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State property values drop again

MADISON — A new report says property values in Wisconsin have dropped for the fourth straight year.

The Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance report released last week shows that property values dropped 3.2 percent in 2012. That is the fourth year of declines and comes after a 1.8 percent drop in 2011, according to “Property values skip recover, drop for fourth year,” a new report from the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance or WISTAX, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to public policy research and citizen education.

The largest drops in valuation were in the southeast corner of the state, including Walworth County, which was down 6.4 percent. Neighboring Racine County was down 6.1 percent, while Kenosha County had a 7.7 percent drop. The state’s largest county, Milwaukee, decreased 5.4 percent.

Property values in the northwest also displayed weakness. Barron, Burnett, St. Croix, and Sawyer counties all fell more than 5 percent.

Residential property is the largest category and values there dropped 4 percent after being down 1.6 percent the year before. WISTAX researchers noted that about $2 billion in new residential construction was more than offset by a $15.3 billion erosion in the value of existing homes.

Manufacturing property was the only category that saw an increase and that was up 1.1 percent.

The report says only seven out of 72 counties saw an increase in property values, with Trempealeau (1.6 percent) and La Crosse (1.2 percent) counties leading the way. Of the seven, all but Florence were in western Wisconsin.

The Focus newsletter “Property values ski recovery, drop for furth year” is available at www.wistax.org.