NATIONAL
Commercial Foreclosures Have More Than Doubled Since Last Year

BisNow

U.S. commercial foreclosures more than doubled in March compared to the same month in 2023, according to real estate data specialist Attom. Attom counted 625 foreclosures across the country, a monthly increase of 6% and an annual increase of 117%. Foreclosures have climbed steadily since the pandemic began, rising from 141 in May 2020.

Micron Wins $6.1B CHIPS Grant To Build Complex Of Computer Chip Plants

BisNow

Micron Technologies is set to receive $6.1B in CHIPS Act funding, joining the winner's circle of companies looking to boost domestic semiconductor production with the program, Bloomberg reported. While not yet finalized, the award is expected to be announced next week during President Joe Biden's trip to Syracuse, New York.

U.S. Industrial Leasing Plunges In Q1 As 'Recalibration' Continues

BisNow

Net absorption reached 28M SF nationwide in Q1, a roughly 70% drop from a year earlier, driving the vacancy rate up to 6.7% from 4.5% last year. But industrial brokers aren't worried. In fact, they realize their position could be viewed as enviable.

ALASKA
Larry Norene: Too many exemptions for politically connected developments' property taxes

Must Read Alaska

How many more property tax exemptions on “for profit” developments can our tax bills stand? I'm not talking about the familiar senior citizen, veteran, residential, or the nonprofits, (though there are thousands of nonprofit exemptions), but the newer Ethan Berkowitz-era exemptions for the wealthy and politically connected.

CALIFORNIA
Is S.F.’s biggest mall seeing a comeback? Three empty spaces are now ‘leased’

San Francisco Chronicle

San Francisco's largest, half-empty mall is seeing signs of a potential comeback. Literally. Three empty retail spaces at Emporium San Francisco Centre, including one formerly occupied by Burberry, have been “leased,” according to recent identical red signs posted on their windows. The signs also say “coming soon.”

FLORIDA
A ‘Come To Jesus’ Moment Looms For Owners Of South Florida’s Aging Condos

BisNow

Changes to the laws governing condo associations and reserves have the potential to reshape the oceanfront skylines across South Florida, but a wide gulf between buyers and sellers is holding back that transformation. “It's really going to take a come to Jesus time until they realize that there isn't a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow,” Edgardo Defortuna, one of the region's most prolific developers of condominiums.

ILLINOIS
Chicago Real Estate Braces for First Post-Pandemic Property Tax Assessment

Bloomberg

Last year, less than five large office buildings in the city changed hands, and those deals sold at losses ranging from 50% to 90%, according to the Building Owners and Managers Association of Chicago. The small number of deals and deep discounts are thwarting price discovery and spurring Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi to consider leaving out the most distressed office tower sales in his calculations.

IOWA
Raising property taxes on forest & fruit tree reservations

Sierra Club

A bill - HF2672 - has been introduced that would allow counties to decide if they agree to the property tax exemption on forest reservations or if they want to deny the tax exemption and begin assessing property taxes on the land. This bill should be opposed by our legislators.

LOUISIANA
Scott homeowner, investment firm go to trial over tax error

theadvocate.com

An unusual court case between a Louisiana homeowner and real estate investment company is expected to go to trial Monday in Lafayette. It all started with a 2015 grass-cutting lien for $409 on a vacant lot in Carencro that Theresa "Kim" Guillot once owned with her ex-husband.

TEXAS
El Pasoans see increase in property values, say appraisals are unfounded

KTSM 9 News

El Paso property owners may have noticed a steep jump in their property's appraisal value this year. Officials say El Paso County's healthy market is to blame. “If the area is showing an increase in the market, we have those sales and we've done that research and then we have to, by law, increase those. A lot of people say, ‘Well, I haven't done anything to it.' I understand that, but it's the market.

Phoenix, Dallas See Shrinking Lead in Industrial Construction

CoStar

Phoenix surpassed Dallas-Fort Worth early this year as the nation's leader in industrial construction, and this lead is holding firm going into the second quarter, even after several months of slow construction starts and high levels of completions in both markets. With some of the largest population gains nationwide, Phoenix and Dallas-Fort Worth are garnering attention from industrial developers eager to capitalize on the record growth.

UTAH
Are Utah homeowners paying more than their fair share of property taxes? What an audit found

TownLift

Utah homeowners are carrying a disproportionate share of the state's property tax burden because assessors find it more difficult to correctly determine the value of commercial property, resulting in a “tax shift” from one sector to another.

VIRGINIA
Arlington County homeowners to see first real estate tax hike since 2020

WTOP

Arlington County, Virginia, homeowners will be paying more to live there, after county board members voted to approve a new $1.65 billion budget for Fiscal Year 2025, a 6.4% increase from 2024, on Saturday. Under the new budget, the base real estate tax increases 2 cents to $1.033 per $100 of assessed value, which is partially offset by the move to a stormwater utility fee that reduced the tax rate by 1.7 cents, according to a news release.