The Real Estate Tax Authority is currently surveying properties and preparing criteria based on which buildings will be valued starting January 2022, advisor to the head of the Real Estate Tax Authority Nagi Sergani told Enterprise. The results of the appraisal will be valid for five years, and will be used to value the properties and calculate the amount of real estate tax due, the sources said. Increases in the value of residential properties will be capped at 30%, while increases for commercial and administrative buildings will be capped at 45%.

The general survey is expected to take around nine months, Sergani said. Around 140 teams have been deployed around the country to evaluate different kinds of properties, including industrial and touristic establishments.

BACKGROUND: The survey or appraisal process happens every five years as part of a review of the real estate tax, and was last supposed to happen in 2019. Authorities postponed the appraisal at the time as they were working on a digital appraisal system — of which a prototype was ready in March of that year — and were then forced to postpone it again when covid-19 hit in 2020. The digital survey was designed to use up-to-date methodologies and arrive at location-based values with the help of geographic coordinate systems, engineering professor and head of the real estate appraisal program Mohamed Salheen told us at the time.