N.B. homeowner sees more than 50 per cent increase in property value in three years

Luke Barton and his young family found their dream home when they moved from Prince Edward Island to the community of Browns Yard, N.B., in 2021.

The stunning, secluded property overlooks the Richibucto River in a rural area about 50 minutes north of Moncton.

“We’d love to stay here and enjoy it, it’s just getting a little expensive,” he said.

Barton is questioning why the province has raised his property assessment value so significantly over the past few years.

The assessment jumped from $255,200 in 2021 to $541,900 in 2022.

This year, it jumped from $660,000 to $795,600.

It’s gone up $540,400 since they bought the home three years ago.

Property Assessment Notice:

• 2024 - $795,600
• 2023 - $660,000
• 2022 - $541,900
• 2021 - $255,200

Source: Province of New Brunswick

His annual property tax is now over $7,000.

Luke Barton's house saw a big increase in its property assessment. (Source: Derek Haggett/CTV News Atlantic)

“I’ve seen lots of stories of 10, 15, 20 thousand dollar increases, but a 150, a 140 thousand dollars is sort of absurd in my opinion. I don’t see where the value is that they’ve added,” said Barton.

Barton appealed in 2022 and he said the province dropped the rate by $40,000.

He’s appealing again this year.

“I know our taxes are higher than many of our friend’s mortgages. And for what? We don’t know. We have garbage service and that’s it. We plow our own roads. We don’t have street lights. We’re on well and septic, so we’re just trying to figure out where the value comes from,” he said.

Service New Brunswick spokesperson Jennifer Vienneau said due to confidentiality, the province is unable to discuss individual accounts.

“With over 479,000 properties in New Brunswick, market values, or the amount a property would likely sell for on the open market, are determined using mass appraisals, the most common method in North America,” said Vienneau in an email.

In addition to market activity, Vienneau said mass appraisals consider factors such as location, age, condition, size and if there were any improvements done to the property.

Kent North MLA Kevin Arseneau said the system is broken.

“You can see clearly that the tax assessment system is not working for New Brunswickers,” said Arseneau. “We all know it that if there was a market crash for housing those assessments won’t go down. One of the major problems is that we’re not assessing real value, we are assessing speculative value.”

Arseneau said he’s spoken with several of his constituents this week who have had major jumps with their assessment.

“Everyone’s feeling it and I think that we need to revise completely the structure of the assessment tax system to be able to have a system that is closer to what real value is and not the speculative value,” said Arseneau.

If the assessment keeps going up every year, the Bartons may consider moving away from their dream home.

“That would be sort of a last resort. We do love it here,” said Barton.

Property owners in New Brunswick who believe their assessment value is higher than what it could possibly sell for on the open real estate market have until Feb. 14 to submit a request for review online.

That can be done at SNB.CA/Assessment or by calling 1-888-762-8600.

For more New Brunswick news visit our dedicated provincial page.