The Gold Coast Bulletin is reporting that recent valuations by the Queensland Valuer General might result in reduced  Land Tax owed by some Gold Coast investors but it would not reduce rates over the next 12 months.

Gold Coast land values drop

GOLD Coast property investors look set to get a discount on land tax after the Queensland Valuer-General Neil Bray revealed an 8 per cent drop in official valu-ations for the city. The government land valuations for some suburbs fell further. with Paradise Point going backwards by 14.8 per cent and Runaway Bay fall-ing 13.3 per cent since valuations were last iwued in 2011.

The numbers were a surprise after sales data for the suburbs, reported this week, showed a large jump in the median house price recorded for the two areas last year. Mr Bray said the falling land valuations showed that the Gold Coast property market had contin-ued to struggle last year.

But Gold Coast valuer Tod Gillespie said the official valuations did not mean much and could be challenged by property owners. “these figures are general figures and houses in those suburbs might have dropped less or more than the number released by the govern-ment,” he said “When we do private valuations we go into much more detail.

Property owners can object to the valuations when they receive Skews, they have 45 days” Mr Gillespie said a drop in valu-ations could mean a reduction in land tan bills for some investors. The reduced valuations could also be good news for Gold Coast ratepayers since valuations influence rate prices. City planning boss Ted Shepherd said future rate rises were likely to be reduced by the falling valuations. “It won’t mean there is a reduction in rates but it will influence the size of the increase probably,” he said.