August 06, 2009
Today the Civic Federation released its annual estimate of the full market value of taxable real estate in Chicago and the Cook County suburbs. Tax year 2007 was the first year since at least 1995 that the estimated value of real estate in Chicago declined, from $666.2 billion in 2006 to $656.5 billion in 2007.
Tax year 2007 is the most recent year for which data is available.
Within the City of Chicago, the estimated full market value property value declined by 2.8% in 2007. Just one year earlier property values in the City increased 16.5%, and had increased by double-digits during six of the past ten years. The northwest suburbs of Cook County also saw a decrease in estimated property value, falling by 1.0% over the previous year’s estimate. Property values in Cook County’s southwest suburbs, however, increased modestly by $1.6 billion or 1.2% over 2006 estimates.
The graph below illustrates the change in full market value between 1998 and 2007.
The Civic Federation estimates the full market value of taxable Cook County real estate using two data sources: the total assessed value of property as reported by the Cook County Assessor’s Office and the median level of assessment reported by the Illinois Department of Revenue. The estimate does not include railroad properties or properties that are exempt from real estate taxes.
The Illinois Department of Revenue collects data on property sales and calculates the ratio of assessed values to sales values. That data is used to compute the mean assessment-to-sales ratio, or the median level of assessment. The Department of Revenue figures for 2007 were released on July 30, 2009.
The Civic Federation estimates the full value of property by dividing the median level of assessment into the total assessed value of each class of property in Cook County. For those classes for which the Department of Revenue does not calculate a median level of assessment, the level set by County ordinance is used.