What is a $250,000 home in N.B. worth? It depends where you live.

Records show 29 homes that sold in Saint John over the last two years for $250,000 are being assessed for taxes for 2023 by Service New Brunswick to be worth an average of just $211,200. 

The amount is about $29,000 less than the average assessment on homes in Moncton that also sold for $250,000 during the same period and that does not sit well with Saint John Mayor Donna Reardon.

"I feel like it's Groundhog Day for me, or like I'm a hamster on a wheel," said Reardon in an interview last week.

"This problem just keeps resurfacing and I feel like I can't fix it or can't find out why."

Reardon, who has already expressed frustration with Service New Brunswick's commercial and industrial assessments in her city in the wake of below average growth numbers in its tax base, is not happy to hear of potential issues with residential assessments as well.

According to information released by the province in September, Saint John's tax base will grow by 8.76 per cent for 2023, ranking it 39th among New Brunswick municipalities.  It's below the provincial  average of 10.73 per cent and well behind growth in Moncton of 14.78 per cent.

Municipal tax bases in New Brunswick are calculated entirely from property assessments done by Service New Brunswick. 

Growth in Saint John has been slowed partly by the agency issuing assessment increases of three per cent and less on $1.15 billion worth of property in the city for 2023, including on a significant amount of its most important commercial and industrial properties.

But, in addition, there are signs the agency has been assessing residential properties in Saint John more cheaply than it does in Moncton, including properties in the two cities that sell for identical amounts.

In one instance, assessment notices sent out by the province in late September show at least 92 houses, townhouses, condominiums, duplexes, garden homes and triplexes were purchased in the two cities in 2021 and 2022 for exactly $250,000.  That includes 41 purchased in Saint John and 51 in Moncton.

Twenty-five of the properties are still waiting for a 2023 valuation, but among the 67 issued notices by Service New Brunswick so far, including 29 in Saint John and 38 in Moncton, the average assessment issued on homes purchased for $250,000 in Moncton is running just below $240,000. 

That's about $29,000 higher than average Saint John assessments of $211,200.

But its not just an issue with homes at that specific price.

Lower average 2023 assessments in Saint John than Moncton also show up in homes bought in both cities for $150,000, $200,000 and $300,000, according to publicly accessible Service New Brunswick data.