If you own property in the Hastings District, your mailbox will soon contain important news. The 2025 revaluation by Quotable Value (QV) is underway, with new rating valuations set as at 1 August 2025. Property owners can expect to receive their notices — and with them, a common question: what exactly is a rating valuation, and how does it differ from what your property might fetch on the open market today?
What is a rating valuation?
Every property in New Zealand typically receives a new rating valuation every three years, reflecting its likely selling price at a specific point in time — the effective valuation date — excluding chattels. Rating valuations serve one specific statutory purpose: helping local councils distribute the rates burden across their districts for the following three-year period. They are not designed to guide buying or selling decisions, support finance applications or insurance cost estimates.
The method used is known as mass appraisal. Rather than inspecting each of Hastings District’s tens of thousands of properties individually, QV analyses sales data from around the revaluation date, identifies market trends, and applies those trends across comparable properties using statistical and spatial mapping. Results are independently audited by the Office of the Valuer-General, and strict quality standards must be met before a revaluation is confirmed.
In Hastings specifically, it is land value — not capital value — that determines each property’s share of rates.
How is a market valuation different?
A market valuation is a fundamentally different exercise. A registered valuer conducts a thorough internal and external inspection, analyses genuinely comparable recent sales, and accounts for the individual features and condition of that specific property. The resulting report reflects what the property would realistically achieve on the open market at the date the valuation is carried out — not a modelled estimate applied to a broad category of similar properties.
In short, a market valuation is tailored, current, and site-specific. Any changes in the market since the 1 August 2025 revaluation date won’t be reflected in rating values, which means a sale price achieved today may well differ from your rating valuation.
Does a higher rating valuation mean higher rates?
Not necessarily. The total rates collected across the district is set separately through the council’s Annual Plan process — the revaluation doesn’t change that figure. What it does is redistribute how that total is shared. If your land value has risen more than the district average, your proportionate share of rates may increase. If it has risen less, the opposite may be true.
This year’s revaluation: Cyclone Gabrielle
This cycle carries particular significance for many Hawke’s Bay property owners. Cyclone Gabrielle struck in February 2023, after the 2022 rating valuations had already been set, meaning affected properties were valued without reference to the damage. The 2025 revaluation corrects that: the 1 August 2025 effective date captures the post-cyclone landscape, and valuations of affected properties should reflect their circumstances accordingly.
Your right to object
If you believe your new rating valuation is incorrect, you have the right to formally object. Before doing so, it is worth contacting QV directly on 0800 787 284 — many concerns are resolved informally. If you do proceed formally, note that the objection is anchored to the 1 August 2025 valuation date. A current market valuation from a registered valuer may provide useful context, but the objection must ultimately be argued on the basis of what your property was worth at that specific date.
As your local property professionals, registered valuers are well-placed to help you understand both the rating valuation system and how your individual property sits within the broader market. If you have questions when your notice arrives, don’t hesitate to reach out.
Paul Harvey is the Director of Williams’ Harvey Registered Valuers. He has a diverse and broad knowledge of the HB property market.
