Cook County Assessor James Houlihan's recent reassessment resulted in an overall 32% increase in residential property tax assessments across the city, according to Daley's office. Although commercial property is assessed at higher rates than residential properties of six units or less, Daley suggests the tax burden is tilted unfairly to homeowners as a result of Houlihan's assessments and an appeals process used more successfully by commercial owners.
One example of Daley's argument can be found at Aon Center, recently refinanced by Wells Real Estate Funds. Houlihan's most recent assessment of the 2.6-million-sf building comes in at $344 million, a 13.5% increase from last year. However, Atlanta-based Wells Real Estate Funds paid $465 million for the building last year. Although office buildings are supposedly assessed at 38% of fair market value, Aon Center's assessment is 28% of last year's purchase price.
On the other hand, Cook County homeowners supposedly pay property taxes on 16% of fair market value. However, state officials have long noted the actual ratio is closer to 10%.
© Touchpoint Markets, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more inforrmation visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
