Laura Dietrich steps up as Valuer-General ahead of land valuations across the state

A former cadet valuer, with more than 25 years’ industry experience, will oversee Queensland’s upcoming hefty land revaluation hikes next month.

The state’s new Valuer-General Laura Dietrich takes the reins ahead of next month’s hefty land valuations expected across southeast Queensland.

A former cadet valuer, with more than 25 years’ industry experience, will oversee Queensland’s upcoming land revaluations.

Laura Dietrich, who began her career as a state government cadet valuer, has been appointed as the State’s Valuer-General, a month ahead of land valuations across the state.

“It is an exciting time to step into the Valuer-General role with land valuations just around the corner,” Mrs Dietrich said.

“Property and land valuations have always been a passion of mine and it is an honour to take on this important role.

“Queensland has a large and diverse property market with a wide array of homes in rural, regional and metropolitan locations.

“As a result, our annual land valuations are a massive operation with almost 140 expert valuers gathering on-the-ground information and undertaking desktop assessments.”

Mrs Dietrich began her cadetship in 1989 in Mackay and rose through the ranks to become a senior valuer before going on to work in the private sector.

Most recently she has been leading program delivery for Queensland Rural and Industry Development Authority, where she oversaw a number of successful programs including the COVID-19 Business Support Grants.

Her appointment comes as more than 805,000 new land valuations will be issued to landowners in 24 local government areas next month.

Logan and Ipswich can expect land valuation updates in March with the latest revaluation accounting for the impact of flooding that ravaged the area in early 2022.

Other areas include Brisbane, Noosa, Lockyer Valley, Scenic Rim, Gympie, Southern Downs, Western Downs, Balonne, Maranoa, Barcaldine, Blackall-Tambo, Gladstone, Mackay, Burdekin, Hinchinbrook, Tablelands, Weipa, Cloncurry, Flinders, McKinlay, Richmond and Mount Isa.

Last year, ratepayers in Logan, Redland and Moreton Bay council areas also experienced rates hikes after leaps in residential land valuations of more than 20 per cent across the three areas from valuations in 2019.

Floods at the beginning of last year had little effect on valuations last year, with strong demand, confidence in the property sector and low interest rates boosting figures across the three areas.

The new Valuer-General said the land valuations reflect the market as at October 1, 2022.

“Early data so far indicates a number of land values across Queensland showed increases since their last revaluation, despite rising interest rates and changes in economic conditions,” she said.

“In particular, primary production land values in the western rural areas have shown significant increases in land values, as have parts of South East Queensland.”

The Valuer-General’s decision to revalue a local government area is based on factors including a property market survey, the timing of the last valuation, as well as consultation with individual local governments and industry stakeholders.

Land valuations will remain unchanged in local government area that aren’t revalued.