REALTORS®, meet MPAC
Municipal Property Assessment Corporation is a bit of a mouthful, so you can call us MPAC. We’re passionate about Ontario property data and are the go-to source for all insights and property knowledge for REALTORS®, like you.
The first thing you should know is that we assess and classify more than 5.6 million properties across Ontario and keep a close eye on the real estate market in this province. What’s more is that we even provide real-time property information for over ten million properties across Canada.
And we want to share what we know with you so you can use it to help inform conversations with clients and steer your business towards success.
Whether you represent the buyer or seller, MPAC offers a range of data and market intelligence that can help you assist your clients with their decision-making process. Our comprehensive reports include instant real-time value estimates that can be used for listing presentations, setting listing prices and supporting offers. You can also access details on property conditions, renovations, and even building permit history on residential, commercial, industrial and investment properties. And, if you happen to need twenty years of historical market values, we can provide that too!
What else should you know about MPAC? We’re an independent, not-for-profit corporation funded by Ontario’s 444 municipalities. We connect regularly with homeowners, businesses and other folks in local communities so we can keep our finger on the pulse of property uses and values.
People — like your clients, no doubt — often have questions about what we do and how it affects their home and wallet. The most frequent of those questions are answered further below but first here are the tools we’ve designed specifically for REALTORS® to help you stay on top of the latest property market data.
Real time market insights to help drive your business forward
We crunch a lot of numbers — data all day, every day. It's genuinely the "Big Data" concept people often discuss, given the 5.6 million properties we mentioned.
Your access point to our insights is propertyline™ (yep, all lowercase). It’s an online platform that gives you accurate, real-time information for all Ontario properties. Access is streamlined directly through GeoWarehouse®, and for some Corelogic® users through Matrix™, making it easy to find the data, maps, and imagery you’re looking for, all through a single sign-on.
MPAC’s propertyline™ comes with advanced search features (e.g. search by roll number), updated satellite and street view imagery, parcel boundaries, and instant real-time value estimates through our Automated Valuation Model (AVM) report.
We also provide REALTOR® focused training, for free
Sharing is caring, and MPAC cares deeply about providing accurate property data and market insights. That’s why our team of experts offer complimentary, custom training for REALTORS®, both in-person and online. These sessions are the perfect way to stay up to speed on things like assessments or factors affecting residential property value, as well as how to use our AVM or navigate the propertyline™ platform.
We also host monthly webinar training sessions for all Ontario REALTORS® so be sure to visit this page to find out when the next one is taking place. We’ll look forward to seeing you there.
Social media content to engage your audience
We know you’re busy meeting with clients, selling properties and building your business. That’s why we’ve developed social media content for REALTORS® and Real Estate Boards to use, with flexibility and space to customize, as you’d like. It’s an easy way to share insightful and engaging content with your audience, quickly. We’ve done the work, so you don’t have to.
Below are posts that have been drafted specifically for REALTORS® to use on their personal pages when communicating with clients — these are examples of neat property data posts you can use to demonstrate thought leadership. There is also content specifically for Real Estate Boards to use to engage with REALTORS®.
To download, click on the ZIP file link below to save graphics and post copy for your social media channels.
Social Media Toolkit for REALTORS® (zip, 4.8mb)
| Sample posts |
|
|---|---|
|
|
If you’re a first-time homeowner, check out [tag MPAC]’s First-time Homeowners’ Hub. 🏡 It has some excellent resources and information to help you understand how property assessments and taxes work: www.mpac.ca/NewHomeowners. |
|
|
#OntarioRealEstate pros: Interested to learn more about how property assessment works and how to get the most out of [tag MPAC] reports, data, and insights? Join a free upcoming training webinar, customized for #OntarioREALTORS. Learn more and register: www.mpac.ca/RealtorTraining. |
Most frequently asked questions
For many Ontarians, the place they call home is more than just a dwelling. It’s an investment, a cornerstone of financial stability and often their single biggest asset. It’s also where they make memories with family and friends and connect with their community.
Buying, selling, renovating, or investing in property is a big decision and we know REALTORS® are often asked some tough questions.
Here is a Q&A to help answer questions you might have, or ones you may receive, about who we are, what we do and how it impacts your clients. If you can’t find what you’re looking for here, be sure to get in touch so we can help find the information for you.
The Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC) is an independent not-for-profit organization whose role is to accurately assess the value of every property in the province of Ontario. The assessed value of a property is provided to the owner as well as to the local municipality. Municipalities determine revenue requirements, set tax rates, and use MPAC data to calculate property taxes paid by each property owner. Municipalities collect taxes and use them to pay for municipal services.
For context: the Government of Ontario sets the province's assessment and taxation laws (including when an assessment update happens) and determines education tax rates.
So, the Ontario government postponed the 2020 assessment due to the pandemic. We’re all waiting for the timing of the next update to be announced. As a result, property assessment values for the 2024 tax year will continue to be based on the most recent assessment, which was in 2016.
What we do is consider what a property would have sold for in 2016, but in its current state. It’s not quite like using a time machine, but it’s fun to think of it that way.
If upgrades to the property (such as a major renovation or the addition of a swimming pool) have been made, those upgrades are taken into account—as if they had been in place on January 1, 2016.
There are more than 200 factors that are considered when MPAC assesses the value of a home. Here are the five key elements that affect a property’s value:
- Location: the neighbourhood where the home is situated plays a significant role in determining its market value. The desirability of the area often influences the amount a buyer is willing to pay.
- Lot size: the area of the lot is calculated by multiplying the frontage by the depth.
- Total square footage of living area: the exterior of the home is measured to determine the total area of the building. Keep in mind that this measurement doesn’t include the basement, deck, porch or garage.
- Building age: while the house may have been built in a given year, the property value is adjusted to reflect renovations or additions.
- Construction quality: the type of building materials used and the quality of the finishes installed are also taken into consideration.
Buying a home for the first time is very exciting and often overwhelming, too. MPAC has developed a First-time Homeowner’s Hub with plenty of information to help first-time owners unpack property assessment, taxes and other commonly asked questions.
