Man happy to see $95,000 drop in his property’s value

PHOTO: LAWRENCE SMITH/STUFF – Te Atatu South resident Gary Osborne succeeded in getting his ratings valuation cut by $95,000.

OPINION: A man I know is celebrating the fact his house has been re-valued down to the tune of $95,000.

That may not seem to you like an event to celebrate, and, more curiously in this case, the owner himself sought the reduction in valuation.

In the case of the Auckland man, Gary Osborne, his west Auckland home had been valued in the latest round of council valuations late last year as being worth an eye-watering $895,000, roughly 10 times the median household income.

That was a rise of 95 per cent on the council’s 2014 ratings valuation, and a rise that was higher than his immediate neighbours.

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