The Burnaby house owned by music superstar Michael Bublé, who turned two properties into one giant house that reportedly has its own underground hockey rink – has landed on the top-50 list of the most valuable homes in B.C.
And it’s the only Burnaby house in the top 500, according to BC Assessment data, landing at number 45 on the list for all of the province.
According to the latest figures, Bublé’s home on Government Road, listed by BC Assessment as having seven bedrooms and 15 bathrooms, has been assessed as of July 1, 2021 at $23,679,000 – which is $1.4 million more than the 22,279,000 value for 2021. The house was valued at $20,506,000 at the beginning of 2020. At the start of 2021, the house ranked #36 on the list of B.C.’s most valuable properties.
By comparison, at #1 on the list is the Vancouver waterfront home of lululemn founder Chip Wilson, valued at more than $73 million. At #2 is at 4707 Belmont Ave. in Vancouver that is valued at $64 million.
Homes of all types in Burnaby soared in value, according to the BC Assessment service’s latest numbers.
In Burnaby, the value of a single-detached house jumped to an average of $1,725,000, a 19% increase from 2020’s $1,449,000. For strata-type homes, such as townhouses and condos, the increase was 10% to $646,000.
Owners of more than 1,076,600 properties throughout the Lower Mainland can expect to receive their 2022 assessment notices which reflect market value as of July 1, 2021.
"British Columbia’s real estate market remains highly active and that means most property owners can expect higher assessment values for 2022,” said BC Assessment deputy assessor Bryan Murao, in a statement. "The widely reported heightened demand among homebuyers during the COVID-19 pandemic is reflected in the upward movement of property values across the province, including 10 to 30% increases throughout the Lower Mainland.”
For the Lower Mainland region, the overall total assessments have increased from about $1.46 trillion in 2021 to about $1.75 trillion this year. Over $23.7 billion of the region’s updated assessments is from new construction, subdivisions and the rezoning of properties. BC Assessment’s Lower Mainland region includes all of Greater Vancouver, the Fraser Valley as well as the Sea to Sky area and the Sunshine Coast.
There are few regions in B.C. that did not see a significant rise in residential property values, according to the most recent BC Assessment reports released Jan. 4.
Whereas most regions saw property values increase by roughly 15% to 35%, some of the province’s northern municipalities realized fewer gains. In fact, only the tiny district of Taylor saw a negative gain, at -4% for a detached home property, according to BC Assessment. Meanwhile, Kitimat posted a 0% change over last year for detached homes.
The municipalities or districts of Cheywynd, Dawson Creek, Pouce Coupe, Hudson’s Hope and Fort St. John all saw detached home properties gain by less than 10%.
“Northern B.C. property values for most communities are generally up five to 35% with only a couple of exceptions,” stated northern B.C. deputy assessor Beau Rossel, adding that overall, northern B.C.'s total assessments increased from over $72 billion in 2021 to over $81.7 billion this year.
- With additional reporting by Graeme Wood, Glacier Media
