Industry News

The valuation of real estate on properties foreclosed upon by banks is a useful reference to what we could see again in the near future, due to COVID-19.  The primary tool used in commercial real estate is a cap rate.

As citizens and business owners reel from the economic impact which the COVID-19 virus has created in the US, several state and local governing bodies have begun to roll out tax relief initiatives.

How will this international health crisis affect retailers and the distribution centers which supply those retailers?

How tax experts can help automotive dealerships save money on property taxes and appeals

A boat marina is a specialized class of property and throughout the United States, the class of marinas are somewhat difficult to appraise for property tax purposes.

An Update on the Demise of Major Retail Chains and its Impact on Tax Assessment Rolls Nationwide

With a current property tax revaluation cycle of eight years, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina is eyeing a shorter timeline in the future to help minimize drastic valuation changes for property owners like they are experiencing this year.

Paradigm Tax Group is proud to support CREW Network's mission to support professional women in the commercial real estate industry

Now through the end of the year, many firms review their personal property compliance vendor’s performance and evaluate their needs for the upcoming year.

The multi-family commercial real estate market is adapting to evolutions in technology, a changing renter demographic and a need for a flexible growth strategy.

Beware of the potential pitfalls of using federal tax documents as data sources for filing business personal property returns.

In a sign of slower economic momentum, U.S. retail sales fell 1.2 percent in December compared to January amid financial market turmoil and the government shutdown.

How much flexible space can the office market take? All signs point to “significantly more,” according to JLL’s latest research, Flexing Their Muscles: Markets to Watch in 2019. Flexible space inventory (including coworking space, incubators and other short-term space options) has grown at an annual rate of 23 percent since 2010.

Texas school finance and property taxes are once again a major topic of discussion at this year's legislative session.

Vacant malls transformed into retail and warehouse hybrids may become the newest form of retail. Combining the news of both the shuttered department stores and the demand for fulfillment warehouses, Case Equity Partners is creating a new retail solution coined “shopping fulfillment centers” or SFCs.

Despite most self-storage properties being fully occupied, national average self-storage rents are falling due to many landlords needing to cut rents in an effort to keep their tenants as newer properties open nearby.

Managing property taxes and ensuring the best valuation can be challenging for any commercial real estate property type, but for student housing owners and operators the process can be even more daunting

When it comes to choosing a property tax vendor, many companies opt to allow their asset managers to select individual service providers across the nation. While this may seem like the most sensible way to secure the best representation in each market, it often creates more problems than it solves.

Since it was introduced as part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, interest in the Opportunity Zones program has been off the charts. And now that that the proposed regulations are out, it's easy to see why investors are eager to take advantage of the generous tax incentives.

Colorado provides a unique opportunity to property owners who did not file a valuation protest by the June 1st deadline.

As you go through the 2019 budget process with your office buildings, you will undoubtedly have to look at every major expense item in great detail.  There are two major expense items that are a frequent topic of discussion and have a direct correlation to each other – property taxes and capital expenditures (CapEx).

Commercial real estate pricing ebbed in October, posting its first monthly decline since January.

Following its roughly $69 billion acquisition of health insurer Aetna expected to close before Thanksgiving, CVS plans to open its first concept stores early next year that will focus on improving health services and outcomes and lowering costs.

Since Proposition 13 was passed in 1978, California properties are taxed based on a value tied to the year they were purchased and are only reassessed upon transfer of ownership or change of control if the title is held in a legal entity.

The threat of tariffs is putting pressure on prices of construction materials and driving up project costs for multifamily developers and contractors.

For the first time since 2011, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina is conducting a countywide revaluation of all residential and commercial real estate for property tax assessment purposes.

Green certified office space across America's 30 largest metros has reached 41 percent of market totals - the highest in history, according to the fifth annual U.S. Green Building Adoption Index by CBRE and Maastricht University.

Property managers are offering more months of free apartment rent to attract new tenants in markets across the United States. Yardi Matrix reports it has registered rent concessions in every one of the 133 markets it tracks.

The national office market is failing to gain traction in its recovery and continues to deteriorate as demand for office space faces a number of headwinds, and the sector grapples with both cyclical and secular shifts, according to the latest U.S. Office Market Outlook report by Ten-X Commercial.

In a joint venture with development company Niido, Airbnb is set to debut a company-branded building in Nashville, Tennessee, with many more in the works. The latest almost-hotel project will be the company's second announced Airbnb-branded building, and will lease apartments to a hybrid of long-term renters and short-term visitors.

Buoyed by strong second-quarter economic growth and healthy demand, the average monthly rent for multifamily markets across the United States rose $3 to an all-time high of $1,409 in July, according to a recent report by Yardi Matrix.

As new supply continues to outpace demand, the occupancy rate for seniors housing across the United States continued to decline in the second quarter of the 2018.

Recent trends in San Diego's commercial real estate market indicate that the city may be the office market to watch for tech-focused investors. While it’s still too soon to place San Diego on equal footing with the nation’s leading tech hubs like the Bay Area and Seattle, the ongoing expansion of San Diego’s tech industry is nevertheless a strong indicator that the commercial real estate market is poised for continued growth.

While data centers are still a relatively new real estate sector, their strong performance over the past few years and growing demand from increasing use of technology and growth of remote working is garnering a lot of investor interest from all sides.

Opportunities abound for developers thanks to a little-known provision in the new tax law that could spur major real estate construction and “substantial rehabilitation” of existing properties in low income areas nationwide.

Texas once again took the top spot on CNBC’s "America's Top States for Business 2018," making it the first four-time winner in the 12-year study.

Toys ‘R’ Us store closings have impacted second-quarter statistics more than any other retailer has in any quarter over the last nine years. 

The property tax digest in Cobb County, Georgia climbed to another record high this year, beating previous projections and increasing by 9.1 percent - the largest rate since 2002.

There has been pressure on the skilled nursing occupancy rate since 2011, but really began around 2015 when it hovered around 85 percent, amid continuous headwinds from shortening patient stays and a shift in Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements.

Interest rates and the economy is the chief concern for the real estate industry in 2018 and 2019, according to the Counselors of Real Estate, which released its annual Top Ten Issues Affecting Real Estate List.

Last mile industrial facilities continue to be a favorite among institutional investors, who like the low vacancy levels and high rental rates these facilities command due to high demand from e-commerce.

As Philadelphia experiences one of its biggest development booms in recent history, a tax on new construction to fund affordable housing moved one step closer to passage Wednesday.

As multifamily rents in core markets continue to climb, renters and employees are migrating to suburban markets in search of a lower cost of living.

As U.S. mall owners still grapple with how to fill vacancies from department store chains like Sears and J.C. Penney, redevelopment strategies were a major topic of discussion at the annual ICSC RECon convention held in Las Vegas this week.

In November 2018, Florida voters have a chance to avoid a major property tax increase on owners of commercial or rental property, vacation or second homes, unimproved real estate, or any other non-homestead property.

In 2013, Philadelphia made a major overhaul of its property tax system after criticism that real estate throughout the city was severely undervalued.

The recently enacted U.S. tax reform is poised to benefit the U.S. multifamily investment market, according to a new report from CBRE that analyzes the implications of tax reform on the multifamily sector in the largest 35 U.S. markets. 

America’s labor shortage has reached a record high. According to JLL, companies in the U.S. are struggling to find qualified workers to fill open roles, and the problem is growing — as of January, 6.3 million jobs were unfilled, a 16 percent increase in the last year.

The co-working industry continues to grow and evolve throughout the country, and a new high-end concept will open its first-ever U.S. location at an Atlanta mall.

Harris County, Texas has released the vast majority of their 2018 notice values for commercial real estate.

Appealing to the desire for entertaining and interactive experiences in today's retail projects, food halls are exploding in popularity.

In many areas across the country, such as Pennsylvania and Ohio, it has become a common, albeit controversial, practice for taxing jurisdictions to file "reverse tax appeals" against commercial property owners.

The $1.3 trillion omnibus spending bill that was passed last week contained the first expansion of the Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program in more than 10 years.

Amid a great deal of scandal and political fallout, beleaguered incumbent Joe Berrios conceded to challenger Fritz Kaegi Tuesday night in the primary contest for Cook County assessor as vote totals showed him far behind.

March 2018 Update: The battle between Amazon and bricks-and-mortar retail wages on with Toys R Us abruptly announcing plans to close or sell more than 800 stores across the U.S.

In 2003, the Texas Legislature amended the Texas Property Tax Code, Section 41.43(b) to allow property owners to protest the valuation of their property implementing an “Equal and Uniform” appeal. 

Seniors housing continues to be in high demand, especially the independent and assisted living subsets, due to the rapidly aging population.

The industrial warehouse boom is no longer quiet and money continues to be poured into this safe commodity by investors and developers from all over the country.

More than 4,000 new apartments are forecast to hit the Los Angeles market this quarter, according to CoStar, as the first wave of as many as 30,000 in the next three years. 

The total property tax expense for U.S. hotels exceeds a potential $8.1 billion, according to a new study by STR utilizing 2016 HOST (Hotel Operating Statistics) data. 

Savvy real estate developers and owners understand that providing a vibrant mix of office and living space, restaurants and retail under one roof allows them to meet – and capitalize on – a variety of consumer needs.

U.S. office vacancies across the major metro areas reached 11.5 percent in December, the lowest rate reported in a decade, due to cautious development and healthy absorption, according to Transwestern's newly released 2017 year-end report on the national office market.

If an owner isn’t lucky enough to receive major tax breaks from local jurisdictions as an incentive to invest here, they will have to accept some of the highest effective property tax rates in the country.

The number of branches in the U.S. shrank by more than 1,700 in the 12 months ended in June 2017, the biggest decline on record, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of federal data. 

In 2017, the Texas Legislature made changes to the Texas Property Tax Code, most of which became effective on January 1, 2018. Among the changes are new, earlier deadlines for filing Notices of Protest and Personal Property Renditions.

Toys R Us is planning to shutter roughly 180 stores across the country, or about one-fifth of its U.S. store fleet, in a bid to restructure the company and emerge from bankruptcy protection.

Narrowing the field from more than 238 applicants, Amazon has announced their top 20 candidates for its second headquarters. 

The industrial sector posted record-breaking performances throughout 2017 thanks in large part to rising e-commerce sales driving demand for industrial facilities.

The commercial real estate industry will benefit as a whole from the tax code overhaul signed into law Dec. 22. But some sectors will benefit more — and sooner — according to top economists polled in a Bisnow article. 

For hoteliers, property tax expense is often a substantial fixed expense. As a result, understanding how property taxes are calculated and what owners and operators can do to mitigate them is crucial.

Amenities continue to be a hot topic in the multi-family industry, with apartment developers competing to attract and retain tenants amidst the growing shift from homeowning to renting.

Many are predicting a leveling out of the commercial real estate market in the coming year.

Despite owners offering short-term leases and generous concessions in an effort to maintain high rent levels of previous years, Manhattan's retail slump continues with average asking rents for available ground floor spaces declining in 13 of the top 17 shopping corridors, when compared with fall 2016.

The new tax reform proposal submitted by Republican lawmakers earlier this month would cut a program that has been an engine for urban renewal and economic revival, sparking strong opposition from city developers, planners, and preservationists across the country.

The immediate future of real estate looks positive, according to the Urban Land Institute and PwC’s annual look at the year ahead. 

After Amazon announced plans in September to build a second headquarters (HQ2) in an undetermined location, hundreds of local officials across North America have submitted proposals to try and win the $5 billion construction investment and 50,000 new jobs for their city.

Property taxes can be one of the biggest line item costs for restaurant owners, but they don’t have to be.

Over the past two years, Chicago-area landlords have capitalized on a strong economy and low interest rates by selling properties at a rapid pace.

Keeping costs at a minimum is often a top priority for owner/operators of manufacturing facilities; however, they often overlook one key area that can positively impact their bottom line.

Despite the retail industry continuing to struggle with rising vacancies due to big-box and department store closures across the nation, retail real estate’s fundamentals have remained strong.

Year after year, property taxes are one of the biggest line item expenses for franchise owners.

On Friday, Katy Independent School District trustees voted unanimously to authorize the reappraisal of property damaged by Hurricane Harvey within the school district boundaries, offering some much needed relief to property owners who were impacted by the storm.

Affordable housing developers are facing more production challenges despite the growing need for affordable housing projects.

On Tuesday night, the Commissioner’s Court unanimously voted to enact article 23.02 of the Texas State Property Tax Code.

Numerous counties in Southeast Texas are hurting in the wake of Hurricane Harvey, which Governor Greg Abbot estimates could cost up to $180 billion in damages.

As property values continue to recover or even surpass values achieved at the peak of the past cycle in 2006 and 2007, rising property tax bills shouldn't come as a surprise to landlords.

After a months-long impasse, the Illinois Senate approved legislation in a 38-13 vote Tuesday that will revamp how state money is distributed to local schools, driving more funding to poorer schools and districts first.

Many of the markets where developers have been doubling down on building new apartment units are likely to have enough renters to fill those apartments over the next decade or so, according to the latest research commissioned by the National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC) and the National Apartment Association (NAA).

Self-storage is starting to become a victim of its own success. Operators are reeling from a double punch—rising tax rates across many jurisdictions along with higher assessed property values.

The most common mistake is assuming there is no room for reduction if properties are performing well and fully leased, but there are several creative approaches to receiving a reduction, GlobeSt.com learns in this EXCLUSIVE.

A state-appointed city overseer has settled Atlantic City's remaining casino property tax appeals from 2014-2017.

The amount of retail square footage devoted to selling food has reached unprecedented heights in the U.S., and it’s taking a toll on earnings and leaving the industry vulnerable to closures.

In an effort to curtail skyrocketing property taxes, the bill would block cities and counties from raising the effective tax rates above 4 percent in any given year unless voters agree in a referendum.

Houston's office vacancy increased again over the quarter, reaching its highest rate since 1994, according to Colliers International Q2 Market Report.

Oregon is facing a chronic labor shortage amid a multibillion-dollar tsunami of real estate development depleting the pool of skilled construction workers.

Intense competition for urgent care centers, surgery centers and other outpatient medical facilities is driving down cap rates in the sector.

As sales by internet retailers grow and drive demand, U.S. warehouses are becoming more costly and harder to come by.

Office development and leasing activity remain robust in the Los Angeles area, thanks to a growing presence of tech, engineering and financial firms driving demand for space.

The proposed $13.7 billion acquisition of organic grocery retailer Whole Foods Market by e-commerce giant Amazon holds the potential to cause some major disruption in the grocery industry, but experts say retail real estate investors should remain optimistic.

Illinois senators Tuesday approved bills that impose a two-year property tax freeze for school districts and local governments outside of Chicago.

More than two-thirds of tech workers now feel little or no need to live in the Bay Area, and talent is migrating to new metropolises.

After threats of a special session from Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, the Texas House unanimously approved the property tax reform legislation – but omitted the provisions that he wanted included and the Senate considered vital.

Student housing, however, is beating the trend. If investors keep buying and selling student housing at this rate, they will match the record-setting acquisition volume of 2016, despite a long list of larger market challenges that could have slowed the pace of transactions.

The Texas Senate and House are closer to resolving two key issues holding up the final approval of property-tax reform and the state budget, legislative leaders said Tuesday.

Years of sustained activity and record pricing in metro Denver's real estate market resulted in huge valuation increases in the 2017 countywide reassessment.

Overall, average asking office rents increased 1.8% between the first quarter of 2016 and 2017, the slowest annual rate of growth since 2011, according to Reis Inc.

So far this year, the number of retailers filing for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy is headed toward the highest annual tally since the great recession, per Moody’s distressed list.

State Senate members passed a bill Monday to increase the exemption for the business personal property tax by a hefty 27-6 margin — the kind of bipartisan agreement that one might think would lead to success for the bill in the House of Representatives.

Although urban office markets continue to be popular with Millennials, movement to creative corporate office campuses in the suburbs is a growing trend.

Given the significant improvement in both the overall economy and these counties specifically, commercial property owners should expect major valuation increases.

Hotels in Silicon Valley, California are experiencing above-average performance and attracting the attention of owners and developers across the country, thanks to the widely successful international technology companies in the area bringing in an influx of business – as well as leisure – travelers.

Philadelphia commercial property owners should expect major increases when they receive their property assessments mid-April.

Student housing communities have been engaged in an amenities war for quite some time now; but as close proximity to campus becomes the strongest performance driver, developers need to be much choosier when it comes to their properties.

The run-up in U.S. real estate prices could potentially amplify any future economic downturn, a Federal Reserve official said on Tuesday, urging regulators globally to consider tools beyond interest rates that could help cool the sector.

By an 18-12 vote, mostly along party lines, the Republican-controlled Senate approved Senate Bill 2, which would mandate an automatic election to allow taxpayers to decide any rate hike of more than 5 percent.

Rents for Class A office space in Miami are high, at $50 or more per square foot, and will continue rising as the market tightens, a panel of real estate experts said at a Bisnow conference Thursday.

Throughout the year, the Institute for Professionals in Taxation (IPT) hosts luncheon groups across the country, providing an opportunity for local members of the Institute to gather and discuss taxation topics of mutual interest or concern.

Property tax reform has been a major priority this legislative session for Texas, but a political showdown is taking place between state and local governments over new legislation meant to curb rising property tax rates and ballooning tax bills.

Change is coming even as the commercial real estate market flourishes in the current post-recession boom, Christopher Lee, president and CEO of Los Angeles-based commercial real estate consultancy CEL & Associates, said at the NAIOP Minnesota event this week.

Continued growth in e-commerce has driven industrial vacancy to an all-time low, declining by 70 basis points from a year ago to an aggregate nationwide vacancy of 5.6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2016, according to the year-end industrial market report from real estate services firm JLL.

The Houston office market has been struggling for several years now thanks in large part to a prolonged slump in oil prices causing companies to shrink their footprints.

The Delaware County Board of Assessment Appeals was court-ordered to conduct a countywide reassessment of all properties in Delaware County, Pennsylvania.

As many shopping centers continue to suffer nationwide, conventional wisdom says that there is an over-supply of malls and the only way to survive is to cater to wealthy shoppers and/or reinvent the space completely.

Apartment rents are growing most quickly in working-class, suburban submarkets that apartment developers have avoided.

A Florida Senate committee has unanimously approved Senate Bill 90, which would implement Amendment 4 and eliminate property taxes on solar and other renewable energy devices installed at commercial and industrial facilities for 20 years.

The oil and gas industry is projected to make a significant increase in property taxes payments to eastern Ohio counties over the next decade, according to two industry groups who are estimating an increase from $43 million to $250 million. 

Recent and long-term historic trends indicate Chicago's real estate market could remain healthy for years to come, JLL chief economist Ryan Severino said during JLL's Chicago 2025 event last week.

The Delaware County Board of Assessment Appeals was court-ordered to conduct a countywide reassessment of all properties in Delaware County, Pennsylvania.

Chicago was the third-busiest market for data center activity in 2016, thanks to Microsoft, Oracle and a host of financial firms absorbing large amounts of space across the city, according to the latest research from JLL.

New legislation, introduced by state Rep. Jim Murphy, R-Houston, is intended to help Texas school districts and protect taxpayers whenever tax revenue from valuable commercial properties is taken from one district and sent to another via a system known as recapture.

Commercial property price indices (CPPI) continued to either hold steady or trend upward at the end of 2016, the most recent period for which data is available, signaling the likelihood of an extended market cycle.

Property tax bills for New York City commercial real estate owners have soared under Mayor Bill de Blasio, according to city data.

Fueled by the rapid growth of e-commerce, the U.S. industrial market is benefiting from tight supply and rising rents and is expected to enjoy sustained momentum throughout 2017.

As the number of empty storefronts continues to grow across the U.S., signs are pointing to a slowdown for the national retail-property market.

The hotel industry could be facing an uphill battle in 2017 as new supply may erode pricing power and hinder performance.

Ohio’s oil and gas industry may get a retroactive windfall tax break estimated at $264 million under a bill passed by the legislature during the lame-duck session

Due to a considerable amount of availability amid Manhattan’s softening retail market, temporary stores, or Pop-Ups, are teaming up with landlords in an unexpected win-win scenario.

Philadelphia City Council unanimously approved legislation aimed at closing the loopholes that has allowed buyers and sellers of some of the city’s biggest commercial real estate transactions to avoid or lessen the transfer tax on those deals.

At the beginning of the year, researchers warned that hundreds of thousands of new apartments would open in 2016 and drive up the vacancy in the sector.

Local officials expressed concerns last week over a bill that gives property tax breaks to Ohio developers, prompting significant changes to the legislation.

Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, filed a bill Tuesday that aims to reduce the tax burden on property owners, but many Central Texas city leaders are rallying against the legislation in fear of losing revenue needed for their growing cities. 

While senior housing continues to post strong returns and outperform other asset classes, the sector still couldn’t shake a few investor jitters.

In an effort to keep up with e-commerce distribution demands, developers in New Jersey and Long Island are repurposing vacant suburban office buildings into warehouses.

Last week, Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the Real Estate Board of New York and city construction unions were finally able to reach an agreement over a bill that would renew New York City's 421-a property tax abatement program, which is now being reviewed in Albany for approval.

The sweeping Food Safety Modernization Act regulations —originally enacted in 2011 and finalized this year—are going to present some challenges to food manufacturers as they take effect.

For some time now, the industry has been mulling when the commercial real estate cycle’s historically-long recovery will end and an economic downturn will begin.

The city of Chicago has a reached a new high for number of tower cranes in the sky. Related Midwest’s recently installed tower crane at its new Streeterville apartment building became the 33rd tower crane to go up in 2016 in Chicago, according to city officials, a post-recession record and eight more than last year.

After years of success and growing occupancy and revenue per available room (RevPAR), the hospitality industry is starting to face some challenges.

Multifamily developers build tens of thousands of new apartments every year reserved for people with low incomes, using subsidies from government programs like the federal low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC).

Some South Carolina House members are taking a comprehensive review of the state's tax laws, and are considering phasing out sales tax exemptions, reducing the top state income tax rate, and making property tax changes. 

As tech job growth continues at a rapid pace, it’s beginning to transform smaller cities such as Phoenix and Austin, Texas into top office markets as tenants seek lower rents, less expensive labor, and a lower cost of living for employees than major tech powerhouses like San Francisco and Silicon Valley.

The Urban Land Institute and PwC recently released Emerging Trends in Real Estate 2017, an in-depth outlook report that reflects the views of more than 2,000 professionals in real estate development and investment who completed surveys, conducted interviews, or participated in focus groups as part of the research process.

The local chapter of the Building Owners & Managers Association voiced their support of  recapture measure this week because without it, the group fears it could saddle some of Houston’s premier commercial properties with higher tax bills and make them less competitive.

Last month, the Louisiana Board of Commerce and Industry deferred action no more than two dozen requests for the Industrial Tax Exemption Program, which would equal about $15 million in property tax breaks.

The U.S. industrial market is on track for another record year in 2016, and the market could expand well into 2018 despite the possibility of higher interest rates that would increase the costs of carrying inventory, according to global commercial real estate firm JLL.

U.S. department stores have been struggling for several years now as online shopping popularity continues to grow – but now it’s the investors who are paying the price for the dramatic shift in shopping preference.

Institutional owners of office buildings continued to pursue green building certifications in the 30 largest U.S. markets during 2015. Continuing an upward trend over the past decade, green certifications are now held by 11.8 percent of all surveyed buildings, representing 40.2 percent of all office space.

The Baird/STR Hotel Stock Index fell 6.4% in September to close the month at 3,134.

A steady demand for space and limited new construction are supporting healthy fundamentals in the office sector, but a slow down or neutral growth is expected in most markets next year.

As several large corporations executed major relocations to upgrade their space and take advantage of state incentives, Northern and Central New Jersey enjoyed one of their best quarters for office leasing in recent history.

There has been much talk in recent years about “splitting” California’s property tax system, thereby imposing a greater tax burden on the owners of commercial and industrial real estate.

As Charleston continues to see impressive growth, demand for space in all commercial real estate sectors is outpacing supply.

Philadelphia City Councilman Al Taubenberger introduced legislation to close the loopholes that he says has allowed buyers and sellers of some of the city’s biggest commercial real estate transactions to avoid or lessen the transfer tax on those deals.

A recent report by CBRE highlights Houston’s best- and worst-performing hospitality submarkets in terms of occupancy and RevPAR, and touched on the positive and negative outside economic factors that have impacted the city most profoundly, including the ongoing oil slump, the widening of the Panama Canal and more.

In an effort to get friendlier with multifamily building owners, home-sharing platform Airbnb launched its Friendly Building Program this month, which allows multifamily owners and community associations to share profits from resident hosting.

The Federal Reserve voted 7-3 to keep interest rates at their current level at its September meeting, despite Boston Federal Reserve President Eric Rosengren expressing concern that leaving the interest rate at its current low level for too long could potentially create asset price bubbles.

Based on data recently released by Research firm Reis Inc that shows office markets with the biggest year-over-year changes in effective revenue per sq. ft. during the second quarter of 2016, the National Real Estate Investor provided a market snap shot of the top five best and worst performers.

The Denver City Council Monday night adopted new legislation that will establish the city's first-ever permanent affordable housing fund, which includes asking developers to pay a new per-square-foot fee and raising property taxes by a half a mill for the first year.

Kansas City has emerged as one the leading apartment markets in the Midwest as employment gains continue to fuel a healthy rental demand. For the last six years, greater Kansas City has experienced annual average employment gains of 1.5 percent, led by the technology sector.

The Louisiana Board of Commerce and Industry deferred action on more than two dozen requests for the Industrial Tax Exemption Program on Monday, which would equal about $15 million in property tax breaks.

A report from the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities said the state’s property tax system is “unsustainable” and urged legislators to take several steps to increase funding for local government services rather than relying so heavily on the property tax.

As job growth continues to outstrip housing creation causing stratospheric rent increases, six Bay Area cities are adding rent- and eviction-control measures on this November's ballot.

As Manhattan’s peak apartment leasing season wrapped up in August, renters came out as the victors.

After a record-shattering 2015, a combination of factors early in the year drove a 56% total-dollar-volume drop in California hotel transactions in the first half of 2016 compared to the same period a year earlier, according to research from Atlas Hospitality Group.

Florida voters approved a constitutional amendment by more than 70 percent in Tuesday’s primary election, which will exempt solar and other renewable energy devices on business and industrial property from property taxes for 20 years.

Buoyed by a steadily improving labor market and strong demand for multifamily housing, commercial real estate activity should remain on an upward trajectory, with a growing share of it is expected to be in smaller markets, according to the National Association of Realtors quarterly commercial real estate forecast.

A proposed Kansas City incentive reform ordinance that would place a 75 percent cap on property tax diversions, abatements or exemptions for development projects was roundly supported last week at hearing during the council's Planning, Zoning & Economic Development Committee.

As the early results of the student housing fall leasing season roll in, the sector will continue to attract new investors and the bidding for properties will likely intensify.

Gov. Cuomo announced Wednesday a plan to resurrect New York City’s 421a property tax abatement program, but real estate development experts are a bit weary of the proposal.

While the Midwest multifamily market may never experience the headline-grabbing stats that core, coastal cities do, its reliability continues to make the region an immensely attractive environment for private equity and similar investors.

The current deflationary environment in food retail — particularly in the midst of an otherwise healthy economy — is a nearly unprecedented event in recent industry history and indicates an operating climate that has become "just awful," an analyst told Supermarket News (SN). Current price deflation goes beyond the farm issues affecting the price of proteins like eggs and meat, Scott Mushkin of Wolfe Research told SN in an interview.

Despite previously approving transfer tax increases in 2008 and 2010, San Francisco voters will be asked again in November to raise transfer taxes on properties that sell for more than $5 million.

The Philadelphia School District announced Tuesday that it will begin a three-year pilot program to identify undervalued properties throughout the city in an effort to increase tax dollars.

As online retailers shift their focus to two-day and same-day package delivery, warehouse builders are beginning to redraw the map of logistics hubs on the East Coast.

In the state of Maryland, properties are reassessed every three years (triennial) and assessments are phased in over the three-year cycle.

JLL recently released their mid-year update to the 2016 Skyline Report, which provides insights on office supply, demand, rents and leverage for the top-tier office market within CBDs and urban cores.

While college students might not seem like the ideal tenant for landlords, the share prices of the two student-housing REITs are soaring.

Florida voters will be asked on the primary-election ballot on Aug. 30 to extend the residential solar energy tax break to commercial and industrial property owners, and thus significantly expand renewable-energy production in the state.

Despite enacting the largest property tax increase in modern Chicago history this year, escalating pension costs are expected to trigger another significant tax increase in 2017.

Many markets across the U.S. have benefited from high demand pushing office rents to record levels.

While there is a still a great deal of uncertainty of the global impact from the U.K.’s historic exit from the European Union, many are left wondering what effects might be felt here in the U.S. in regard to the commercial real estate market.

Sales of new condos in coastal Miami and Fort Lauderdale slowed even further in the second quarter, a report by brokerage firm ISG World found. 

The U.S. apartment market still has considerable strength, according to the latest National Multifamily Housing Council‘s quarterly survey on apartment market conditions, but the surge of supply is finally catching up with persistent demand—for part of the market, that is.

As brick-and-mortar retailers continue to be squeezed out by Amazon and its online competitors, shopping center owners are continuously looking for creative solutions to their anchor tenant problems.

Tens of thousands of new apartments are now opening in central business districts (CBDs) around the country, causing angst among apartment owners as supply is expected to continue accelerating for the next 12-18 months.

Data center are required to run uninterrupted 24 hours per day, 365 days per year, unlike any other property type, so it is no surprise that owners are actively investing energy-efficient features and green building techniques to reduce energy consumption.

As luxury apartment developers look to cater to the next generation of renters, many new trends are beginning to evolve.

The U.S. industrial market has absorbed a record-setting 70.1 million square feet of space in the second quarter, up 6 percent from the same period a year ago, according to Cushman & Wakefield.

After spending years as the nation’s hottest office market thanks to the booming tech industry, San Francisco landlords are bracing for a slowdown as startup valuations weaken and the flood of venture-capital funding slows. 

The city of Denver on Tuesday unveiled details of a sweeping plan to generate $155 million over 10 years to help pay for affordable-housing solutions across the city.

A strong surge in real estate transactions, new commercial and residential construction and rising housing prices should add more than $3 billion to California’s property tax rolls, bringing the total to nearly $60 billion.

As we head into the State Board of Equalization (“SBOE”) appeal season in Arizona, taxpayers and practitioners should be mindful of two recent rulings by the Arizona Tax Court addressing an issue of first impression in Arizona.

The prolonged slump in oil prices has taken a serious toll on Houston’s office market, as the energy industry hub now has 10.2 million square feet of space available to sublease and vacancy rates are at their highest in 20 years, real estate firm CBRE reported.

The average occupancy rate for independent living and assisted living properties in the second quarter of 2016 dropped to 89.7 percent, as new inventory outpaced absorption of units, according to a quarterly report from the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care (NIC).

Developers are increasingly looking for adaptive reuse projects as a way to differentiate their hotels from the industry’s ‘sea of sameness.’

In June, Miami-Dade’s property appraiser reported real estate values grew 8.6 percent higher than in 2015; however, the latest accounting from the assessor show there was actually a 9.1 percent surge at the start of 2016 in the county’s property rolls.

More than 30 trade associations and businesses are banding together in an effort to increase their push to get Wisconsin's personal property tax law repealed.

Pacific Investment Management Co. sees a storm brewing for the U.S. commercial real-estate market, predicting values to drop up to 5 percent in the next 12 months amid tightened regulations, a wall of debt maturities and property sales by publicly traded landlords.

A recent study found the median time for cases to be resolved by the Indiana Tax Court has increased from about one year to almost 2.6 years since 2011, prompting criticism among practitioners and recommendations for reform.

A plan to prevent big box stores from paying less in property taxes may be gaining steam in the Legislature after the House approved the measure, which supporters say will lead to fairer tax evaluations.

As Manhattan enters peak moving season, a surge of new supply has given tenants more choices and bargaining power, causing apartment owners to boost incentives to attract new renters.

Occupancy rates for U.S. hotels declined 0.5 percent during the first quarter of 2016, causing the first year-over-year decline since the fourth quarter of 2009, according to hotel data research firm STR.

Lenders are recognizing the value of apartment properties that use less energy and are offering incentives to multifamily owners that go green.

The probability for a June interest rate hike plummeted Friday after a major miss in the May jobs report. According to CNBC, the Labor Department report said U.S. economy added just 38,000 jobs, far below economist estimates of 162,000. Prior to the jobs report, the CME Group FedWatch tool of market sentiment saw a 21 percent chance of a June rate hike.

ConocoPhillips is the latest energy company to add a huge chunk of office space to Houston’s growing sublease market.

Jacksonville, Fla. is on the brink of going over the “financial cliff” due to the city’s pension crisis, according to Mayor Curry, who is warning voters that a failure to support the half-cent sales tax referendum on Aug. 30 could result in a startling 30 percent increase in the property tax rate.

Building green industrial properties, and seeking LEED certification, is a growing trend for developers and property owners, as they begin to recognize the wide-range of benefits it provides for themselves and tenants alike.

The Montgomery County (Maryland) Council gave final approval Thursday to a $5.3 billion budget that includes the biggest property tax hike in seven years.

Real estate investment trusts specializing in data centers are reaping the benefits of our growing internet addiction.

The Harrisburg School Board voted 7-2 Monday night to approve the city’s 10-year tax abatement program for improved properties and new commercial development, following the Harrisburg city council members’ approval last week.

Retail landlords are starting to feel the pain of their struggling tenants. Macy's, Nordstrom, J.C. Penney and other department stores last week reported another quarter of crummy earnings and warned that declines are expected to continue.

Steady returns brought to investors by seniors housing in recent years sparked a lot of new supply, however, some markets are now at risk of oversaturation by the fourth quarter of this year as demand stalls, experts say.

With the industrial sector leading the pack, commercial real estate values in the United States increased by 7 percent from April 2015 to April 2016, according to the latest Commercial Real Estate (CRE) Nowcast from Ten-X, an online real estate marketplace.

Major changes in Michigan Business Personal Property law provide an opportunity for manufacturers to significantly reduce their property taxes.

Despite Chicago property owners shouldering the largest property tax increase in city history, the Chicago Teacher’s Union (CTU) is pushing for hundreds of millions of dollars worth of tax hikes to increase funding for Chicago Public Schools.

All New York City income-producing properties with an Actual Assessed Value of more than $40,000 are required to file a RPIE (Real Property Income and Expense) statement with the Department of Finance by Wednesday, June 1, 2016.

In order to attract top workers, suburban offices are increasingly adding amenities typically found in city properties, such as large fitness centers, rooftop decks with lounge areas, and bike storage areas.

Due to low cap rates and sky high prices in gateway cities, many commercial real estate investors in search of good yield are turning to non-gateway markets as a more appealing and affordable option.

After more than a year of weak oil prices, the fallout of room night demand in oil-producing areas has waned as supply growth continues its strong upward momentum, which means more trouble ahead for hoteliers.

Due to a sharp drop in sales and a surge in inventory, developers are taking steps to avoid a ‘bloodbath’ as another condo bust looms in Miami.

Many property owners in Bexar County, Texas suffered from sticker shock when they opened their 2016 property tax appraisal notices.

Kansas House and Senate negotiators moved toward compromise Thursday, outlining exemptions on legislation that would advance the implementation of the property tax lid law passed last year.

During a news conference yesterday on City Hall Plaza, Mayor Walsh announced her support of the Community Preservation Act, which would add a property tax surcharge to raise funds for more affordable housing in Boston.

Despite a growing number of bankruptcies and online disruption, U.S. shopping centers remained steady throughout the start to 2016, with slightly higher rents and fewer empty spaces.

The U.S. industrial market has been performing better than ever.

The Illinois House of Representatives voted against a proposal to freeze property taxes statewide, which would have provided some much needed relief to property owners who bear the third-highest property-tax burden in the nation.

Louisville took the top spot of a new list of the Top 20 U.S. Cities for Commercial Remodeling by BuildFax, a North Carolina-based company that compiles and distributes data on the construction industry.

Nassau County will begin informing 14,000 area business owners this week of a new state law that officials say will result in tax hikes for all commercial properties but will end the county’s need to borrow about $80 million annually for commercial property tax refunds, according to Newsday.

Pittsburgh placed about 1,300 appeals it initiated on 2016 property tax assessments on hold while it comes up with a more fair process that could help keep long-term residents in neighborhoods where real estate prices are rapidly increasing, the city announced Monday.

After going through one of the toughest recessions in its history, Northern Nevada’s commercial real estate market suffered greatly as rising vacancies crushed new construction activity and speculative building.

Property owners in Marion County, Indiana should be on the lookout for their property tax bills, which will be mailed later this week.

Commercial property transaction volume is expected to decline over the next three years to $475 billion in 2018, according to a new three-year economic forecast from the Urban Land Institute (ULI) Center for Capital Markets and Real Estate.

San Francisco’s booming office market is starting to raise some concerns, as tech industry turbulence could reappear and cause companies with banked space to suffer.

Real estate values in Gwinnett County, GA have increased significantly once again due to the improving economy.

Despite U.S. industrial rent growth significantly outpacing the rest of the world last year, industry experts predict it will start to moderate in 2016.

It is no secret that significant commercial real estate investments continue to pour into the great state of Texas.

The performance of real estate investment trusts (REITs) outpaced the broader markets during March and ended the first quarter with a 5.86 percent total return.

Following investigations opened in November by state officials, three New Jersey municipalities will be ordered to conduct property revaluations, after not doing so for a least a quarter century.

Property owners in Marion County, Indiana should be on the lookout for their property tax bills, which will be mailed later this week.

Cincinnati is the most cost-friendly city to do business among the 31 largest U.S. metro areas (those with populations of 2 million or more), according to the 2016 Competitive Alternatives study by KPMG LLP.

U.S. commercial property sales took a nosedive last month, which may signal the six-year bull market is coming to an end.

The Texas Property Tax Code dictates that no property should be assessed at a value higher than a reasonable number of competing, appropriately adjusted comparable properties.

Wake County Commissioners unanimously agreed to four-year property tax reappraisal cycle starting in 2020, in an effort to improve accuracy from the current eight-year cycle.

With the first day of spring behind us, commercial property owners with assets in Maricopa County, Arizona have less than 30 days to file property tax appeals with the Maricopa County Assessor’s Office.

Last month a bipartisan group of state lawmakers, Mayor Jim Kenney, and local civic and business leaders gathered in Philadelphia's City Hall Friday to announce a legislative plan that would amend the state's Constitution to allow the city to increase the commercial real estate tax rate.

As the convenience of urban living becomes a bigger and bigger trend - so does its counterpart, the multi-use property.

As Montgomery County faces a fast-growing school system and lost revenue from last year’s Supreme Court ruling that Maryland’s income tax system was unconstitutional, a property tax increase has been proposed as the solution.

The San Francisco Planning Department is increasing its efforts to crack down on landlords who lease industrial buildings zoned for manufacturing, automotive repair, warehousing or the arts to office tenants, launching 21 investigations already this year.  

After concluding its first county-wide reassessment since the late 1970's, Washington County, Pennsylvania has started issuing new valuation notices to property owners.

Kansas lawmakers are set to battle over a measure that would accelerate the implementation of a property tax lid law passed last year.

The interest rates that banks borrow money from the Federal Reserve have been near zero for over 6 years now, and commercial real estate investors have greatly benefited from the low interest rate environment.

As the Minnesota Legislature decides what to do with the $900 million state budget surplus projected for the remainder of the fiscal biennium through June 2017, a major focus of the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce will be lowering state business property taxes.

Once again, New Jersey and Illinois ranked as the two worst states in the country when it comes to property taxes, according to a new survey from personal finance website WalletHub.

Pittsburgh is beginning to look like the country’s next up and coming tech hub, as Facebook announced in January that it would open a research center for its Oculus virtual-reality division in the city, becoming the latest in a string of major tech companies, including Google, Apple and Uber, to open offices in the city in the past few years.

In the Property Tax World, the Central Appraisal Districts are mass appraisers.

The Kansas Supreme Court recently struck down a state law that gave property owners who successfully challenged the appraised value of their property a two-year moratorium from any increases in tax valuation, except in some narrowly defined circumstances.

A bipartisan group of state lawmakers, Mayor Jim Kenney, and local civic and business leaders gathered in Philadelphia's City Hall Friday to announce a legislative plan that would up the tax rate on the city’s commercial properties while lowering wage and businesses taxes.

Proponents of the proposed California initiative that would have imposed a property tax surcharge on real estate valued at more than $3 million to raise billions for public assistance programs have halted their campaign.

Greater Boston has a record-low vacancy for industrial warehouse space of 11 percent in the fourth quarter, while manufacturing space in the region is also reaching below a double-digit vacancy rate for the first time on record, according to a fourth-quarter industrial report from brokerage Transwestern.

In 2015, high demand for multifamily space resulted in 306,000 new units being added to the U.S. market, according to Freddie Mac—the highest number since 1989.

As consumer shopping preferences shift, so do the landscapes of retail centers. Shoppers are no longer attracted to outlet centers based solely on the discounts, as they are readily available online.

Multifamily rents are likely to keep rising in 2016--just at slower pace than before, according to forecasts for the coming year.

As the U.S. logistics industry flourishes from an improving economy and increased demand for space from e-commerce companies, it continues to reach record highs in occupancy and absorption.

Two City Council members are filing a measure to implement the 2000 Community Preservation Act in Boston, which allows Massachusetts municipalities to raise money for housing programs, parks or open space, and historic preservation projects with property tax surcharges.

California property owners could be hit with a higher tax burden, as Governor Brown’s Administration insists the statewide school construction bond initiative be funded by local school districts raising taxes.

A Kansas house committee will introduce a three-bill package on Wednesday intended to “increase and stabilize resources public higher education institutions draw from for development of academic infrastructure.”

The hotel industry in Chicago, like nearly all major markets across the nation, has been posting great performance metrics over the past several years.

Ft. Lauderdale is transitioning from a spring break destination for college students to a budding upscale resort town due, in part, to spillover from Miami’s boom.

In an effort to "make the property appeals process as fair and equitable as it can possibly be," Pittsburgh Councilman Dan Girlman plans to propose changes to the way properties are appealed.

More than two months after a judge dismissed Austin’s lawsuit challenging Texas' property appraisal system, the city has filed a notice of appeal.

During an Albany budget hearing Wednesday, upstate Republicans and the Independent Democrats discussed the possibility of extending the state’s property tax cap to New York City.

New legislation is being introduced in an effort to combat rapidly rising commercial property assessments in Savannah, Georgia.

It’s not a great time to own an office building in Houston, as companies are looking to unload workspaces as the local economy suffers from oil prices dropping to around $30 a barrel.

New York City’s 421a property tax program, which allows developers of rental apartments to reduce their real estate taxes on new projects for 10 to 25 years in exchange for affordable housing in certain parts of the city, drew a great deal of scrutiny and controversy last year.

As multifamily developers continue to concentrate in central and secondary business districts in cities across the country, many submarkets in downtown areas are at risk of overbuilding.

New York City property values have surpassed $1 trillion for the first time ever, according to new preliminary tax rolls released Friday.

While medical office buildings will continue to post strong occupancy stats into the New Year, industry executives are concerned the volatility in the health care sector, stemming from the Affordable Care Act aftermath, changes in technology and hospital consolidation, will keep growth and transactions low.

Atlanta’s industrial market is hotter than ever, thanks to an improving overall economy, a more relaxed lending environment, and a great deal of investment capital in the market.

Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts and key state lawmakers announced a plan on Tuesday to curb rising property taxes and help control spending, calling it a "structural change" to how local governments tax Nebraska landowners.

A booming technology sector combined with a tight supply of commercial real estate has driven San Francisco’s office rents to the highest in the country.

The hotel building boom continues in the U.S., as a total of 103,230 rooms within 865 hotels are currently under construction and scheduled to open through the course of 2016, according to STR.

All across the country, both companies and cities alike are competing to attract STEM-educated employees.

Apartment rents across the country increased faster last year than at any time since 2007, rising 4.6% to $1,180.

The Pittsburgh Public School board voted Tuesday to maintain the current property tax rate of 9.84 mills for 2016.

A proposed California initiative, called the Lifting Children and Families Out of Poverty Act, would increase property taxes on real estate valued at more than $3 million to raise billions for public assistance programs.

Downtown populations across the nation are booming, driven primarily by millennials, who are displaying a strong preference to live in urban environments.

As the Puget Sound/Seattle region has evolved into one of the nation’s leading markets for technology jobs, the office sector is reaping the benefits. 

The Cincinnati City Council approved new framework for awarding property tax breaks to developers doing projects in downtown and Over-the-Rhine.

A recent ruling by the Utah State Tax Commission concerning the assessment of pipelines could have major implications for pipeline companies statewide.

CentraState Healthcare System, located in Freehold Township, is a private, not-for-profit health organization with 285 in-patient beds and 2,600 employees, making it one of western Monmouth County's biggest employers.

Downtown Los Angeles is undergoing a surge of investment, with developers in the process of overhauling more than one million square feet of tired warehouses and old office buildings in at least seven projects, according to real-estate data firm CoStar Group Inc.

Apartment vacancies in Manhattan have risen to the highest level in more than nine years, which may indicate that the post-recession run-up in rents may begin to cool.

Apple Inc. investing at least $13 million in the massive Elk Grove campus expansion is the latest sign that the Sacramento region is finally gaining traction with technology employers.

Despite the summer slowdown, investors can’t seem to stay away from the multifamily sector, and transaction activity is high once again.

After officials unveiled a projected $1.87 billion surplus heading into the next legislative session, The Minnesota Chamber of Commerce and more than 70 other business groups began advocating for business tax cuts once again.

Thanks to a couple of massive mixed-used development on Irving's new rail line — the former 78-acre Texas Stadium site and the proposed 157-acre project surrounding Verizon's campus — the North Texas city is experiencing some big corporate interest once again.

Today the Michigan House Tax Policy committee advanced legislation that would provide large tax breaks to cloud-computing data center companies.

In a ruling on Albany school taxes, a California appeals court limited the amount of time taxpayers have to challenge their new property assessments to 60 days.

Some analysts are concerned that the future is looking even worse for Houston’s multifamily and commercial real estate markets due to the oil price slump.

In anticipation of an expected boom in new patients, some traditional hospital systems are shifting their expansion strategy toward mixed-use 'mini-districts,' bringing shopping, apartments, and hotels to hospital campuses.

After several retailers succumbed to filing bankruptcy this year, many owners of malls and shopping centers were left scrambling to fill vacancies.

Just as the property tax debate began heating up in the Pennsylvania Capitol as lawmakers attempt to finalize a budget, another hurdle was thrown into the mix.

After Monday’s shocking announcement that Marriott International would purchase Starwood Hotels & Resorts for $12.2-billion and create the world’s largest hotel company, industry analysts began to speculate not only on what the transformative deal means for the combined company’s massive portfolio, but what it means for the industry.

Morristown and the Atlantic Health System, owners of the Morristown Medical Center, finally reached a settlement, ending the closely-watched property tax battle dating back to 2006.

The U.S. industrial market is seeing low vacancies and a significant amount of absorption, causing industrial rents to rise in most of the country’s major industrial hubs, according to Cushman & Wakefield’s third-quarter research report.

Property taxes are taking center stage in the Pennsylvania Capitol once again as Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf and Republican lawmakers try to balance the authority of school boards to increase taxes against a budget deal that would raise the state sales tax to finance reductions in school taxes.

While hotel developers continue to add new supply thanks to strong demand and healthy fundamentals, many experts say that 2016 may be the final year of expansion for this cycle.

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie on Monday conditionally vetoed two controversial bills aimed at stabilizing Atlantic City’s chaotic finances.

The City of Austin filed a lawsuit challenging Texas' property appraisal system in August, seeking the reappraisal of thousands of commercial properties and vacant lands in Travis County.

After suffering plummeting property tax revenues for the past several years due to failing casinos, five bills aimed at stabilizing Atlantic City’s chaotic finances will become law Monday if Gov. Chris Christie doesn’t intervene.

Michigan lawmakers from both parties introduced bills this week aimed at stopping a common valuation method they say gives “unfair property tax breaks” to big box stores.

It looks like Seattle voters have approved the "Move Seattle" transportation levy, as more than 56 percent of voters said ‘yes’ to the measure in a count Tuesday night, making it highly likely the measure will pass.

The City of Austin filed a lawsuit challenging Texas' property appraisal system in August, arguing it is unconstitutional because it has allowed properties to be assigned “arbitrary and unreasonable” values that are below their market values.

After conducting its first countywide property reassessment in 47 years, Indiana County officials will have more time to hear thousands of remaining formal appeals.

After letting the historic preservation tax credit program expire last year, North Carolina legislators restored the credits in its budget last month, and developers around the state will begin moving forward with dormant renovation projects.

It is no secret that Brooklyn has been experiencing a residential boom over the past decade.

On Wednesday, the Chicago City Council approved Mayor Rahm Emanuel's $7.8 billion budget, which included $720 million in new taxes, fines, and fees.

Property tax consulting is a very “sticky” business.

Many oil- and natural gas-producing counties in western Kansas are starting to suffer from the energy industry downturn, facing major local tax revenue declines just as the state is ending an aid program meant to insulate them from industry downturns. 

There's a boutique hotel boom taking place in downtown Kansas City, which civic leaders say will help the city attract large conventions, as well as business and tourism travel. 

It's a good time to be in the self-storage industry, as rents continue to rise, units are almost completely occupied, and competition is low due to limited new construction.

Despite continued discussion about the board’s role in providing tax abatements, known as payments in lieu of taxes, outside of Downtown Memphis, The Center City Revenue Finance Corp. approved a a partial 15-year tax abatement for a $43 million apartment and retail project on a prominent but blighted Midtown.

Although Houston's industrial real estate market has performed better than the office sector through the oil slump, thanks to an increase in demand for distribution and warehouse space from the booming petrochemical industry, that may not be the case much longer.

Los Angeles landlords enjoyed another good quarter, raising rents to cash in on the growing demand amid shrinking supply of office space.

As consumer trends continue to shift to online shopping, the industrial segment of commercial real estate is reaping the benefits.

Hotels near or attached to airports benefit from a steady stream of travelers, which allows owners to command a higher rate premium on average over properties located elsewhere.

A West Virginia committee studying tax reform is weighing options of cutting or eliminating certain taxes, and one senator said the business personal property tax may be the "sweet spot" of the discussion.

Once the worst performing major market in the country, Detroit's office market is finally gaining momentum.

New York State Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan wants to extend the state’s property tax cap to New York City.

The physician real estate market is dynamic and diverse in the United States due to unique local, state, and federal healthcare regulations significantly impacting the size, type, and location of outpatient healthcare.

As apartment rents continue to skyrocket in many city and towns across the country, more and more jurisdictions are adopting inclusionary housing programs in order to provide at least a few affordable apartments for low- and moderate-income families.

Since voters in Colorado legalized recreational use of marijuana in 2012, growers and distributors have gobbled up most of the available warehouse space in the Denver area.

Following several months of deliberation and one of the most divisive budget seasons in years, Tallahassee city commissioners voted 4 to 1 to approve a $706 million budget and a 13-percent property tax increase on Thursday evening.

Investors take note: despite employers following educated young professional to downtown locations, suburban office property may be poised for something of a comeback, according to Marcus & Millichap analysts.

California's Proposition 13 is once again under fire, this time by a labor-union-backed organization called Make It Fair.

A warning to apartment investors: the Seattle is market is not as hot as it seems, and rent hikes in the Puget Sound region are slowing.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel is set to call for the largest property tax increase in modern Chicago history to combat the city's financial crisis, and businesses may be expected to shoulder most of the increase.

This past year, the Oregon legislature made some important law changes that will affect each individual, partnership, firm, or corporation that has taxable personal property.

Relatively high investment returns and generally improving market fundamentals has driven investor interest in the seniors housing sector.

Miami-Dade’s appeals system for property taxes relies on antiquated software plagued by “inaccurate data" and a jumbled scheduling process that helped cause a backlog responsible for millions of dollars in delayed payments to local government, according to a new watchdog report written by the county Inspector General’s Office.

The City of Austin filed a lawsuit challenging Texas’ property appraisal system last month, a move supported by Mayor Steve Adler who argues that commercial and vacant lands are being systemically undervalued in violation of the state constitution, and at the expense of residential property owners.

As college enrollments soar around the globe, more students are forced to look for accommodation outside of dorms or typical off-campus housing.

Not only is the US economy stabilizing, but reduced CRE inventory has amplified demand and accelerated price growth.

Macy's will close 35 to 40 underperforming stores, around 5% of its total locations, in response to shifting shopper habits and investor demands to make better use of its real estate.

A group of Philadelphia civic and business leaders on Labor Day released a report projecting 79,000 new jobs in the city over the next decade if politicians agree to major tax restructuring.

While tax abatements are an important tool for communities to attract new development and spur job growth, cities and other tax-abating governments don't often share the accumulated financial consequences of those tax breaks.

WaterWalk Hotel Apartments — a new concept that combines apartment living with an extended-stay hotel as a new corporate housing option — first opened a year ago in Wichita, Kansas, and has plans for 11 more locations in seven states, including North Carolina, Texas and Florida.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel is set to call for the largest property tax increase in modern Chicago history to raise enough money to make a major pension payment for police and firefighters next year, the mayor's City Council floor leader and a City Hall source told the Chicago Tribune.

As investor interest grows in the student housing sector, several industry leaders discussed the biggest trends over the last five years and those emerging today with the National Real Estate Investor.

Business confidence, employment growth and low interest rates are driving a major push in New York City office construction, as the city is on track to hit a 25-year high this year and almost double that built in 2014, according to a new report by the New York Building Congress.

A newly formed group of farmers and ranchers, tentatively called Nebraskans for Tax Reform, are seeking signatures on a petition that will ask the governor to call a special legislative session, as early as this year, to address high property taxes on ag land.

Hundreds of Tucson-area homeowners were caught off guard this year, as the Pima County assessor targeted people who rent their houses, guesthouses or condos as short-term or vacation rental properties for profit and reclassified those properties as commercial.

It's well-known that millennials are flocking to urban cores across the country, causing developers to rush downtown in order to meet the growing demand.

On Monday, the City of Austin filed a lawsuit challenging Texas' property appraisal system, arguing it is unconstitutional because it has allowed properties to be assigned “arbitrary and unreasonable” values that are below their market values and creates “an imbalance in the tax burdens between residential and commercial property owners.”

As the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has added more than 16 million new patients to the health care system and brought out more stringent rules for providers, it has pushed many independent physicians to partner with larger organizations.

California's hospitality industry continues to thrive, as hotel sales reached over $4.4 billion during the first half of 2015, surpassing all previous midyear records since Orange County-based Atlas Hospitality Group began tracking sales activity in 1994.

A pair of “game-changing investments," Volvo Cars North America and Mercedes-Benz Vans, is fueling Charleston's industrial sector and has the the potential to grow automotive manufacturing in the region and throughout South Carolina, according to a report by Colliers International.

Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner signed House Bill 228, forbidding the General Assembly for the next four years from approving any legislation that either creates a new type of local government or allows an existing government to split into two.

Driven by the residential, retail, industrial and health care facility sectors, the South Florida metropolitan area had the second-most construction contracts awarded in the first half of 2015.

As commercial real estate sales and prices continue to soar to record levels in cities around the world, many industry experts are beginning to worry the global property market is headed toward a bubble.

U.S. Apartment growth is not showing signs of moderating, according to the July 2015 edition of Matrix Monthly, a report on U.S. multifamily market trends in the 101 U.S. markets surveyed by real estate software developer Yardi.

A bipartisan group of Michigan lawmakers say they’ll make a major push in the fall to end special 'property tax discounts' given to big box stores.

Office investment has taken off in the past two years, with the national sales volume in the sector rising to about $40 billion in the second quarter, according to the National Real Estate Investor.

Dallas, Texas-based Compass Datacenters has acquired 23.5 acres in Lithia Springs, Ga. where it plans to develop four-to-five 1.2 MW data centers in six months.

Vacancies are growing substantially in downtown Austin's luxury apartment market and another flood of expensive units is on the way, which will test the market's depth and stability over the next few months.

Illinois Senate Democrats passed legislation yesterday that would freeze property taxes statewide for two years and would help Chicago Public Schools by picking up $200 million in pension costs.

According to an analysis by STR, Inc., Airbnb’s presence and rates across New York, New York, make the short-term rental company a formidable competitor to the market’s hotel industry.

The Salt Lake County city and school district proposals alone would collect approximately $10 million more in taxes.

Retail, which was the last category to climb out of the last recession, hasn’t seen the big pricing adjustment that the other sectors have had.

San Antonio's office market had the strongest first half in the city's history, thanks to the highest recorded levels of absorption and rising rents.

South Carolina is in the middle of a manufacturing renaissance, posting back-to-back record years of manufacturing investment totaling $10 billion in 2013 and 2014 and an outlook just as promising for 2015.

An Ohio Supreme Court decision made earlier this month ruled that grain storage bins are personal property pursuant to state law and may not be taxed as real property.

The commissioners announced that revised notices of assessment changes will be mailed to affected property owners within the next several weeks.

The Kansas City Council unanimously approved a multifaceted financing package for the proposed $311 million downtown Hyatt convention center hotel, which is expected to allow construction of the long-awaited, 800-room facility to begin early next year.

Most complaints are filed by schools seeking a higher valuation, which means additional taxes for the property owner, and thus a boost in the school's short-term tax take.

Milwaukee's central business district is seeing strong demand for office space, filling a significant amount of space in the second quarter.

New York property taxes will grow less than one percent next year, which is great news for real estate owners who will likely face the lowest property tax increase since the cap was implemented in 2012.

Despite the fact that Wolf and lawmakers were able to find some common ground on property tax reform, the discussion will be overshadowed by other issues the budget is contingent on.

Under current law, Pennsylvania school districts have the authority to pursue a tax assessment appeal on a property that they believe is under-assessed, called a 'spot' appeal.

Thanks to the help of Apple and the 49ers, Santa Clara County's property assessment roll hit a new high -- $409 billion.

On April 29th, the Montana House passed Senate Bill 157, switching from a 6-year reappraisal cycle to a 2-year cycle for all properties other than forest land.

North Texas' booming apartment market is bringing all-time high rent as apartment occupancy continues to remain tight.

Issuing a decision that could have major statewide implications for the New Jersey health care industry, a New Jersey Tax Court judge has denied Morristown Medical Center's challenge to overturn the Morristown tax assessor's denial of tax-exempt status for portions of its operations.

Washington County, Pennsylvania is currently undergoing a reassessment of all properties.

According to the Austin Chronicle, the city now has 60 days to appeal, presumably sufficient to allow TCAD to certify its 2015 values and county taxing jurisdictions to prepare their FY 2016 budgets.

Although New York City was short on hotel supply just a few years back, it could now be facing a bubble, according to pumped-up speculation and forces outside of the hospitality industry.

After concluding this year's 113-day legislative session, the longest in Kansas history, it turns out legislators aren't quite off the hook yet.

American retail has been struggling in recent years, and traditional mall anchors Sears, Macy's, and JCPenney have shuttered hundreds of store locations across the country.

Over the weekend, Gov. Greg Abbott vetoed a bill that would have made it easier for big corporations to win breaks on school property taxes and would have allowed a company to make one application for projects strung across multiple school districts.

In an effort to increase public safety, Tallahassee City Manager Anita Favors Thompson is seeking a 27-percent property tax increase, which will help pay for more police officers, fire fighters and equipment.

According to a recent survey conducted by the Pennsylvania Association of School Business Officials and the Pennsylvania Association of School Administrators, about 70 percent of the state's school districts plan to raise property taxes in the 2015-2016 school year.

A new bidding war is breaking out in the self-storage industry, as REITS and other investors are attracted to the sector's stable returns.

In an effort to tackle an affordable housing crisis of “epic proportions,” the California Supreme Court unanimously decided on Monday that cities and counties can require developers to sell some housing at below-market rates.

Some of the Phoenix’s trophy Class A office buildings have higher vacancy rates than the market overall, as well as higher office vacancy rates than other Western U.S. cities such as San Francisco, Seattle and Los Angeles, according to a new report from JLL.

Three months in to 2015's peak leasing season, the multifamily sector is performing better than expected.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Mr. de Blasio’s proposal would continue 421-a but toughen its affordable-housing requirements.

Hotels performance in major oil and gas markets has slowed due to a decline in U.S. oil prices, according to analysis by STR Analytics.

A new poll conducted by the Public Policy Institute of California found that support is dwindling for removing commercial properties from tax limits imposed by Proposition 13, the landmark property tax initiative approved by voters in 1978.

The vacancy levels of downtown Pittsburgh’s Class A office market are expected to reach above 10 percent over the next three years, according to a new Skyline report by Jones Lang LaSalle, that otherwise notes that it ranks among the tightest central business district office markets the firm surveyed.

Several counties in Pennsylvania are in the process of conducting countywide real property reassessments.

California Senate Bill 661 has come under a lot of controversy, as the bill would strip counties of their authority for assessing taxes on the planes that airlines fly in the state, giving that responsibility instead to the state Board of Equalization (BOE).

As Chicago grapples with massive budget problems, it is very likely be a property tax increase will be the solution.

The future is looking positive for the Washington, D.C. office sector as development slows, the economy improves, and millennials move into the city.

Yesterday the Austin City Council voted unanimously to file a petition challenging the Travis Central Appraisal District’s valuation of commercial properties.

According to CNN, 9.5 square miles of ocean and 8.7 miles of coastline were affected, from Arroyo Hondo beach to Refugio State Beach, near Goleta. Santa Barbara County is in a declared state of emergency.

Property owners in energy producing Kansas counties are either facing property tax hikes or cuts in local government services as gas prices continue to decline, according to the Topeka Capital-Journal.

The Los Angeles Assessment Appeals Board faces a backlog of about 25,000 appeals, but a new county budget proposal may help property owners who have waited up to three years for their tax bills to be appealed finally get some relief.

In an effort to increase local government revenues in communities with a high number of tax-exempt properties, the Connecticut House passed a bill yesterday that would require hospitals and private colleges to pay property taxes.

Last week, the Austin City Council met behind closed doors to discuss a possible challenge to the Travis Central Appraisal District's commercial property values.

New York's property tax cap isn't set to expire until June 2016, but Gov. Andrew Cuomo, homeowners, and business groups are already pushing to make the cap permanent.

On March 12, 2015, Arizona enacted Senate Bill 1471, which provides in section 19 that the Arizona Department of Revenue is required to establish a tax amnesty running from Sept. 1, 2015, through Oct. 31, 2015.

Over the past decade, a generous property tax exemption program has helped spur a rapid expansion of wind farms in Oklahoma.

This week, the Tax Increment Financing (TIF) Commission of Kansas City approved TIF assistance for the $138 million Commerce Tower mix-use redevelopment project.

Last June, the Austin City Council was urged by some activists and homeowners to file a petition challenging the value of commercial properties, which would have gone before a Travis Central Appraisal District board.

The Pennsylvania House approved a property tax reform proposal yesterday that would would shift $4.2 billion of the school funding burden that property owners now bear to an increased state personal income tax and sales tax rate.

As a follow up to my January 2015 article on property tax proposals in the now concluded legislative session, I will now examine the bills that passed and failed, as well as proposals that we may see in Arizona’s next legislative session.

U.S. hotel prices were just one percentage point short of their pre-recession peak in March, according to Moody’s/RCA Commercial Property Price Indices (CPPI) report.

A newly formed coalition of public employee unions and other liberal groups, including many churches, launched a campaign Thursday to put a revision on California's 2016 ballot that would remove Proposition 13's protections from commercial properties.

The North Carolina House voted to bring back the state's Historic Property Tax Credit program, which aided rehabilitation of designated historic buildings and homes and mill and warehouse buildings by lowering the tax bills of the developers based on their development costs.

In an effort to increase funding for schools, roads and government services, two state representatives introduced a bill that would lift Washington's 1 percent cap on local property tax levies.

All New York City income-producing property owners are required to file a RPIE-2015 (Real Property Income and Expense Statement) with the Department of Finance by June 1, 2015.

Investors are pouring money into student housing properties, as new buyers, including high-net worth individuals, private equity fund managers and institutional investors, continue to enter the market.

Property values across the Denver-metro area are seeing large jumps in value, and county assessors are warning taxpayers to expect much higher tax bills. The city is fully recovered from the recession and continues to grow tremendously, and property values reflect that growth.

In April, both Missouri (Senate Bill 149) and North Dakota (House Bill 1089) enacted legislation creating sales and use tax exemptions for new and expanding data storage centers.

Texas is one of the few states that does not require the disclosure of a real estate transaction, thus sale prices are not readily available to the public.

The Florida House passed House bill 695 on Monday, a bill that addresses property tax appeal reform sought by Miami-Dade County School Board and could protect the the Miami-Dade school system from an anticipated $40 million budget shortfall.

A huge alliance of Yavapai County, Arizona ranchers is appealing portions of a tax court ruling about the value of the county's grazing land. While the judge lowered grazing land values for property tax purposes, values for federal and state grazing leases were not considered.

Thanks to a renewed flow of equity capital and low-cost debt financing, new U.S. hotel development is no longer on hold.

In 2003, the Texas Legislature amended the Texas Property Tax Code, Section 41.43(b), in order to allow property owners the ability to protest the valuation of their property implementing an equal and uniform appeal.

On Monday, Minnesota House Republicans rolled out a $2 billion tax break plan, which featured $539 million in income tax cuts with another $453 million for beginning to phase out the statewide business and cabin property tax.

According to Cushman & Wakefield’s annual U.S. office market overview and three-year forecast released this week, the average asking rent growth across the country is expected to come in at just under 5 percent in 2015 and 2016 and reach 3.6 percent in 2017.

Last week the Montana House endorsed two major tax bills, one of which will simplify the state's income taxes, while the other would shorten the property reappraisal cycle in an effort to simplify the complicated property tax system.

In response to Mayor Nutter's proposed 9.3 percent property tax increase, Philadelphia City Council President Darrell L. Clarke has offered an alternative solution to increase school funding.

U.S. commercial property values have been steadily climbing for the past decade, and values have now risen 87% since they bottomed out in 2009, and more than 14% from the prior peak in 2007, according to a recent report from real estate research firm Green Street Advisors.

Gov. Kate Brown signed Senate Bill 611 last week, ending the controversial “central assessment” tax of data centers that created years of legal uncertainty for tech companies in Oregon and threatened future growth of the industry in the state.

Tax Assessor's Offices across the State of Georgia have begun mailing Annual Notice of Assessments, which property owners should receive in the next few weeks.

In an effort to fill the state's projected $600 million budget shortfall for the next fiscal year, a Kansas Senate committee advanced a bill that would eliminate the automatic 10-year property tax exemptions given to companies that build new oil and gas pipelines in Kansas.

Baltimore's rebounding economy driving rising property tax revenues has Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake proposing a bigger budget for 2016.

As oil prices plummeted to near six-year lows over the past several months, some multifamily developers are stalling their proposed projects and development plans in Houston and shifting their focus to other markets instead.

As the U.S. Dollar sits at an 11-year high and continues to climb, the tourism industry is left facing a number of challenges and uncertainties.

Just five months after voters struck down The Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority's attempt to boost the county’s sales tax rate to the highest in Florida to fund a $1.6-billion, 24-mile light rail system, the PSTA new strategy is a property tax increase.

The Historic Property Tax Credit, a state income tax credit intended to help developers raise money to restore historic properties, was granted bipartisan approval by the North Carolina House and now moves to the state Senate.

Companion proposals that would eliminate the business personal property tax are circulating in the Wisconsin Legislature.

Rising real-estate values are driving more retail companies to consider splitting off their real-estate assets to generate cash, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The New York Supreme Court once again rejected the state's teaches union attempt to get the property tax cap tossed.

City and convention center officials are considering property tax breaks to help build a massive hotel complex across from the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center, which would have at least 1,200 rooms and cost roughly $800 million to build.

The city of Charlotte is facing a $15.6 million shortfall for the upcoming fiscal year, a budget gap larger than what the city faced after the recession in 2008, and elected officials are struggling to find a solution to the unexpected budget crunch.

Commercial property values continued to climb up in the first two months of the year, according to commercial property price indices (CPPIs) from Moody’s/RCA and Green Street Advisors.

Gov. Scott Walker's proposal to shift property assessment duties from municipalities to counties is meeting a lot of resistance.

With 12,392 units that have either opened or are under construction with a 2015 completion date, Seattle apartment developers are on pace to break a production record set in 1989, if they're all up and running this year.

In an effort to increase revenues for county schools, Prince George’s County Executive Rushern L. Baker III (D) proposed raising property tax rates for the first time in 35 years.

When the Revenue Committee voted on the proposal to reduce the taxable value of agricultural land from 75 to 65 percent of market value on Wednesday, only two of eight members voted for it.

JP Morgan Chase, the nation's largest bank, announced plans to close roughly 300 branches by the end of 2016, roughly 5 percent of its overall footprint.

Many commercial property owners suffered from sticker shock last year when the District changed its assessment methodology of office buildings and apartment buildings, basing assessments on pools rather than individual building data such as vacancy and rental rates.

In the heat of a tight mayoral campaign, City Council budget chairman Alderman Carrie Austin, a key ally of Rahm Emanuel, said the mayor will have to raise property taxes to cover city’s looming budget gap and ballooning pension payments.

Top Texas business leaders, representing the industrial sector and 46 percent of business taxpayers, sent a letter to Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and state senators last week, complaining that the Senate tax-reduction package "falls short" when it comes to incentives to continue growing the state's economy.

Walgreens, CVS, and other big drugstore chains have been challenging property tax assessments in courts around the country for the past decade, with little national notice.

A report by the Allegheny Institute found that there were 10,226 appeals of property values heard by the Allegheny County (Pennsylvania) Board of Property Assessment Appeals and Review in 2014.

New York City's hotel sector has been growing for years and has long-been an attractive market for developers and investors.

As the New York property tax cap is set to expire next year, a coalition of education groups is urging the state Legislature to overhaul the system, saying the restrictions are straining school budgets.

In an effort to cure Atlantic City's reeling gambling industry, which has seen about half its revenue disappear since 2006, a plan was introduced three months ago that would make sweeping changes to the way casinos pay property taxes.

San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer revealed plans to overhaul the city's development permit process during his speech at a recent NAIOP luncheon.

Gov. Rick Scott's $77 billion budget proposal before the Legislature includes $842 million more for schools, bringing per pupil spending to a record high.

In an effort to lure more internet-based companies to Portland, city officials have rewritten a key policy to extend tax breaks to such businesses.

When buying an operating business such as a hotel, many purchasers forget to obtain a tax clearance certificate from the state in which the business is operated before the sale is closed.

Last week, a judge ruled in favor of county and state officials in a property tax lawsuit brought by Walgreens Co.

In an effort to make Nevada more competitive with neighboring states, Senate and Assembly members held a joint committee hearing on SB93 and AB161, which would expand tax abatements to the aviation industry.

Although the hotel industry is in the midst of possibly the most successful period in the industry's modern era, some United States hotel leaders are concerned of the effects of reduced oil prices, the strength of the dollar overseas, and supply growth, according to Hotel News Now.

On Monday, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott delivered his State of the State Speech and proposed a budget plan calling for a $2 billion reduction in the business franchise tax and a $2.2 billion reduction in the property tax burden, and includes an appropriation that makes school districts whole for any tax revenue they might lose, according to the Austin Business Journal.

The performance of Atlanta's industrial real estate market is further indication of the city's rallying economy.

In response to controversy surrounding Miami-Dade County Public School's tax collection shortfalls, state Rep. Bryan Avila has proposed new regulations for Value Adjustment Boards (VAB), which hear property tax appeals.

As Millennials are opting to live in urban areas over the suburbs or rural communities, the changing demographics is causing a shift in retailer demand from regional malls, grocery-anchored strips and outlet centers to street retail.

In response to recent Indiana Board of Tax Review decisions favoring Meijer and Kohl's, which will result in major value reductions during the upcoming spring assessment cycle, Sen. Brandt Hershman is trying to advance legislation that would shore up county assessors' valuations of big-box stores.

Both the El Paso City Council and County Commissioners Court passed resolutions on Monday calling for Texas legislators to reform property tax laws to increase transparency on real estate transactions.

During his State of the State speech last week, Gov. Bruce Rauner unveiled several pro-business measures to "turn Illinois around," including a two-year freeze on property taxes.

Assessment offices across the state of Maryland will soon be sending out Commercial Property Income & Expense requests to properties whose value exceeds $5 million.

After building his gubernatorial campaign around tax cuts and business issues, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan used his first State of the State yesterday to address these issues, calling for millions of dollars in tax breaks.

New York City's 421a property tax program, which allows developers of rental apartments to reduce their real estate taxes on new projects for 10 to 25 years, has come under scrutiny as the June 15 expiration date draws nearer.

The Pittsburgh school district is cracking down on developers who have been taking advantage of loopholes to avoid paying deed transfer to taxes when buying properties Downtown and elsewhere for the past several years.

In an effort to create a more open and fair process for Washington taxpayers disputing tax assessments, Sen. John Braun introduced Senate Bill 5449, which would establish an independent tax appeal forum within the state’s judicial branch.

The California Supreme Court has granted a taxpayer’s petition to review an appellate court’s upholding of Los Angeles County’s practice of imposing Documentary Transfer Tax (“DTT”) upon a change in control of a limited liability company.

Supervisors in Kern County, home to the five most productive petroleum fields in California, have declared a state of fiscal emergency in response to predictions of a massive shortfall in property tax revenues amid plunging oil prices.

Morristown, New Jersey has fired a lawsuit against Morristown Medical Center due to its non-profit status, which exempts the business from having to pay property taxes.

Demand for the month was 5.8 percent higher than last year, and Interstate and Suburban hotels even reported demand increases of more than 6 percent.

The First Regular Session of the Fifty-Second Legislature of the State of Arizona began last week and is already off to a busy start, especially in the area of property tax measures.

A recent court decision favoring Meijer over Marion County, Indiana could impact the way big box retailers are assessed statewide.

A report released by Colorado's division of Property Taxation shows that both residential and business property values, with the exception of natural resources, have risen significantly over the past two years, according to the Denver Post.

A Pennsylvania school district is creating significant tension between itself and the Franklin County, Pennsylvania Economic Development Department.

On Friday, Governor Paul LePage announced his two-year budget proposal that would achieve $300 million in savings by 2019 by making huge changes to Maine's tax system.

As oil prices continue to drop, the success of some office sectors across the country is being threatened.

Wisconsin developers are wondering what's in store for the state's historic restoration tax credit program, as there was a large spike in demand for the credits over the past year.

Cincinnati's property tax rate will remain the same in 2016 as it is this year - 5.6 mills - under a tax budget passed by the City Council on Wednesday.

Assessment notices have been issued to property owners across the state of Maryland and values have increased since 2011, reflecting a rebounding market.

Over the past decade, Tax Increment Financing (TIF) has grown in popularity across the nation.

While Philadelphia's apartment market performed well in 2014, there are some indications that 2015 might be a different story due to a rising tide of supply.

As Texas legislators begin their session next week, they will discuss what to do with the overflowing state coffers, which has as much as $9 billion to $12 billion extra, according to conservative estimates.

A study conducted by the Pennsylvania Auditor General found Allegheny County as the top county in terms of losing the most annual tax revenue from exempt real estate.

New Jersey Assemblyman Chris Brown has called for a 5-year property tax freeze in Atlantic City along with an even further drop in casino tax assessments.

Recent findings from the Massachusetts Appellate Tax Court could provide solar developers statewide the opportunity to challenge their property tax payments.

Strong occupancy and average daily rate growth fueled the Arizona hospitality industry in 2014.

Idaho Governor, Butch Otter, along with other local business leaders, is once again calling for the state's personal property tax to be abolished.

Property tax relief is Nebraska Farm Bureau’s top priority for the 2015 session of the Nebraska Legislature, due to concerns that ag land owners pay more than their fair share of property taxes.

Boston has officially become a billion dollar city for the first time, as the total estimated value of its residential and commercial property jumped to $110 billion, according to a new city assessment.

The Washington D.C. Economic Partnership (WDCEP) released its 2014/2015 Development Report this week, an annual collection of data providing key insights and highlights of D.C.'s major projects and upcoming development plans in the city.

As the 113th Congress wraps things up this week, they will vote on the House's government funding bill, which will fund most of the government through next September, and a House bill that will reinstate various expired tax breaks.

The California State Board of Equalization has instructed California assessors to apply a 1.998% inflation factor when preparing their 2015/2016 assessment rolls.

In 2013, Minnesota legislators increased the local government aid program for cities by $80 million, touting a reduced property tax burden.

The flood of equity financing available in the hotel market is driving pricing up, dropping capitalization rates and affecting the availability and types of transactions getting done, according to speakers at a general session at the North America Hotel Investment Conference.

One of new economic development director Christine Mackay's top priority this year is an "economic rebirth" of Phoenix's midtown area.

AUSTIN, Texas -- A coalition of leading Texas business organizations is joining forces with the Coalition for Equal and Uniform Taxation to defend the Texas constitution's guarantee of Equal and Uniform Taxation, and fight efforts to impose mandatory sales price disclosure.

Property taxes paid to counties and municipalities by the proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline would exceed $25 million a year, according to the energy companies that want to build it.

National and foreign investors alike are focusing their attention on Denver, thanks to the city's booming energy economy.

While commercial real estate values overall have recovered to pre-crash heights, the rebounding market isn’t treating all property owners equally.

In response to the 1o31 exchange being threatened on three fronts, the commercial real estate industry is making their opposition known to Congress

Newly-elected legislators, the newly-elected Lieutenant Governor, local officials, and public policy organizations in Texas have proposed a wide-range of proposals for property tax reform.

Energy benchmarking for large commercial buildings is fast becoming U.S. law.

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett is supporting a plan to give the controversial downtown Milwaukee streetcar an additional $49.3 million through two tax incremental financing districts the city will consider next month.

Today, a city board will review the early designs of two concepts that Amazon.com is proposing for the fourth block of its downtown Seattle high-rise campus.

Although Nevada's Question 3, which proposed a two-percent (2%) margin tax on business entities in Nevada with total revenue in excess of $1,000,000 to fund the operation of the public schools, was shot down by voters in the Nov. 4 election, the Las Vegas Metro Chamber of Commerce told members it’s time to step up and help raise more revenue for education.

The performance gap between strong class-B malls and struggling ones continues to grow by the day.

Assemblyman Vince Mazzeo announced today he will be introducing legislation to create jobs, spark economic development and provide vital property tax relief by creating an Urban Enterprise Zone (UEZ) for Atlantic City.

Despite the recent election, there is already talk of a push for several tax increases on California's 2016 ballot, in addition to potential initiatives on legalizing recreational marijuana, public pension reform and minimum wage increases.

While not expecting major legislative action by the new Republican-controlled Senate, hotel leaders believe that the elections provide an ‘opportunity for a reset.'

Today, Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto introduced a half-billion dollar proposed budget, which calls for $507 million in spending on revenue of $516 million and included an increase in property taxes.

A recent ruling from the U.S. Bankruptcy Court will allow Atlantic City, NJ to collect up to $30 million in unpaid property taxes from the former Revel Casino Hotel.

In its biggest effort yet to make government tax subsides more transparent, the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) proposed rules that would require state and local governments for the first time to disclose information about property and other tax abatement agreements.

Yesterday, nearly 59 percent of voters in Denton, a town in North Texas which sits on the edge of gas-rich Barnett Shale, approved a measure banning hydraulic fracturing, or fracking — the method of oil and gas extraction that has led to a domestic energy boom.

South Korean electronics giant Samsung Electronics Co. is eyeing a large expansion, looking for up to 1 million square feet of Manhattan office space in a new or existing tower.

For the second year in a row, Georgia took the top spot in Site Selection magazine's Top US Business Climates: 2014.

Kern County, California defeated Chevron USA Inc. this week in a landmark property tax case.

On July 1, 2014, two house bills became law in Kansas. The bills benefit taxpayers and are drastic improvements over previous statutes and case law.

For the most part, the office sector has been soaring in urban markets across the country. Driven by demand for office space from the technology and energy industries, values for trophy office buildings in large U.S. cities led by New York, San Francisco and Houston have seen major increases over the past few years, especially.

A Washington think tank on state and local taxes is cautioning Indiana legislators to think twice about rushing to eliminate the business personal property tax.

On November 4, Santa Monica residents will vote on Measure H and HH, which will decide whether or not to increase transfer tax rates and if so, where to allocate the new funds.

Investors are seeking secondary markets for higher yield, as there are more opportunistic and value-add transactions in those markets, according to industry experts that recently spoke on on the Rise of the Secondary City panel at CCIM Thrive in Downtown Los Angeles.

What can be done to minimize real estate transfer taxes (RETT) on hospitality acquisitions? Many believe that these taxes are a fixed cost and do not realize that they can often be minimized through a program of careful, proactive and prudent planning.

It is unlikely that the proposed Property Tax Independence Act will pass the Pennsylvania Legislature this year, as GOP leaders refused to call up the bill for vote.

The latest report from the Mortgage Bankers Association shows that there is a lot of mortgage debt available to commercial real estate investors, and lenders are plentiful.

Last month, Texas comptroller Susan Combs stirred controversy when she said Texas' growing wind energy industry's tax credits and property tax limitations that helped grow the industry gives it an unfair market advantage over other power sources.

Large commercial real estate owners and tenants in the District should brace themselves for major property tax increases next year.

Atlanta city officials are seeking proposals to redevelop the 20-acre Boisfeuillet Jones Atlanta Civic Center, with goals of turning the campus into the heart of a "24-hour urban environment" featuring a mix of housing, stores, offices and film and TV studios.

In an effort to establish New York as a national leader in the solar industry, Governor Cuomo has signed into law a bill that extends real property tax breaks for installing electricity-generating solar panels on New York City buildings effective September 23, 2014.

Seniors Housing properties, which consist of independent living, assisting living and skilled nursing product types, have been a top-performing asset class for commercial real estate owners for quite some time.

Last week, two Los Angeles City Council members introduced a motion that calls for landowners to receive tax breaks for leasing vacant property for agriculture, in an effort to transform empty, blighted lots into flourishing urban farms, encourage green enterprises and improve neighborhoods.

The Airbnb/hotel playing field is starting to level in San Francisco. As of October 1, the peer-to-peer apartment rental service is now required to collect the same 14% tax (which helps pay for city services, infrastructure upkeep, programs and cultural arts programs) on behalf of its hosts in San Francisco as is required of the city’s hotel industry.

Eight of nine legislators on the Legislative Council's Steering Committee on Personal Property Tax (PPT) have concluded that the time has come to repeal this tax on Wisconsin businesses.

The Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center (PBPC) released a report today, titled "Reform Not Repeal: Pennsylvania Can Provide Property Tax Relief and Protect Public Schools," that concluded that the state should better target its property tax relief and overhaul its assessment system rather than eliminate the local property taxes that fund schools.

We know that you always intend to pay your property taxes properly (and to only pay taxes on assets that are still in use and at your facility). However, we also know that day-to-day activities and meeting customer demands often takes priority.

Office space under construction in Houston has increased by about 54 percent over the last 12 months.

The Oregon Supreme Court recently reversed a lower court decision, ruling that Comcast and other cable TV companies are subject to central assessment by the state.

In recent weeks, the Maricopa and Pinal County Assessors increased scrutiny of preferential tax assessments accorded to golf course and agricultural uses, respectively.

The Cook County Board of Commissioners has adopted a new commercial real estate tax incentive known as the Class 7c Commercial Urban Relief Eligibility (CURE) incentive aiming to encourage real estate development in the Chicago region which would not be economically feasible without assistance.

Milwaukee-based Wisconsin Policy Research Institute (WPRI) recently released a study that found Wisconsin could boost its economy without bankrupting state government by cutting income and property taxes, while broadening its sales tax on consumer goods and services.

Arizona’s Proposition 117 (“Prop 117”) was implemented on January 1, 2014 for the 2015 tax year.

Business property owners in Iowa received $127.3 million in tax relief this month, thanks to landmark legislation enacted by the split-control Legislature in 2013, marking the first reduction in business property taxes in more than three decades.

As the hospitality industry continues to thrive in the recovering economy, many hotel owners are renovating, building or acquiring new properties to keep up with demand.

During a hearing last Thursday, a judge ruled that Fulton County will be allowed to collect a 17 percent property tax increase the county commission approved last month.

A candidate in the running to oversee Jefferson County, Colorado's property tax system as its next assessor owes thousands of dollars in delinquent taxes at both the federal and state level, according to county records.

Fulton County Commissioners tested their right to increase property taxes in August when they voted to raise the county’s millage rate by 17 percent, despite a newly enacted Georgia state law that specifically barred the county from doing so.

A bill to eliminate the school property tax in Pennsylvania has made it out of the Senate Finance Committee.

On August 24, 2014, the strongest earthquake in 25 years struck Northern California, severely damaging historic buildings in downtown Napa and properties in the surrounding area.

Despite Michigan voters overwhelmingly approving Proposal 1 last month, which phases out the business personal property tax, business lobbyists are pushing for further business tax reform.

Pittsburgh's board of the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) voted through six agenda items at its September board meeting that are expected to help launch $500 million in new development on the former Civic Arena site and help spur the revitalization of the Hill District area.

In addition to corporate relocations, there have been numerous corporate expansions including FedEx, Capital One, State Farm, Raytheon and many others in the area.

Hotel development in Cleveland is booming, thanks in part to the city winning the bid for the 2016 RNC, a new convention center and a surging health care sector, according to Hotel News Now.

On Monday, the Orlando City Council gave preliminary approval to a 17.7 percent property tax increase, which would raise the rate by $1, to $6.65 per $1,000 of taxable value.

After a 5-state battle for Telsa Motors' $5 billion battery gigafactory, Nevada came out as the victor.

California's recently passed Assembly Bill 1999, authored by Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins (D-San Diego), would offer a a 20% state tax credit to developers restoring structures listed on the National Register of Historic Places or the California Register of Historical Resources.

The original case before the MTT considered whether a neighborhood strip mall was overvalued for tax years 2009 and 2010

The number of properties receiving a tax abatement or having a portion of their property tax revenue redirected to another purpose has exploded in Franklin County, Ohio over the past 15 years, an analysis by The Columbus Dispatch has found.

As the multifamily sector has skyrocketed from the recession, the niche self-storage industry is attracting all types of new investors looking for safe returns.

Chicago aldermanic candidates recently received a survey from superPAC "Chicago Forward," created to re-elect Mayor Rahm Emanuel and his City Council allies, asking if they support a post-election property tax hike, two possible mayoral challengers warned Thursday.

With an improving economy and thriving industry, hotel owners and management companies are once again focusing on aggressive, strategic renovations to improve their assets and ensure facilities and amenities are keeping up with new traveler demands and trends.

Brunswick County, North Carolina began the 2015 property revaluation process on Monday, holding a public hearing on the schedule of values the tax department will use to rate properties.

There are several types of ad valorem taxes in the State of Arizona.

After suffering from crippling vacancy rates from 2008-2011, the Central Florida industrial market (comprised of Seminole, Orange and Lake counties) is finally beginning to recover.

A study released this month by the Council on State Taxation and Ernst & Young found that taxes on real, personal, and utility property owned by businesses accounted for the largest share of state and local business tax receipts by a wide margin.

Retail space has become an interesting alternative to the old-fashioned office building.

As the clock ticks, Pennsylvania legislators are devising a plan to revive a property tax elimination bill that has been stuck in the Senate’s Finance Committee for nearly a year and a half.

A lot has changed in Houston's retail market over the past few years, but 2014 has seen historically strong real estate fundamentals to date.

Investors know that Atlanta has a tendency to overdevelop, thus, concerns about the thousands of apartment units in the development pipeline — especially in places such as Midtown--are likely.

Global commercial real estate firm CBRE Inc. recently published a report about the major impact the booming high-tech industry has had on the U.S. office market recovery.

Changing Oregon’s 2-decade-old property tax limits topped the list for the League of Oregon Cities' 2015 legislative priorities.

Tulsa, Oklahoma's strong energy and manufacturing economy is spurring a hotel building boom, and 27 hotels with 3,003 rooms are currently under contract in the local market.

Since late 2000, medical marijuana has been legal in the State of Colorado. History was made November 6, 2012, however, when Amendment 64 was passed.

Last week, Fulton County commissioners voted 4-3 to approve a 17 percent property tax hike, which would be the first increase since 1991.

Much to Atlantic City residents' dismay, the City Council approved a 29 percent tax increase as part of it's new budget.

At Paradigm Tax Group, we have been experiencing an increase in activity in the sale / leaseback of machinery and equipment with our clients.

Michigan primary voters gave final approval to Proposal 1 yesterday, which will set in forth the plan to phase out personal property taxes that small businesses pay on office equipment and manufacturers, including Detroit automakers, pay on industrial equipment.

Billionaire Elon Musk's space exploration company SpaceX chose the nation's poorest city as the world's first private commercial rocket launch site.

Nine out of the 10 largest commercial properties in Cook County face higher property tax bills in 2013, according to the Cook County Treasurer's Office.

Since North Carolina introduced the Historic Preservation Tax Credit program in 1998, the credits have been renewed every budget season.

U.S. telecom company Windstream was recently cleared by the IRS to reclassify most of its copper and fiber-optic lines as real estate by forming a REIT, a maneuver that could yield tax savings of more than $100 million a year for the company.

Due to a nearly $30 million budget shortfall facing the city, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer and Chief Financial Officer Rebecca Sutton said a property tax hike is needed in order to fill the gap.

What was once one of the country’s premier vacation destinations and East Coast gambling monopoly is now a city on the brink of bankruptcy, suffering from long-term decline in visitation and plummeting casino revenues.

Today, New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman moved to dismiss a class action suit seeking to overturn existing city and state property tax laws, which the plaintiffs contend is racially discriminatory.

The fairness of commercial property assessments has been a highly-debated topic throughout Texas this year.

In the state of North Carolina, it is required by law that a revaluation, the process of reappraising all properties within the county for tax assessment purposes, is to be conducted at least once every eight years.

Despite budget cuts and no overall increase in tax rates, Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez’s proposed budget for 2015 forecasts a gain of $112 million in property taxes, due to an increase in higher real estate values.

Over the past few years San Francisco has seen significant growth in hotel performance, and experts believe that the city is on its way to performance supremacy atop the United States hotel industry.

The Baltimore City Council passed a bill last week that will make 10 years of property tax credits available citywide for developers of apartments.

Commercial property owners in Washington, D.C. are facing much higher property tax bills for 2015 due to changes in the tax assessment policy that goes into effect on Jan 1.

Many assessors throughout Louisiana believe current property tax exemptions granted to the oil and gas industry are unequal and not uniform, and are now seeking changes so that the industry pays its "fair share."

Utah property owners are facing higher tax rates in the coming years due to a recent audit of the state's property tax system.

The Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. is once again accepting historic tax credit applications from developers, after the program was put on hold last month due to higher-than-expected demand.

The value of San Francisco's property grew by $10 billion for the fiscal year that started July 1 compared with the last fiscal year, now totaling $180 billion.

This week, the Steering Committee on Symposia Series on Personal Property Tax met for the first time to begin a study of how personal property tax affects Wisconsin businesses and residents.

Due to wide-ranging in disparities in property values of 25 Downtown buildings, the Pittsburgh City Council is struggling to set a new real estate tax rate for 2015.

Demand for office space rebounded in the second quarter, but now a few major office markets in Texas, such as Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) and Houston, are threatened by overbuilding.

There has been much talk in recent years about “splitting” California’s property tax system, thereby imposing a greater tax burden on the owners of commercial and industrial real estate.

Despite New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio boasting that his Fiscal Year 2015 budget did not raise taxes, since overall rates aren't increasing, most homeowners will still be paying higher property tax bills.

In an effort to spur investment in industrial areas and commercial real estate, Maryland officials approved an expansion of state Enterprise Zone Focus Areas in East Baltimore and Harford County.

After the debut of the Actual Value Initiative (AVI) reform effort, 57 percent of Philadelphia commercial property owners and 54 percent of residential property owners paid higher real-estate taxes this year than they did the previous year.

Two companies, SolarCity Corp. and Sunrun Inc., filed a lawsuit yesterday against the Arizona Department of Revenue (ADOR) over its decision last year to tax leased solar panels, which could cost thousands of solar users hundreds or thousands of dollars annually and kill the local solar market.

In the 2014 Georgia legislative session, an important bill was passed regarding ad valorem taxation of low-income housing.

A few weeks ago during a hearing of the Assembly Revenue and Taxation Committee, two lobbyists (Rex Hime, president of the California Business Properties Association, and Lenny Goldberg, who represents the California Tax Reform Association) had finally come to an agreement over a commercial property tax policy that they've been battling each other over for decades.

After a long-fought recovery from the Great Downturn of 2009, the hotel industry is prospering once again.

As the U.S. economy continues to improve and commercial real estate fundamentals strengthen, industrial investors are looking for opportunities for big returns that can come from increased risk and alternative investments.

Today the Pittsburgh City Council approved a five-year financial plan, recommending the city increase the property tax rate to offset financial problems and borrow $100 million for road, bridges and neglected infrastructure improvements.

When lawmakers passed California's $108 billion general fund budget, they slipped in a property tax break for the solar industry.

A recent audit of the states property tax appeal process has found Boards across the state of Florida to lack independence and be stacked against property owners.

Today, County Clerk David Orr announced that for the first time Cook County property tax bills will provide information on how much each property owners is being billed for in controversial special taxing districts that can be found all over the city and suburbs.

When Atlanta's Fulton County Commission votes on their annual budget today, it may include raising its countywide property tax rate by 17 percent, the first increase since 1991.

Senate Bill 231, effective July 1, will give commercial property owners in Kansas a new way to appeal their property values.

Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto (D-Hudson) and Gov. Chris Christie have finally reached “common ground” on restoring a crucial law that has helped curb property tax growth in New Jersey.

Efforts to eliminate business personal property taxes in the state of Colorado have repeatedly failed in the General Assembly over the years due to fears of compensating for the shortfall in revenue.

Recently appointed New York City Finance Commissioner, Jacques Jiha, is making property tax reform a high priority, aiming to ensure they are assessed efficiently and equitably.

Summit County, Colorado is located in the heart of the Rocky Mountains. The popular skiing community is home to numerous condominiums, apartments and vacation homes.

New York State manufacturers have a few things to look forward to in the 2014-2015 state budget: corporate income tax relief, property tax credits and reform to the estate tax threshold.

The apartment sector has dominated the national commercial real estate market for the past three years.

The District's 14-year-old tax processing system has been a source of frustration for quite some time now.

Homeownership in the United States has continued to decrease since the onset of the Great Recession in 2007.

Paradigm Tax Group is proud to announce the recent acquisition of Property Tax Adjusters, Inc. (PTA), a leading property tax advisory firm based in Miami, Florida.

A group of frustrated homeowners protested outside the Travis County commissioners courtroom yesterday to protest what they believe is inequitable property tax valuation in Austin, Texas.

Miami-Dade's recovering real estate market has boosted the property tax base 6.5 percent from last year, the biggest gain since the historic real estate crash that crippled the region’s economy and caused local governments to struggle to make ends meet.

Dietrich Mateschitz, the owner of major league soccer team The New York Red Bulls (named after his energy drink), has stirred a lot of controversy for a small New Jersey town.

Two Michigan townships, Breitung and Marquette, took cases to the Michigan Court of Appeals in April, where they battled to overturn the Michigan Tax Tribunal's ruling to slash the property assessments of two “big box” retailers.

The Texas Constitution promises that all taxation “shall be equal and uniform.” Although guaranteeing equal and uniform taxation, property taxes in Texas are assessed based on an appraised value of the property, as determined by an appointed political official in each of the state’s 254 counties.

As Millennials—the people born between 1977 and 1997—continue to have a growing influence on all aspects of society, research and analysis is being conducted to understand the unique characteristics and trends of this generation.

The California State Board of Equalization (BOE) recently decided to increase property values for privately owned public utilities and railroads by $3.4 billion for Fiscal Year 2014-15.

Michigan voters will decide the fate of Proposal 1, which will officially eliminate the business personal property tax and guarantee a source of revenue to replace the tax for cities and towns, on the August 5th primary ballot.

Smith Travel Research, Inc. (STR) released the U.S. hotel performance data for the month of April 2014, and the industry continues to post positive results in key performance metrics.

Just a year after Republican legislatures slashed taxes at the state level, they are pushing cities to do the same at the local level.

The number of leases for fitness facilities doubled last year, indicating that gyms and boutique fitness business may be the next big trend in Manhattan's commercial real estate market.

Commercial real estate owners in Washington, D.C. are experiencing an extreme case of "sticker shock" due to the city's new assessment method.

The IRS recently proposed new regulations that would affect what is considered real property for REITs.

California's Proposition 13, the iconic tax limit passed by voters in 1978, has been the focus of countless political battles for decades.

As sales continue to take a dive, Office Depot recently announced plans to close 400 U.S. stores by 2016.

As New York City's large deficits continue to grow, Mayor Bill de Blasio's new $73.9 billion budget has the real estate community concerned that the weight of the budget will be on their backs.

The Colorado Legislature approved 11 bills in 2014 that would grant tax credits or incentives of various sorts to businesses, despite the Capitol avoiding any kind of "tax breaks" for many years.

The Harris County Appraisal District (HCAD) in Texas has released the new property values for 2014, and many taxpayers may be wondering why their property’s value increased so dramatically.

Industrial land in Portland is getting harder and harder to find. The city's overall vacancy rate of just 5.6 percent indicates the industrial market is showing classic signs of post-recession stress: Supply hasn't kept up with demand.

Troubling news for California commercial property owners: The California Senate is poised to adopt a bill that would create a split-roll parcel tax system at the local level.

Despite Mayor Rahm Emanuel's proposed $750 million property tax hike to resolve about half of the city’s pension debt crisis, downtown Chicago property owners face an additional dramatic tax increase from a potential expansion of a special taxing district.

The annual 50-State Property Tax Comparison Study based on 2013 data, produced by The Lincoln Institute of Land Policy and the Minnesota Center for Fiscal Excellence, is now available.

Buffalo Mayor Bryon Brown released his $504.5 million budget proposal for the city's 2014-2015 fiscal year.

The survey says the rent drop is due to leasing that is underway at The Kensington in Downtown Crossing, AvalonExeter in the Back Bay, The Victor at North Station, 315 on A and Waterside Place in the Seaport District.

California Governor Jerry Brown passed Assembly Bill 777, which will grant commercial space companies, like Elon Musk's SpaceX, a 10-year property tax exemption.

Las Vegas' economy is finally improving, boosting commercial real estate markets in the first quarter.

This week, the New York City Council proposed a property tax system overhaul, which was part of their $257 million budget request to fund a thousand more cops, free school lunches, and efforts to fight homelessness.

Several new hotels are coming online in El Paso, Texas, despite the slump the market has been in for the past year.

All New York City income-producing property owners are required to file a RPIE-2013 (Real Property Income and Expense Statement) with the Department of Finance by June 2, 2014.

For the U.S. hotel industry, it seems like there has been nothing but positive outlooks and forecasts regarding the next couple of years.

Two Michigan townships recently took cases to the Michigan Court of Appeals, where they battled against the property assessment reductions for "big box" retailers.

Due to complaints of widespread over-assessments, the Michigan State Tax Commission, which is responsible for setting property taxes, approved plans to overhaul the troubled department.

A Field Poll released today found that voters strongly support rewriting one aspect of the landmark initiative that alter a 'loophole' that some argue commercial property owners have used to keep their taxes low.

On Monday, the Colorado House approved a scaled-down personal property tax break that is expected benefit about 28,000 business across the state.

Attorneys for a group of poor Alabama schoolchildren and their parents are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to considering scrapping Alabama's property tax system, which the group believes to be unfair to minority students.

To say the multi-family market in the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area is performing well would be an understatement; Deliveries were up 6 percent in 2013, vacancies were down 1 percent, rental rates were up nearly 2 percent, and cap rates were down almost 20 basis points.

Senate Bill 76, also known as the Property Tax Independence Act, is a proposal to eliminate school property taxes and replace them with money from personal income and sales taxes.

Providence, Rhode Island and the owner of the Providence Biltmore Hotel are in a legal battle over a revised property tax bill.

The commercial real estate market in the Dallas−Fort Worth (DFW) Metroplex has been regarded as one of the most resilient in the nation.

San Francisco Supervisor David Campos has requested a hearing to discuss the ways the so-called 'Twitter tax break' have impacted the Mid-Market neighborhood.

Paradigm Tax Group (Paradigm) is proud to announce its recent acquisition of Diversified Property Solutions (DPS), a property tax advisory firm based in Southfield, Michigan.

The lawsuit has banded together the renter-plaintiffs and wealthy owners of the large multi-family buildings that generate income from rent, then pass on the tax burden to their tenants, to challenge the city's system together.

As many retail chains continue to close their doors across the country, the impact will likely have long-term ramifications upon tax assessors’ property tax rolls for years to come.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel's proposed pension deal with some of its unions that would resolve about half of the city's pension debt crisis would cost property owners much more than city officials initially let on.

It is true Seattle is one of the hottest commercial real estate markets in the United States.

After several weeks of negotiation, New York legislative leaders and Governor Andrew Cuomo finally reached an agreement on the state's 2014-15 fiscal year budget.

Michigan Governor Rick Snyder signed a package of bills today clarifying the elimination of the personal property tax on business, after the bills passed on 35-2 votes in the Senate yesterday and by similar majorities earlier this week.

The U.S. Internal Revenue Service said that bitcoins, the best-known virtual currency, should be treated as property and not as currency for property tax purposes.

When a property is bought or sold, the acquiring company is required to conduct a Purchase Price Allocation (PPA).

The New Jersey Legislation is acting to renew a law, which has helped slow the growth of property taxes, just one week before it is set to expire.

Assembly Speaker Marilyn Kirkpatrick wants to fix a "loophole" in the commercial property side of the tax cap that could generate some additional revenue for the cash-strapped local governments.

In January, Montgomery County Councilman Roger Berliner introduced a package of "green" bills aimed to drive the private sector to improve the energy efficiency of its real estate.

San Francisco's office market is hotter than ever, and competition for the best "skyline" (or select Class A) space in the city is pushing rents to record highs near $100 per square foot.

Good news for the hospitality industry: U.S. hotel occupancy rates will finally recover to pre-recession levels in 2014, according to the recently released March 2014 edition of PKF Hospitality Research, LLC’s (PKF) Hotel Horizons forecast report.

Assessments of Section 42 Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) properties have been a challenging enterprise in the state of Georgia.

The year is off to a good start for the retail sector, investment sales volumes are up and cap rates are reaching all-time lows.

Commercial property owners in Washington, D.C. may face sticker shock over the District’s new assessment method.

The Fort Worth, Texas skyline has seen a number of new investments in the past year.

Over the course of the past fall and winter, there has been an onslaught of press in various publications across the state regarding the fairness of property tax valuations in Texas.

The House Revenue and Taxation Committee has voted to introduce a bill that is intended to be the next step in phasing out all personal property taxes on business.

Approximately 20,000 property-tax appeals are backlogged in Philadelphia, delaying millions of dollars in tax payments to the city and School District.

The New York City real estate community has been experiencing ever increasing property taxes, and it's raising concerns for new mayor Bill de Blasio.

According to data from STR, parent company of Hotel News Now, occupancy during 2013 declined by 2.2% to 66% for the D.C. market.

In Ohio, recent purchasers may soon be able to prevent increases of their newly acquired property to the purchase price when extenuating circumstances are present in the underlying transaction.

New office and industrial building construction is on the rise in metro Detroit as tenants seek specific kinds of space, or desire to be in particular locations.

This year, median residential and commercial real estate assessed values in the Phoenix area have increased by double-digit percentages for the first time in seven years, which points to a real estate market recovery.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo started a new push in support of his plan to freeze local school and property taxes.

The City of Boston’s property taxes increased approximately 5.7 percent for Fiscal Year 2014.

As a result, county appraisers increased the companies’ taxes by reclassifying what was formerly equipment and making it real estate and subject to taxes.

Warehouses and aged R&D buildings were widely converted to data centers with the addition of robust electrical and cooling systems, raised flooring, and leading-edge security equipment.

The pace of commercial real estate is improving, but it's also slowing, according to the National Association of Realtors' (NAR) quarterly forecast.

More than year after a vote to repeal Michigan's industrial personal property tax, Gov. Rick Snyder's administration, the business community and local government groups have developed a 10-bill package that would provide 100% reimbursement of lost revenue to local communities.

As Nashville, Tennessee continues to attract more and more residents, the commercial real estate market continues to thrive.

Despite a down economy, one aspect of Atlanta’s real estate market that has managed to shine bright is the multifamily sector, specifically the newer Class A product.

As the national aerospace industry gets more and more competitive, Colorado lawmakers are considering tax breaks to keep up with other states.

Paradigm Tax Group is proud to announce the recent acquisition of Pence & Associates, Inc.

With California’s struggling economy, a healthy manufacturing industry is more crucial than ever to help improve the state’s well-being.

San Antonio's industrial real estate sector posted record-breaking numbers in 2013.

In her State of the City Address on Monday, Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings stated that she wants to make a tax credit that has been used to spur apartment development downtown available citywide.

A range of measures that would tweak Oregon's tax code have been proposed, however, lawmakers are wary of making any changes that would be effective this year.

Last week, the Florida House and Senate filed bills that would extend property tax exemptions to commercial properties for renewable energy projects, such as solar panels.

Mississippi is recognized as a taxpayer-friendly state as industrial exemptions and incentives continue to be granted to eligible businesses.

For the 2014 tax season, the Washington, D.C. Office of Tax and Revenue is implementing changes to simplify the filing process for Commercial Property Income and Expense Reports.

Golf course ownership is a tenuous endeavor these days, but it hasn’t always been so shaky.

CoStar, a leading commercial real estate information company, reports that a strong interest from overseas and domestic capital is projected to spur a growing number of U.S. hotel sales in secondary markets in 2014.

Due to slim returns, real estate giants in New York City are seeking opportunities outside of Manhattan and pushing toward the outer boroughs.

Despite a great deal of protest from local government officials from across the state, the Indiana House and Senate approved bills to reduce the business personal property tax.

As the hospitality industry continues to improve and recover from the recession, Property Improvement Plans (PIPs) have become a priority for hotel owners once again.

For the first time in nearly two decades, Oklahoma is trying to get all county assessment offices to figure property taxes the same way and follow the same method of assessment, with hopes to increase state revenues in the process.

The Alabama House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved a slate of tax bills last week, and now the four bills are headed to the Senate, where another easy approval is expected.

In an effort to save and revive at-risk historical buildings, effectively generate living-wage jobs and stimulate local economies, Restore Oregon has called for a historic preservation tax program.

Due to more reductions in state aid to Maine cities and towns, municipal officials warn that it will result in skyrocketing property taxes and cuts to essential services.

Forecasters are predicting another surge in Silicon Valley's commercial real estate market in 2014.

Owners and managers know that property tax is habitually a component of overhead expense.

According to the New York Daily News, Google, one of the country’s richest companies, shelled out a staggering $1.8 billion in December 2010 for its New York City location.

Businesses located in Florida are entitled to exempt a majority of the investment in pollution control equipment placed in service in order to eliminate or reduce industrial air or water pollution.

The City of Tucson is making a push for developers to bring real estate deals to the table and apply for the Government Property Lease Excise Tax (GPLET) temporary property tax abatement.

Representative Ben Unger, D-Hillsboro, proposed a bill to the Oregon House that would eliminate certain property tax abatements local governments grant to boost economic development.

In the fall of 2013, The Riverside Company, a global private equity firm, acquired Paradigm Tax Group.

Arlington County, Virginia's office market has been suffering since the Pentagon's 2005 Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) plan.

Paradigm Tax Group is pleased to announce the acquisition of Hart Property Consultants, LLC. Based in St. Cloud, Minnesota, Hart Property Consultants has been working with commercial and industrial property owners for more than 25 years.

Back in 2007, South Carolina's Act 338 became law, changing the method of taxation for all non-primary residential properties in the state.

The property tax practices of Paradigm Tax Group and AVS Tax, Inc., also known as AVS Valuation Services, have joined forces to expand Arizona’s leading property tax consulting practice.

In December of 2012, Governor Snyder signed into law eleven bills affecting the taxation of personal property in the state of Michigan.

Denver, Colorado's industrial market is the healthiest it's been since before the recession.

For the first time since the economic downturn, Utah's commercial real estate market is hitting new highs.

The U.S. Census Bureau released new data on construction starts and spending in 2013, which provided evidence of an urban office development recovery.

The commercial real estate market in Phoenix, Arizona is rebounding and sparking a great deal of interest with big investors once again.

As hoteliers reflect on 2013, many are asking if they've left money on the table they'll never get back.

Another Atlantic City, New Jersey casino closure will bring about even greater tax-revenue loss for the already troubled city.

The three Democratic candidates competing for the vacant Precinct 2 seat on the Travis County Commissioners Court are all making it a point to focus on property tax reform in their campaigns.

The Michigan Department of Treasury has drafted potential changes to overhaul the state's tax appeal process.

In the 2014 Colorado legislative session, the Democratic Party is sponsoring a comprehensive business personal property tax cut bill.

Back in late 2011, the Internal Revenue Service issued temporary and proposed Tangible Property Regulations, also referred to as “repair regulations.”

It may be the dead of winter for the rest of the country, but Miami, Florida's hotel market is hotter than ever.

Research experts at Jones Lang LaSalle's (JLL) have high performance expectations for the Commercial Real Estate recovery, which is forecast to accelerate in 2014.

While Indiana leaders continue to debate whether or not to eliminate business personal property taxes, Gov. Mike Pence assures his proposed $1 billion tax reform will be beneficial to the state.

The Boston, Massachusetts Redevelopment Authority (BRA) will vote to approve a controversial $7.8 million property tax break for Boston Properties and Delaware North Cos.' proposed $950 million redevelopment of the former Boston Garden site next week.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's tax commission released a report of recommendations for tax reform on Monday.

Thanks to Proposition 13, California property owners will barely see a rise in property taxes in 2014.

Exxon Mobil Corp. is boosting its Houston, Texas presence even further, and Montgomery County Commissioners have approved two 10-year, 100 percent tax abatements for one and a half office buildings and an 11-story parking garage.

In November, construction employment and spending reached their highest levels since 2009.

The County Board of Equalization in St. Louis, Missouri has authorized St. Louis County Assessor Jake Zimmerman to re-examine all tax-exempt properties across the county.

Competition among Suffolk County, New York Industrial Development Agencies (IDAs) is heating up, and expanding businesses are reaping the benefits.

North Dakota Gov. Jack Darymple formed a 14-member task force to study permanent property tax reform.

Whether or not there is equity in property tax abatements has been a rising concern for Texans, especially when the tax breaks are at the expense of existing residential and commercial property owners.

As we approach the end of 2013, commercial real estate lenders are eager to find out whether they have reached or exceeded their goals in providing funding for real estate transactions.

A report issued by Transwestern RBJ states that the vacancy rate for Greater Boston’s manufacturing buildings was 12.5 percent at the end of October, down from 18.5 percent a year ago.

The hospitality industry has been building momentum throughout 2013, and business is better than it has been in years.

A new bill from Lansing, Michigan that would grant exemptions for personal property taxes related to oil and gas wells is raising concern among Michigan residents.

As some of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies depart New Jersey, four towns face the loss of $29 million of combined revenue.

Yesterday, AAA released their annual Thanksgiving Holiday Travel Forecast.

The Washington, D.C. Tax Revision Commission, a select group of D.C. officials, advocates and civic leaders, is finalizing changes that will be made to the District's tax code.

Indiana republican legislative leaders are pushing to repeal business personal property tax, and several other Midwestern states are doing the same.

Luxury developers in New York City, New York that have been "taking advantage" of Albany's affordable housing property tax exemptions are under scrutiny.

In an effort to attract and retain business, St. Paul and Minneapolis, Minnesota are working to implement a standardized business incentive program.

Providence, Rhode Island is reviewing dozens of tax breaks for commercial properties to determine whether or not the deals are actually benefiting the financially struggling city.

The office market in Washington D.C. has been less than ideal, thanks to the short-term shocks to the region including sequestration, the government shutdown and mandates that federal agencies must decrease their real estate profiles.

Commercial real estate investors seeking higher returns are turning to smaller markets and buying suburban properties.

The commercial real estate market is on the rise this year, especially for office properties.

It is no secret that Philadelphia, Pennsylvania's tax system is a bit of a mess, and the Business Use and Occupancy Tax (“U&O”) stirs up the most controversy of all.

Mesa, Arizona will be the latest location for an Apple, Inc. warehouse, and the company is likely to receive huge property, equipment, energy and payroll tax breaks and other incentives from the state.

Baltimore, Maryland Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake has received an influx of calls from the City Council seeking an independent audit of the city's property tax program.

The Iowa Department of Revenue has implemented the first phase of Gov. Terry Branstad's 2013 tax reform package.

Sacramento, California's thriving industrial market continues to attract new institutional investors.

The Riverside Company (“Riverside”), a global private equity firm, today announced that it has acquired Paradigm Tax Group (“PTG”) from majority owner Monitor Clipper Partners (“MCP”), a Boston-based private equity firm, and the other equity holders of PTG.

Commercial property construction is projected to rise 17 percent in 2014, according to CoStar Group, a leading commercial real estate information company.

Not only is Seattle outperforming the rest of the country, but thanks to thousands of jobs becoming available due to the millions of square feet of construction underway, the economy will continue to prosper.

On October 17, there was nationwide sigh of relief as the 16-day government shutdown finally came to an end.

Atlantic City, New Jersey city officials say the city could be facing bankruptcy after the New Jersey Tax Court ruled in favor of Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa's (the city's largest employer and taxpayer) $48.8 million tax reduction last week.

Hillsboro, Oregon's computer data centers (both open and in construction) receive major tax breaks when they are located in enterprise zones, but require little public accountability and disclosure.

In a recent report from New York Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, it was found that more than a quarter of New York state's real property is exempt from the tax rolls.

Commercial, industrial and residential property owners in Atlantic City, New Jersey are facing an even greater property tax burden as casinos threaten to drive down their assessment values.

On Tuesday, Amazon, Inc. announced plans to build a 1 million-square-foot warehouse in Southeast Baltimore. Government incentives, of course, came along with the plans projected to create 1,000 jobs.

With the November 5, 2013 voting date quickly approaching, Colorado's Amendment 66, a $950 million tax increase for education, continues to be a controversial topic.

Still reeling from the loss of thousands of jobs due to the 2008 recession, Wichita, Kansas has doubled the amount of property tax exemptions granted to businesses, from roughly $11 million in 2009 to $25 million in 2012.

Despite businesses continuing to lease office, industrial and retail space with more momentum, prices for U.S. commercial property plateaued in August, according to CoStar Group, a leading commercial real estate information company.

The property tax rate in Houston, Texas will remain at the current rate, after the City Council voted on Wednesday.

With activity soaring in the Baltimore, Maryland industrial sector, the city has become one of the strongest second-tier markets in the country, according to the Baltimore Business Journal.

A thriving economy in Santa Clara County, California has lead to the highest property value growth in the state.

The hotel market in Nashville, Tennessee is experiencing a development boom, thanks to the opening of the Music City Center, a brand new 1.2-million square foot convention center, located just a block away from the honky-tonk heart of the city, lower Broadway.

In an effort to address complaints about the Texas property tax system, House Bill 585, authored by San Antonio Rep. Mike Villarreal (D) and Austin property tax agent Jim Popp, is an attempt to resolve issues of bias, lack of responsiveness and transparency of the Appraisal Review Boards (ARB) and local appraisal districts.

According to the Tax Foundation's annual report, New York ties New Jersey for the worst business tax climate in the country.

Good news for Allegheny County residents: there will not be an increase in property taxes in 2014.

For the next six months, it is expected that multifamily properties in Sacramento, California will continue adding value and inventory.

As the government shutdown continues, it is taking a toll on the leisure and business travel industry throughout the country.

Major utility companies in Washington D.C. including Washington Gas, Dominion Virginia Power and Pepco are threatened by a temporary hit in earnings if the federal shutdown continues for an extended amount of time, according to the Washington Business Journal.

The New Jersey commercial real estate market is gaining momentum for the first time since its recession.

Last month, construction spending reached a four-year nationwide high of $901 billion.

Commercial property owners successfully appealing their tax valuations are on the rise in Austin, Texas, putting the burden on homeowners to make up for the shrinking tax base.

A property tax overhaul is in the works in Baltimore, Maryland after major mistakes were made in managing tax breaks.

For hoteliers, how you meet the travel needs of tourists and business professionals is a determinant of success.

After years of lax real estate property assessments, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania has decided to take on a comprehensive reassessment of all 579,328 of its properties.

Hotel owners and investors are finding that the current economic environment and market conditions are perfect for buying and selling.

The Michigan Legislature passed Senate Bill 257, sponsored by Sen. Mike Kowall (R), which expands "business improvement zones" and allows larger businesses with more capital to potentially force smaller companies into paying higher taxes and gives them the ability to control the process.

Baton Rouge, Louisiana lawmakers are encouraging the Louisiana Tax Commission to improve their oversight of property taxes, after an audit determined their review by parish tax assessors was inadequate.

For the first time since 2006, Daytona Beach, Florida property owners will experience a tax hike and go above the rolled-back rate.

Despite seemingly vast public support, and recent polls indicating 60 percent of Californians support of a "split" tax roll, an overhaul of California's Proposition 13 has yet to materialize.

The Allegheny County, Pennsylvania Controller's Office found that the countywide reassessment was much harsher on homeowners than commercial property owners, who got a larger tax cut upon appeal.

Large retailers, such as Lowe's and Home Depot, have created a lot of controversy in Lansing, Michigan for exploiting property tax "loopholes".

The Austin, Texas City Hall gave J.W. Marriott developer White Lodging Services Corp. a Sept. 19 deadline to repay more than $688,000 in waived project fees.

In the Virginia race for governor, Terry McAulliffe (D) and Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II (R) are battling over the state's tax policy.

Florida will have a budget surplus in 2014, and Gov. Rick Scott plans on giving the money back to the taxpayers via tax breaks.

Lincoln, Nebraska lawmakers released "options" to update the state's tax code for the public to review before hearings are held throughout the state.

The Los Angeles County Treasurer and Tax Collector, Mark J. Saladino, has suspended the Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) Program, effective immediately.

The Miami-Dade, Florida Property Appraiser's Office has mailed TRIM notices, or "Truth in Millage," to the counties property owners.

Vineland, New Jersey commercial property owners are upset with the city's valuations and are joining together to pressure City Hall for tax relief and to research legal action against the city, according to The Daily Journal.

Construction spending hit a four-year high in July, according to an analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data compiled by the Associated General Contractors of America.

Thanks to a recovering economy, commercial real estate is also experiencing a revival.

Unfortunately for Daytona Beach, Florida property owners, city commissioners are considering increasing the property tax rate for the first time in six years.

For the first time since the Great Recession, the U.S. hospitality market is in an upswing, nearing peak levels of the hotel real estate economic cycle.

Cook County, Illinois commissioners adopted new laws that lessen the rules for commercial and industrial property owners to receive 6B tax breaks.

The National Association of Realtors® (NAR) quarterly commercial real estate forecast shows steady, moderate growth in the market.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania suffers from one of the worst property tax delinquency epidemics in the nation.

A U.S. bankruptcy judge in Detroit, Michigan confirmed on Thursday that property tax appeals will be heard, despite the city's bankruptcy and hundreds of refunds put on hold for property owners appealing their taxable values last month.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Noguez is charged with 30 felony counts, including accepting bribes, perjury and misappropriation of public funds.

The commercial real estate rebound has fallen relatively flat in 2013, leading many to believe developers won't truly begin to benefit until next year.

The Harrah's resort in Reno, Nevada received a lower taxable value from the Board of Equalization, though not to the extent they hoped.

Nearly 6 million square feet of office space is being developed or renovated currently in Silicon Valley, California, more than double the activity of a year prior.

Property taxes in Minnesota are projected to decrease for the first time since 2002.

The Austin, Texas City Council has withdrawn over $3.8 million in incentives granted to White Lodging Development Services for construction on a 1,000-plus room Marriott hotel.

The new law requires that every parcel in Mecklenburg County is to be reviewed.

Over 70 percent of Chicago-area Municipalities attract businesses through tax incentives, but only rarely do they attract firms from other states or assist a new business.

Under Mayor Michael Bloomberg, New York City's property taxes have been the fastest growing component of city tax collections, up 110 percent since 2002.

One final incentive hurdle remains for the developers of a high-rise apartment complex in Kansas City, Missouri's Power & Light District.

An increase in the number of commercial real estate sales, leases and developments in Chicago, Illinois are showing signs of a recovering market, according to reports from RE/MAX commercial real estate brokers.

Downtown Baltimore, Maryland property owners are opposing the $107 M tax incentive being levied to the proposed Harbor Point development.

Across the entire Atlanta-area, apartment values are continuing their strong recovery, highlighted by three recent above-market multi-family transactions spread throughout the area.

Jefferson County, Alabama is missing out on nearly $3 million in uncollected property taxes due to the lack of agents on staff.

Construction spending across the United States retreated in June, but is still up year-over-year.

Investors have recently been expressing significant interest in all sectors of Minneapolis-Saint Paul, Minnesota commercial real estate.

The District of Columbia collected $6.6 million in back taxes through the sale of liens on 965 properties during its recently concluded tax auction.

Led by a couple of distribution center projects, the Ohio Tax Credit Authority approved five deals to help create 624 jobs in the Columbus region.

Hundreds of refunds are on hold for Detroit, Michigan property owners appealing their taxable values as a result of the city's filing for bankruptcy.

Detroit's above-average property tax rates for homeowners and businesses are major contributing factors to the mass exodus from the city.

A change to the property tax cap law on commercial residential property in Indiana will benefit apartment complexes at the expense of local government revenue.

While hotel construction remains stagnant, alternative growth plans have been considered by hotel owners to revitalize properties and appeal to new guests.

The U.S. hotel industry showed mainly positive results in three key performance fundamentals during the month of June.

While class A office occupancy in downtown Louisville, Kentucky did not increase during the second quarter, it remained relatively flat and at dangerous levels.

Detroit, Michigan has filed the largest municipality bankruptcy case in the nation's history, ultimately succumbing to the pressures of massive population loss, a shrinking tax base and financial problems.

The 2013 Los Angeles County Assessment Roll totaled more than $1.13 trillion in taxable property value, up 4.66% from last year.

For the fourth straight year, historic tax credits levied out in the state of Missouri remained flat in the mid-ninety million dollar range.

A recent court decision in Wisconsin could have a significant impact on the property tax assessments of business owners and operators who have large investments in computerized equipment.

Early last summer, the Maryland assessment agency acknowledged making several miscalculations on certain tax breaks for big Baltimore commercial properties.

For the past two years, some Florida low-income housing developers in Orange County have been able to take advantage of a tax break originally meant exclusively for nonprofit housing groups benefiting the needy, such as Habitat for Humanity.

After a significant year-over-year rise in property values, San Francisco, California property owners should expect to see increases in their property taxes this year.

In Colorado, demand for investment properties and lease-able space is currently outpacing supply.

The devastation of Hurricane Sandy is responsible for reducing property values by $4.3 billion in New Jersey, with the majority of the loss based in Ocean and Monmouth Counties.

The U.S. office market continued to slowly recover as occupancy increased 7.2 million square feet last quarter, lowering the vacancy rate to 17%, down from 17.6% in mid-2010.

At this moment, apartment developers shouldn't be too concerned with over-supply as demand seems to be keeping up in the nation's hottest apartment markets.

The Harris County Appraisal District has levied significant increases in valuations on Houston, Texas commercial real estate for 2013.

In an effort to relieve homeowners' property tax burden, several commercial buildings in the Chicago, Illinois central business district will see million-dollar plus property tax hikes in the mail.

Paradigm Tax Group is proud to announce the recent acquisition of Sage Tax Group.

The New Jersey General Assembly has approved the Corporate Disinvestment Property Tax Relief Act to avoid property tax hikes following a business's departure.

The rise in interest rates over the past several weeks is threatening to halt the four year gains in commercial real estate values.

Sears has announced a plan to convert vacant stores into server warehouses, a move that continues the trend of filling empty Big Box retail with non-traditional tenants.

The District of Columbia, when compared to the 50 states, brings in the second-highest per capita tax revenue.

Paradigm Tax Group is pleased to announce the acquisition of Donald C. Walker & Associates, Inc., a Dallas firm specializing in the administration of property tax appeals.

Things just got easier for North Carolina business property owners. The North Carolina Supreme Court recently refused to hear a case that’s been in the courts for over decade—signaling good news for taxpayers.

The amount of active hotels in the United States is up 11.6% over the same time last year, while the number of hotel rooms under construction is up 22.4% over the same time-frame.

The District of Columbia yields close to $1.2 billion in annual revenue through property tax exemptions that are all but out of their control.

The latest appraisal by the Davidson County Assessor, which occurs every four years, shows a significant increase in value for Nashville, Tennessee commercial properties.

The Michigan Senate has passed Senate Bill 114, legislation that would eliminate the loophole allowing property owners to use occupancy rates in order to avoid paying property taxes.

With the highest commercial/industrial property taxes in the country, Minnesota businesses pay for 31% of the total state property value.

When it comes to the hospitality sector, business enterprise valuation (BEV) methodology remains a controversial debate in regards to property valuation.

The Internal Revenue Service is gearing up to take a closer look into the process of firms attempting to convert to real estate investment trusts (REIT).

Tampa, Florida has been able to cut its likely budget deficit in 2014 by over a third through the raising of property values.

Commercial real estate is steadily making strides as demand continues to rise, vacancies shrink, developers gain confidence, and lenders approve deals.

The Iowa House has officially approved a compromise plan, recently passed by the Senate, to cut commercial property taxes.

Newly developed apartment units keep getting smaller and smaller, much to the delight of tenants, particularly those in large cities.

The U.S. Census Bureau has reported gains in nonresidential construction during April, a glimpse of recovery in the industry.

Thirty years ago, Ohio created enterprise zones in order to help distressed areas attract investors by offering property tax exemptions.

Perhaps the hardest hit sector by the great recession, retail may finally be seeing a consistent strengthening in fundamentals.

On March 12, 2013, the Virginia General Assembly passed House Bill 1598, making things easier on taxpayers and providing fairer treatment for property owners facing appeals.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has announced a $90.3 million property tax reduction for homes and businesses affected by Hurricane Sandy.

The Texas legislature has extended school property tax breaks eight additional years in order to continue to encourage businesses to relocate or expand in Texas.

In an article entitled “Pitfalls in the Redemption of Property by Lenders” published in the BABC’s Real Estate Finance Newsletter, a recent ruling by the Alabama Court of Civil Appeals is discussed.

Iowa is one step closer to cutting commercial property taxes as the State Senate approved a compromise plan in a 43-6 vote.

In an effort to create jobs, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has unveiled plans for a series of tax-free zones on the state's public university campuses.

Rumblings coming out of ICSC's RECon event in Las Vegas, in which Paradigm Tax Group is in attendance, is that new retail development is no longer a pipe-dream, but a tangible possibility as industry players being drawing up new projects.

Several cities and counties in Minnesota will soon see a big increase in their state aid, and in return, they will be required to tamp down property taxes.

Commercial real estate performed better than expected in the first quarter of 2013, with excess of $63 billion in transactions taking place nationwide.

Sequestration and its $85 billion in federal budget cuts planned for this year will bring significant challenges on the U.S. economy and the commercial real estate recovery.

The reoccurring themes at the RealShare Student Housing conference this week in Irving, Texas were concerns about overbuilding and the search for perceived value in the segment.

The Florida Legislature has approved a bill that would cause businesses to no longer receive state tax breaks because of perceived pollution on their properties.

Providence, Rhode Island property owners paid the highest commercial property tax rates in any of the nation's 53 biggest cities in 2011.

Tucson, Arizona City Council has voted in favor of an incentive that when finished will waive property taxes for a multi-million dollar downtown development.

Hotels are reporting a significant year-over-year increase in advanced bookings for the summer months.

Georgia Governor Nathan Deal has signed House Bill 604 this week which would prohibit Fulton County from raising property tax rates for the next two years.

According to the National Real Estate Investor, commercial properties are taking on larger and larger loans relative to their stabilized income - and that could mean trouble down the road.

The April 1 deadline for New Jersey property owners to challenge their property taxes saw about 116,000 appeals, the highest total in over 20 years.

Although the average employment rate of nationwide office is growing at a little over 2%, demand for that space grew at half that rate during the first quarter.

Despite its unpopularity among Texans, property tax collections might bring more economic advantages than once thought.

Demographics, federal legislation and technological advances are all working in favor of medical office, generating growing attention from net lease investors.

The real estate market has significantly improved since the beginning of the Great Recession, as indicated by recent year-end reports, such as the ULI Emerging Trends 2013.

A Bill that would exempt commercial and industrial renewable generation equipment from property tax in the state of Connecticut has passed the State Senate.

Retail owners and operators are continuing to look towards entertainment and restaurant tenants to fill spaces left vacant by failing traditional retailers.

A proposed bill to lower the property tax on business equipment has advanced in the Montana House and Senate this week.

Due to the on-going political scandal in the Los Angeles County Assessor’s Office and the backlash of negative press resulting from the case, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has proposed an ordinance to monitor and enforce more “transparency” in California’s property tax consulting industry.

In an effort to potentially raise billions of dollars in commercial property tax, California lawmakers are considering making controversial changes to Proposition 13.

Budget sequestration has yet to impact U.S. hotel properties, but experts predict the effects will be more prevalent as we get farther into 2013.

559 properties sold to a tune of $6.5 billion in the first quarter marked a significant decline in New York City real estate investment.

Real estate executives across the nation are showing record-high optimism since the collapse of the financial market five years ago.

The New York City Industrial and Commercial Incentive Program for property tax abatements may have died in 2008, but it is still stalking the City's finances to the tune of over $650 million this year alone.

The Iowa Senate has approved a $250 million commercial property tax credit plan aimed to help smaller and main street businesses.

While the top real estate markets across the nation continue to benefit from favorable demographics and an improving economy, tech and energy booms along with population shifts are allowing the recovery to spread to secondary markets.

The demand and prices for land lots all across the nation continues to rise as the economy steadily improves.

Commercial real estate continues its consistent growth despite the sluggish economy and indecision of governmental sequestration.

While most property owners would welcome a plan to increase the accuracy of tax assessments, the legislation currently pending before the Council of the District of Columbia features some changes that may change their minds.

Taxpayers that paid Pennsylvania or Philadelphia real estate transfer tax on certain transactions involving real property located in Philadelphia during the period of July 1, 2012 through January 5, 2013 may be entitled to refunds.

Due to the fact that the present day workforce doesn't need to be near each other to get things accomplished anymore, there seems to be almost nowhere for office and retail demand to go but down.

The gradual real estate recovery across the nation has yet to lift the property tax revenue of many cities, a bad sign for municipalities that rely on taxes as their chief source of income.

Due to lack of confidence in the future performance of traditional commercial real estate property types, many investors are beginning to set aside capital for alternative assets.

The North Dakota House has approved a bill that will require voter approval before tax exemptions can be granted to retail sector businesses.

Boston, Massachusetts property tax abatement applications have decreased by 38.1% over the past three years to 2,349 in 2013.

Construction spending bounced back in February after a lackluster start to the year. According to data by the Associated General Contractors of America, gains took place in almost all monthly and year-over-year spending totals.

In 2012, only 8% of property taxes levied in York County, Nebraska were absorbed by new construction, with the remainder being passed on to property owners.

The Baltimore, Maryland Development Corp. has recommended a tax break of $107 million in order to finance improvements for Harbor Point, the largest private development site proposed in the city.

Rising demand and low supply due to lack of development over the past half decade has allowed hotel construction to experience its first upswing in quite some time.

Texas House Bill 1306 is hoping to fairly apply the rules governing how land used for agriculture is assessed when applied to smaller operations.

A Bill to correct general reappraisals resulting in property values that do not comply with the requirements of North Carolina law is currently in committee after passing the first reading.

While financial reports indicate a recovering economy, February’s sequestration continues to cast a shadow over hopes of a full-fledged return to the booming economy of pre-downturn days.

The Idaho House has passed a bill that would exempt 90% of Idaho businesses from personal property taxes.

Analysis of over 7,900 recently closed hotels across the United States provides detailed insight into some interesting trends within the industry.

Despite the overwhelming demand for senior housing space, development continues to lack, and is commonly blamed on tight financing.

Despite under-performing compared to the housing market in 2012, commercial real estate is primed for a strong recovery in 2013.

Recent Court of Appeals rulings in favor of IBM and Parkdale America, LLC have given property taxpayers in the state of North Carolina hopes of a fair shake now and in the future.

The last quarter of 2012 saw a continued snail's pace towards the recovery of the retail shopping center industry.

All things considered, businesses large and small want to locate where they feel they have an edge on their competition.

In 2007, Brunswick County, North Carolina conducted a countywide revaluation and was scheduled to do so again in 2011.

While the commercial real estate industry has taken great strides in reducing their carbon footprint, industrial plants and commercial buildings still account for 45% of the greenhouse gas emissions produced in the US.

The Class A office market in downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is now the tightest in the country with less than five percent vacancy.

The Idaho House is set to introduce two competing bills, one backed by counties, one by industry, which will cut the state's business personal property tax.

Fairfax County, Virginia has proposed a 2-cent hike in the base real property tax, along with a 1.5-cent hike in the commercial and industrial (C&I) tax.

Due to its traditionally lower vacancies and higher rents, the medical office market has generated investors' interest over the past decade like never before.

One major casualty of the financial crisis has been huge, opulent corporate offices, which are now giving way to smaller spaces and cheaper rents.

The deadline for San Jose, California high-rise developers to obtain a certificate of occupancy in order to qualify for an incentive program that will cut fees has been extended to August 31, 2016.

Knoxville, Tennessee area businesses who fail to fill out and return a detailed personal property form by March 1 will face a number of penalties.

Last week, the City of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania mailed out assessment values to all property owners within the city limits.

Gradual economic improvement and job creation are allowing all sectors of commercial real estate to slowly recover after being hit hard by the recession.

Despite the unanimous backing of legislative attempts to relieve business personal property taxes for businesses who are threatening to leave Colorado, two more such measures have recently fell by the wayside.

Several circumstances could cause real estate investors to face a higher tax burden in the coming years.

In the world of ad valorem taxes—a tax based on the assessed value of real estate or personal property—the crux of appeal issues is the determination of fair-market value.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Mayor Michael Nutter's proposed tax reform for next year could lead to the 10 biggest commercial taxpayers in the area paying about 45% less in property taxes.

Last year, U.S. commercial real estate experienced its highest sales total since 2004 with nearly $64 billion.

A variety of taxing jurisdictions in Georgia, Tennessee and North Carolina have recently announced upcoming activity relevant to values in their respective counties.

The traditional factors that may point out a good apartment investment can sometimes lead even the most diligent investors down the wrong path.

Property Values for the 2014 tax year in the state of Arizona will continue to be released throughout the remainder of the month.

New York City tourists will soon find more affordable hotel options in the nation's most expensive hotel city.

Although commercial real estate in St. Louis, Missouri has remained stable, Assessors still expect to reduce values on most properties.

Following the recent elections for Property Appraiser in Florida, there have been a number of positive and negative changes for the business community.

As investors actively seek out real estate that is performing better than bonds, single-tenant retail sales have soared to a six year high.

A new proposed California bill would allow school districts to impose different tax rates on residential and commercial properties.

The Tax Foundation, a non-profit research group that is dedicated to educate taxpayers about tax policy and burden, has complied a ranking of all 50 states regarding solely their respective tax issues.

For real estate property tax purposes, New York City reviews all properties on an annual basis.

New York-area real estate executives are expressing pessimism about the current state and future of the commercial real estate market in Manhattan.

A new bill introduced by the General Assembly would allow commercial real estate developers in Maryland to claim state income tax credit for their projects.

When buying an operating hotel, the real estate portion of the transaction is affected through recording a deed.

Texas schools will run out of money unless legislators can come up with an additional $1 billion before the summer.

Relevant data analyzed to date shows that the transaction market in 2012 slowed down considerably from the year prior.

The Texas Taxpayers and Research Association is working on easing the property taxes levied on businesses by the state's school districts, counties, cities and special-purpose taxing units.

As the final bow is being put on the 2012 Washington, DC commercial real estate market, the focus turns to 2013, and the outlook is pretty unexciting.

Distressed hotel deals are still very prevalent despite the strides towards recovery the market has recently experienced.

Industry professionals are starting to succeed in creating greener data centers in hopes of turning around their reputation as energy hogs.

Allegheny County, Pennsylvania Executive Rich Fitzgerald has proposed a one-time change to the administrative code to give property owners a chance to challenge their new assessments in 2013.

Whether commercial real estate in Indianapolis has a breakout year or not depends on Congress and the President settling their differences on federal taxes and the budget.

After a year of slight improvements in regional mall vacancies and rents, the trend is likely to continue in 2013.

While the economy slowly but surely continues to improve, Boston, Massachusetts' 2013 taxable property values increased by 4.2%, more than double the growth of 2012.

With office vacancies always being a good indicator of whether businesses are growing and feeling comfortable, recent results don't bode well for the industry.

2012 was a year of across-the-board positive fundamentals for the San Francisco, California commercial real estate market.

Democrats in Sacramento, California are leading a charge to change Proposition 13, which has kept commercial and residential property taxes extremely low by only reassessing values when the property is sold.

At its August Hearing, the North Carolina Court of Appeals reversed the third Property Tax Commission (“PTC”) final decision and remanded the case back to the PTC reducing the assessment of IBM’s property to the value listed by the taxpayer.

The income approach to value results in the valuation of a going-concern business for an operating hotel.

As dollar stores continue to pop-up everywhere across the country, they are single-handedly changing the net lease investment market traditionally dominated by drug stores and fast food restaurants.

After abandoning the idea during the recession, almost every shopping center and mall owner is now exploring the idea of adding a hotel component to existing projects.

The elimination of Idaho's personal property tax on businesses could turn out to be more costly than originally thought.

Paradigm Tax Group and Ad Valorem Solutions, LLC (AVS) today announced they have entered into a definitive agreement for Paradigm to acquire AVS.