With property values highly correlated to the amount of cash flow they produce, investor interest in the city is key to driving up appraisals. Local data is showing that office, industrial, retail, and multi-family all are boasting positive fundamentals in the area and the future should bring even more positive results. Still though, as a result of the recent real estate crisis, investors are entering the market more knowledgeable, and while values will rise over the long-term, they will not rise as quickly as some may hope.

To read the full article from Miami Today, click here.

With all of these concerns, outside of a few areas, it is not safe to develop new hotels at the moment. Even though every report you read has the economy making the turn, any progress achieved is minimal, and it will take huge improvements to get to the point things were at half a decade ago. Smart hospitality professionals will play things conservative at the moment, conserve cash, not push hiring, and be in no hurry to develop. Hotel industry optimists need to get back in touch with reality before they dig a hole they cannot get out of.

To read the full article from HotelNewsNow.com, click here.

Due to the fact that Florida has no personal income tax, most state and local services are funded by property and sales taxes. When the housing market in the state bottomed out, homeowners experienced lower property tax bills, which led businesses to shoulder more of the responsibility. Just three years ago, businesses paid 22.3% of the state’s property tax bills, while this year that number has risen to 26.5%. One major contributor to that, outside of decreasing home values, is the increased investment on new equipment and improvements to factories and offices, all of which is taxed.

To read the full article from the Herald-Tribune, click here.

Back in 2006, Legislators removed machinery and equipment from tax rolls to stimulate economic development and investment, but failed to provide an accurate definition of property. Now, Legislators would like to take two years to define real and personal property in an effort to prevent previously exempt equipment from being reclassified as real property, forcing higher property taxes on businesses. This should give businesses more certainty on their property taxes.

To read the full article from Bloomberg Businessweek, click here.

Commercial real estate property taxes across the state will increase if the Senate bills pass because local millage rates are adjusted annually based on the tax base. Basically, if a districts personal property taxes are removed and not replaced, the district’s tax base has declined and a local millage increase will be triggered to pay off bonds. Along with local retail, office, industrial and multi-family properties, residential property taxes will also experience a significant increase.

Inaccuracy with appraisals could have serious implications across the entire commercial real estate market, particularly for banks. Over the next four years, $1.7 trillion in real estate debt will come due, about half of which is owned by banks. If appraisals remain inaccurate and appraisers continue with the mantra that ‘close is good enough’, it could be assumed that the values of the real estate loans that banks are holding are similarly off the mark.

To read the full article from The New York Times, click here.

The new ordinance provides those companies who are concerned about financial penalties for not reporting the opportunity to pay out personal property taxes without enduring an additional fine. At the same time, the tax dollars collected will provide some much needed relief to the region. As it stands, businesses in Washington are required to report their personal property to their local County Assessor, and those that do not comply are subject to a 25% penalty against their tax liability. The ordinance accepted by King County waives the penalty if businesses come forward by July 1 and pay up by September 1.

To read the full article from the RentonPatch, click here.

Much of the turnaround in the state can be attributed to the migration of businesses from California, such as eBay, EMCCorp and Adobe. Utah remains an enticing destination as it is far more affordable than California to conduct business and offers a similar young, educated workforce. It is predicted that commercial real estate should remain strong across the state and that the next 10 years could be some of the best ever. Texas, New York, West Virginia, California, and Arizona led the country in spending ahead of Utah.

As it stands, the state of Texas has no income tax, causing governments to rely on property, sales, and business taxes in order to fund public programs like schools. Those that oppose the idea believe that eliminating property taxes in Texas could hurt its credit rating as they are a more stable source of income than sales taxes, which plummeted during the recession and created budget problems across the state.

To read the full article from Bloomberg Businessweek, click here.

Transactions that are smaller in nature rely heavily on local banks, and 30% of smaller commercial property transactions are made with cash. This is in stark contrast to large commercial transactions which have seen notable improvements in accessing capital. Over half of the surveys’ respondents claim that lending is as stringent as a year ago, 23% claim it is tighter, and 20% claim it is easier to obtain financing that it was a year ago.