The General Valuation 2025 cycle has wrapped, and the time between one cycle and the next is the right time to sit with what we have learned. The Steer & Co Valuations team works through hundreds of properties across every cycle, and each one teaches us something useful for the next roll. GV2025 was no exception.
This piece is for owners who want to understand the cycle a little more clearly, for trustees who carry these questions into AGMs, and for investors who need to plan against valuations that may or may not match their own read of the market.
Municipal valuations and market value are connected but not the same
The most common misreading we see across every cycle is the assumption that a municipal valuation should be less than what an owner believes their property would sell for.
Municipal valuations should represent the market value of a property at the date of valuation, which in the case of GV2025, is 1 July 2025. This market value is based on market evidence, and needs to reflect a willing buyer willing seller scenario where each party acted prudently, knowledgeably and without compulsion.
Across GV2025, this distinction caused more confusion than any other single issue. Owners who had recently sold or bought adjacent properties were quick to assume an error when the municipal valuation did not match the transaction price. Sometimes there was a real issue worth investigating, and more often the difference reflected the different dates of valuation rather than an error.
Timing on objections is real, and the strongest objections come in early
The window for objections during a general valuation cycle is fixed, and the cycle does not pause for owners who missed it. This sounds obvious, but the number of late municipal valuation enquiries across GV2025 was higher than it should have been.
The strongest objections we lodged were the ones where we had time to assemble proper supporting documentation. Comparable sales evidence, property condition reports, photographs, and expert valuation input. Late objections aren’t even entertained by the City, no matter how strong your evidence to support a different market value.
The practical lesson is that the work for the next cycle should begin before the official window opens. Owners and trustees who suspect their valuation may not stand up to scrutiny should be preparing the case in the months leading up to the roll, not in the days after it arrives.
The red flags worth watching
The patterns that signalled a property needed a closer look across GV2025 were consistent enough to set down. The first is a valuation that moves a long way from what adjacent properties are doing. Property values tend to move together within a precinct, and where one property has shifted significantly more or less than its neighbours, there is usually a reason worth understanding.
The second is a valuation that moves a long way from the property’s own history. A consistent trajectory over previous cycles followed by an unexpected step change is worth investigating. The step change may be explainable, in which case the file is closed, but the investigation is the work.
The third is the property where the owner has done significant work that the valuation does not appear to reflect. Renovations, extensions, and material improvements should show up in the valuation. Where they do not, the question is whether the documentation reached the City in time, or whether the property was reassessed without reference to the updated information. In such cases, owners should be on the lookout for their property being included on the first supplementary roll of GV2025.
What we will do differently for the next roll
Three things stood out across GV2025 that will shape how we approach the next cycle.
The first is earlier client communication. The owners who navigated GV2025 best were the ones who had been in conversation with us in the months before the cycle opened, not the ones who came to us after their valuation landed and they did not like what they saw.
The second is more systematic documentation of property changes. The cycles are too far apart to rely on memory, and improvements made in year two of a five-year cycle need to be captured at the time, not at the point of objection three years later.
The third is a more proactive approach to the red flags above. Where we see a property that meets one of those patterns, we will be flagging it to owners and trustees earlier, even where the owner has not yet asked the question.
Where this leaves owners now
The GV2025 cycle is now in place and will hold until the next roll. For owners who feel their valuation is fair, the work is done. For owners who feel it is not, and who missed the objection window, the next opportunity to challenge sits at the next general valuation, or in some narrower circumstances through a supplementary valuation.
Either way, the time between cycles is the time to keep records, document changes, and build the case that will support a strong position at the next roll. Owners who do this work systemically across a cycle are the ones who navigate the next one well.
If you are a property owner, trustee, or managing agent thinking through where your GV2025 outcome leaves you, the Valuations team is here to walk through it with you. A short conversation now often saves a long one at the next cycle.
Read more about our valuations and property management work at www.steer.co.za.
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