The value of single-family residential properties in Slocan Valley communities is rising faster than anywhere else in the Kootenays.
The latest annual report from BC Assessment released Jan. 3 shows property values as of July 1, 2022, rose 29 per cent in Slocan over the previous year. That is the highest increase of any community in the Kootenay Columbia region, which includes the Kootenays as well as Columbia communities Revelstoke and Golden.
Slocan properties had already increased by 51 per cent in 2021. Silverton and New Denver, each only about a 30-minute drive north of Slocan, also each rose 26 per cent in value as of last July.
The assessed value doesn’t reflect what a property would sell for today, nor does it necessarily mean increases in property tax.
Kootenay Columbia’s total assessments rose $9 billion in value to $69.7 billion. The highest values are found in Fernie, where properties averaged $838,000. That was followed by Revelstoke at $801,000.
Nelson has the third highest property values in the region, and the most expensive in the West Kootenay at $675,000. But the value of homes also appears to be stagnating in the city. Prices rose just five per cent, the third lowest among Kootenay Columbia municipalities.
Nelson’s strata residential properties, or condos and townhouses, also rose nine per cent in value to an average of $559,000.
In the West Kootenay the second-most expensive properties are found in Rossland, which rose 16 per cent to $579,000.
Elsewhere, Castlegar homes increased in value by 18 per cent to $497,000 followed by Kaslo ($470,000), Creston ($414,000), Grand Forks ($403,000), Silverton ($394,000), Nakusp ($387,000), Slocan ($381,000), Salmo ($375,000), New Denver ($361,000) and Trail ($350,000).
The annual report also lists the top-100 valued properties in the Kootenay Columbia.
The most expensive is an $8.4-million residence near Invermere in the East Kootenay. The West Kootenay’s most expensive property remains Blaylock Mansion, located on Highway 3A just north of Nelson. The mansion rose in value to $5.2 million, which makes it the 11th most expensive property on the list.
Blaylock Mansion is the only West Kootenay property in the top 20, and one of just three for the region on the list’s top 50.
A home owned by Lululemon founder Chip Wilson located on Vancouver’s waterfront is the highest valued in B.C. at $74 million.
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