Cost of valuing land to soar

The Valuer General has proposed increasing by up to 38 per cent the cost to Central Coast Council for land valuation services.

It is the cost of providing the service to council which is going up; not the land valuations themselves.

The Valuer General values 126,625 homes on the Central Coast, expected to rise to 134,083 homes by 2030-31.

Under the proposed increase, the department would value about a third of the State each year instead of all homes every three years.
The Valuer General’s land valuations are used by local councils as the basis for calculating and issuing rates notices to ratepayers. 

Councils currently pay about one-third of the Valuer General’s total costs of providing the valuation service, with the remainder covered by Revenue NSW.

The proposed price increase ranges from 21 to 38 per cent with coastal councils coppping the highest charges.

The Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) last set the prices for land valuation services in 2019 and these apply until  June 30, 2025.

The next price increase would take effect from July 1, 2025 for six years until 2031.

Operating expenditure is forecasted at $525.6M and up to $554M with non-operating costs included.

A number of changes to the service delivery model include a NSW Government aim to reduce reliance on external contractors; significant cost increases in staff and postage; and a change in the schedule for issuing land valuations to councils, with about one-third of local government areas being issued each year. 

Actual postage costs in the current period were $1.7M (49.4 percent) higher than the target, driven by lower than expected uptake of digitised delivery of land valuation notifications amongst customers.

The target assumed a 50 per cent reduction in the volume of publications posted in 2022-23 but the actual uptake was about 5 – 6 per cent. 

 Land valuations are also Transport for NSW, Fire and Rescue NSW and the general public.

IPART Tribunal Member Sharon Henrick said the review will determine how much councils will have to pay for the Valuer General’s land valuation services over the next six years.

“We’re seeking feedback from the local government and valuation sectors, from ratepayers and other users of land valuation services to help us decide what the Valuer General’s efficient costs are, what proportion of those costs should be recovered from councils and other users, and what an appropriate pricing model to recover these costs from councils would be,” Ms Henrick said.

“We are also interested in stakeholder views on how digital technology and artificial intelligence can improve the quality and reduce the cost of the valuations provided by the Valuer General.

“IPART has been asked to determine the Valuer General’s prices for councils only, as these are declared government monopoly services. 

“We have not been asked to set prices for services delivered to other users of the Valuer General’s valuation services.”Submissions close on November 19, 2024.

Stakeholders will also have the opportunity to attend a public hearing and make submissions to a draft report in early 2025 with a final determination published prior to May 15, 2025.