Assessed value of a property

The Assessed Value of each of the more than 5.6 million properties in Ontario is the determined by the Ontario’s government’s Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC).

The Assessed Value of a property (lands and buildings) are used by municipalities to distribute property taxes, not determine them.

Assessed Values are determined using 3 different methods

MPAC is an independent, not-for-profit corporation funded by all Ontario municipalities that classifies and values all properties in Ontario as per the Assessment Act and other regulations set by the Government of Ontario.

It analyzes sales of comparable properties in the area – a method called Current Value Assessment (CVA) – which is used by most assessment jurisdictions in North America.

MPAC uses one of 3 industry standard approaches to assess properties:

• Direct comparison approach
• Income approach
• Cost approach

The approach used is based on a number of factors, including:

• Property type
• Number and frequency of sales of similar types of properties in the area

Direct comparison

The most commonly used valuation approach. It compares the value of the subject property to the sale prices of similar and surrounding properties.

• Residential (eg. single-family residences)
• Condominiums (commercial and industrial)
• Vacant land

Residential

In addition to sale prices, 5 factors account for approximately 85% of the valuation:

• Location
• Lot dimensions
• Living area
• Age of the property
• Adjusted for any major renovations or additions
• Quality of construction

MPAC looks at up to 200 factors when assessing residential properties.

More: 

• Valuing Residential Properties in Ontario (2016) – MPAC
• How we assess residential properties

Cost approach

When a property type is unique and rarely sells on the open market, we can’t rely on either the comparison or income approaches to determine its current value. In these cases, we estimate your property’s current value with a three-step process:

1. We calculate the current cost of replacing buildings, structures or other taxable components on the land.
2. We apply a deduction for depreciation due to age, functional or economic conditions that could impact the value of the property.
3. We determine the value of the land and add it to the calculations to produce an overall valuation.

Industrial properties are valued using the cost approach, where much of the value is on improvements to the land, involves estimating the cost of
replacing the improvements on a property (less any depreciation that has occurred) and adding the land value.

• Industrial Properties
• Industrial Fact Sheet

Income approach

For determining the value of income-generating properties, which is tied directly to its ability to generate revenue. Based on a detailed analysis of your property’s income and expenses and then compare it to similar properties to determine how much income a property could be expected to generate. Then analyze the relationships between income and sale price to calculate the capitalization rate (cap rate) for the property by dividing the income by the sale price.

• Commercial Property Assessments
• Airports
• Commercial Properties
• Hotels
• Motels
• Marinas
• Office Buildings
• Shopping Centres

Other factors considered under the three approaches include the highest and best use of the property and market rents.

Assessed Values were last determined in 2016

MPAC conducts a province-wide assessment of property values on an four-year assessment cycle and sends out Property Assessment Notices to every property owner in Ontario and the reassessments are phased in over several years.

The most recent province-wide Assessment Update was done in 2016 utilizing a valuation date of January 1, 2016.

The Ford government postponed the planned reassessment indefinitely in 2024.

Assessed Values are used by municipalities to distribute property taxes

After determining the Assessed Value of each property in Ontario and sending out Property Assessment Notices to each property owner, MPAC delivers a printed, physical copy of the Assessment Roll to each municipality and the Province of Ontario, which is a list of every property’s:

• Address
• Roll Number
• Assessed Value
• Property classification
• Owner’s name

The assessed values (value of a property (lands and buildings) for taxation purposes) are used by municipalities to distribute taxes, not determine them.

Municipalities set how much they will spend in their operating budgets and capital budgets every year while taking into consideration the impact increases will have on property taxpayers.

After some of the cost of the budgets is covered by revenues from fees collected and government transfers, the remainder must be collected from every property owner in the form of property taxes.

The amount a property owner owes is based on how much their property is worth compared to everyone else’s – their portion of the total value of properties in the municipality.

If the value of all properties goes up by the same amount, each property would have the same share of the total and the property taxes would be the same dollar amount, just a lower tax rate.

More: How property taxes are determined in Ontario

How to find the Assessed Value of a property

Municipality’s GIS maps

Some municipalities provide assessment value data on their GIS maps, depending on their license agreement and level of data sharing purchased from MPAC:

Property you own: AboutMyProperty

Your own Assessed Value can be found on your Property Assessment Notice sent by your municipality, or you can request it at AboutMyProperty.

Nearby properties: AboutMyProperty

You can also find the Assessed Value of residential properties using by searching AboutMyProperty by address and adding it to your Properties of Interest list:

Favoriting the property:

The assessed value and other details will show up in your favourites list:

Assessment Roll

MPAC gives each municipality an Assessment Roll, which must be available to the public for in-person inspection upon request to the Municipal Clerk.

The assessed value of the property is found in the “Total Valuation Apportionments” column (third from the right). The letter ‘T’ indicates the total assessment for all portions of the property. If the assessment of the property consists of various portion, they are listed below the total assessment.

MPAC Propertyline

MPAC’s Propertyline sells the current value assessment for a property for $10.00 as of 2025.

You can search for a property by:

• Address
• Advanced Address Search
• Roll Number
• Geo Location
• PIN