjust the non-residential property values using the MLS polynomial trend series of residential properties. In the future, it may become possible to update this methodology, as more assessment data become available.

This method is used in:

Saskatchewan
Yukon
Northwest Territories

d3. Discount factor applied to Nunavut price index

Similarly, the discount factor is applied to Nunavut’s residential price index.

e. Calculating the price adjusted value

It involves price index preparation, price adjustment ratio and adjusted value calculation.

Price index is generated using polynomial regression model on either MLS average prices or assessment averages.

The price adjustment ratio is calculated by taking the index value at the target price base date (TPBD) over the index value at the price base date (PBD) of the source data. This ratio is then applied to the assessment value to yield the adjusted value at the TPBD.

$R a t i o_{P A D J} = \frac{I n d e x V a l u e T P B D}{I n d e x V a l u e P B D}$

$A s s e s s m e n t V a l u e_{T P B D} = R a t i o_{P A D J} \times A s s e s s m e n t V a l u e_{P B D}$

8. Volume adjustments

Volume adjustments ensure that property values reflect a common target volume state date (TVSD) of January 1st of the taxation year. For assessment data with a volume state date (VSD) earlier or later than the TVSD, the value of all completed construction that occurred between the two dates is estimated using Statistics Canada's monthly Building Permits Program and Investment in Building Construction Program. The estimated value is then added to or subtracted from the total property values, as applicable. This methodology is applied to both residential and non-residential property values.

Residential volume adjustments typically represent less than 2% of total estimated values, while non-residential adjustments may slightly exceed this threshold.

9. Removals and adjustments in accordance with typical property assessment and taxation practices

a. Removal of CSDs on account of First Nations and other Aboriginal Groups

Census subdivisions which are First Nations reserves, and autonomous or self-governing areas are removed as they are deemed out of scope. Such CSDs are identified based on their CSD type.

b. Exclusion of exempt residential property

In some provinces, certain properties are identified as exempt from property taxes in the input files received from the assessment agencies. Any values associated with these properties are excluded from the estimates for the purposes of fiscal arrangements.

c. Exclusions of schools, churches and hospitals

The most important non-residential properties which are generally exempt from property taxes are schools, churches and hospitals (S/C/H).

Some provinces and territories provide detailed breakdowns of S/C/H in their assessment data. For these jurisdictions, the exact proportion of S/C/H is removed from the final estimates.

For provinces and territories where the S/C/H breakdowns are not available, the proportion of S/C/H assessment values relative to total non-residential assessment values is estimated by applying the proportion of S/C/H property values from a comparable reporting province or territory. It should be noted that values for engineering and mining properties are excluded from the total non-residential assessment values used in calculating the S/C/H proportions.

The list of provinces and territories used in the calculation of estimated S/C/H proportions depends on data availability and may vary from year to year as new microdata is received.

d. Removal of properties subject to provincial-territorial and municipal payments-in-lieu of taxes

Instead of paying regular property taxes, federal and provincial governments typically provide a payment in lieu of taxes (PILT) for their exempt properties. However, only federal PILT properties represent fiscal capacity for the consolidated provincial-territorial-municipal-local sector; provincial and territorial PILT properties as well as municipal institutional properties are excluded.

e. Adjustments in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut

Unlike in the provinces and the Yukon, property assessments in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut do not consistently follow market value standards.

Land values within the municipal taxation areas (Iqaluit in Nunavut; Yellowknife, Fort Simpson, Fort Smith, Hay River, Norman Wells and Inuvik in NWT) reflect full market value. In contrast, land values in the remainder of the two territories (i.e. in the General Taxation Areas) are, according to the data provider, based on average regional development costs.

Improvements (i.e. buildings) in both territories are assessed based on depreciated Edmonton construction costs, using Alberta's depreciation schedule. The resulting value for Yellowknife is then multiplied by a regulatory factor of 1.35, which, according to the assessment data provider, reflects Yellowknife's actual construction costs relative to Edmonton's. As a result, Yellowknife's assessed building values approximately reflect market value. ^{Footnote 14}

Outside of Yellowknife, in both territories, a discount factor of 0.666 has been applied to building values initially assessed at depreciated Edmonton construction costs. This factor, also set out in regulations, was reportedly introduced to encourage development. During data processing, this embedded 0.666 scaling factor is removed from the building values in the Nunavut and Northwest Territories outside of Yellowknife and Iqaluit.

f. Machinery and equipment values

Property values for machinery and equipment (M&E) components in the non-residential category are considered out of scope.

g. Removal of personal property values in Manitoba

The assessment roll in Manitoba includes personal property which is not considered real estate property. Such property values are excluded from the estimate.

h. Mixed-use properties

Some properties are used for both residential and non-residential purposes. In cases where no further breakdown is available, the values of mixed-use properties are redistributed between residential and non-residential property types according to the existing distribution of total residential and non-residential property values by CSD. Where further breakdowns are available, mostly in jurisdictions where microdata was received, the values are assigned according to the exact breakdown. Mixed-use residential and non-residential properties that are redistributed represent 0.015% of the total valuation of properties in Canada.

One of the most common cases of mixed-use properties is of a building with ground-level commercial space and one or more floors of residential units above.

10. Quality control

Statistics Canada's quality assurance framework requires an assessment of data relevance, accuracy, timeliness, accessibility, interpretability and coherence. The quality of the raw input data collected from provincial, territorial and municipal assessment departments and agencies cannot be directly evaluated within this framework. However, confrontational analysis is performed to compare the source data with previously received data. Any irregularities identified are carefully reviewed and analyzed prior to the official release of the data.

Annex 1. List of provinces and territories with microdata in tax years 2016 and 2024

Annex 1. List of provinces and territories with microdata forin tax year 2016 and 2024
Province / Territory	Tax year 2016	Tax year 2024
Newfoundland and Labrador	Yes	Yes
Prince Edward Island	No	Yes
Nova Scotia	Yes	Yes
New Brunswick	No	Yes
Quebec	No	No
Ontario	Yes	Yes
Manitoba	No	Yes
Saskatchewan (except Prince Albert)	No	Yes
Alberta	No	Yes
British Columbia	No	Yes
Yukon	Yes	Yes
Northwest Territories	Yes	Yes
Nunavut	No	Yes
Total number of provinces and territories with microdata	5	12

Footnotes

Footnote 1

Fiscal capacity refers to the ability of provinces and territories (or, more precisely, the consolidated Provincial-Territorial-municipal-local sector) to raise revenues.

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Footnote 2

Price base and volume state dates differ between provinces and territories and between municipalities within a province or territory.

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Footnote 3

Because of the variation in assessment practices of agricultural properties across provinces and territories, Finance Canada uses another data source for these properties.

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Footnote 4

Linear interpolation refers to the use of a linear trend which is derived from the data points of the two most recent Census years and applied to future non-census years to produce extrapolated values.

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Footnote 5

An unorganized area is a geographic region that is not part of a municipality or Indian reserve. In these areas, the lowest level of government is provincial or territorial. Unorganized areas are identified by a specific Census Subdivision type.

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Footnote 6

Refer to Sections 7 and 8 of this report for more information on the price and volume adjustments

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Footnote 7

The average provincial/territorial ratio of non-residential values to population is calculated using properties belonging to Industrial, Commercial and Institutional property types only. Properties belonging to the engineering and mining property types are not included in these calculations. When computing the average provincial/territorial ratio, outliers are first removed, i.e., CSDs with ratios that are considered extreme or unrepresentative are not included in the calculations.

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Footnote 8

Population classes are formed based upon ranges of population counts for a CSD. The rural population class is cut-off uniformly across provinces and territories at population count less than 1,000. The ranges for each of the other three classes vary amongst the provinces and territories.

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Footnote 9

Polynomial trend is a regression line from polynomial regression modelling.

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Footnote 10

CSDs from Census Division (CD) 2491 to 2499, excluding CSD 2497.

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Footnote 11

The choice of northern Quebec is based on analysis of property markets with similar demography, geography, and economic activity

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Footnote 12

An analysis comparing the growth of the proposed index to Census and CMHC data for Nunavut showed that non-residential properties should be included in the calculation of the Residential Property Price Index; otherwise, the derived Nunavut residential index would yield an overestimation.

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Footnote 13

Each year Quebec only reassesses one-third of their municipalities, but the province undertakes a process called "uniformization" which uses comparative factors by municipality to equalize the assessed values annually.

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Footnote 14

The market value of a building, measured separately from the land that it sits on, consists of the local cost of constructing an equivalent new structure in place of the existing structure, minus the depreciation that has occurred over the life span of the existing building.

Return to footnote 14 referrer