Research Working Papers

Topic

Property taxation and assessment

3 papers

WP20

From Listing Images to Property Valuation: A Multimodal AI Framework for Automated Building Characterization and the Cost Approach

Evidence from Québec single-family listings matched to the assessment roll

Simon-Pierre Boucher · UQO Working Papers · October 2026 · v1.0

The cost approach to value requires a specification of the improvements — materials, finish grade, condition, renovations — that assessment rolls do not record and that appraisers obtain by inspection. This paper asks whether that specification can be extracted from the photographs and text of a for-sale listing by…

WP16

Does the Sales Comparison Approach Actually Work? A Large-Scale Point-in-Time Validation of Comparable Selection, Price Adjustments, and Value Reconciliation

Evidence from 391,000 Single-Family Transactions in Quebec, 2021–2026

Simon-Pierre Boucher · UQO Working Papers · October 2026 · v1.1

The sales comparison approach is the dominant method of residential valuation, yet its operating rules — how many comparables to use, how far and how far back to search, which adjustments to apply, how to weight and reconcile — rest largely on professional convention. This paper subjects these rules to a…

WP10

The Assessment Gap in Quebec

Vertical and Horizontal Inequity in Municipal Property Valuation: Evidence from 522,769 Sales Matched to the Assessment Roll

Simon-Pierre Boucher · UQO Working Papers · October 2026 · v1.1

Municipal property taxes are levied on assessed values, so any systematic relationship between assessment ratios and market value redistributes the tax burden within a municipality. This paper matches 522,769 residential sales recorded in Quebec between 2021 and 2026 to the triennial assessment rolls of 625…