The latest B.C. property assessments show that the value of all real estate in the province has risen 23 per cent in the past year to $808 billion, the result of record levels of new construction and a continuing hot housing market.

The assessments are up about 25 per cent in Vancouver, 20 per cent in Victoria and 27 per cent in Kelowna — as of last July.

The biggest increase was reported in the Vernon area — north of Kelowna — where assessments were up an average 30 per cent.

Values are also up dramatically in smaller communities on the North Coast, in the Cariboo and the Kootenays.

In Dawson Creek, in the Peace River area, the total assessment roll has risen a whopping 36 per cent, which is seen as a byproduct of the region's booming oil and gas industry.

Area assessor Jason Grant says the increases in the Vancouver area are the biggest in several years.

"We are in the midst of a very active real estate market, not only in the Lower Mainland, but across most communities in the province, and the assessment notices that are coming out right now are simply once again reporting that annual activity."

The higher assessments don't necessarily translate into corresponding property tax increases, said Grant.

"What history shows us is that when there's large changes in assessments, large rises in assessments, the various taxing jurisdictions respond by changing their tax rates to collect only the taxes they require to fund their particular budgets."