Cook Valuation Loses $66B

Cook County's real estate valuation fell nearly 11%, or $66 billion, in 2009 from a year earlier, a new analysis says.

The Civic Federation, a Chicago-based fiscal watchdog group, last week released its annual report on the county's real estate market values. In tax year 2009, the most recent with available data, the estimated value of Cook's real estate totaled $550.1 billion, down from its peak of $666.2 billion in 2006. The 2009 decline of $66 billion follows a $40.3 billion decrease in 2008, the federation said.

Chicago's real estate assessment totaled $280.3 billion in 2009, down 9.8% from 2008, according to the data.

Property tax revenue is typically a top revenue source for counties, and credit analysts who cover local governments say they monitor property valuation and tax revenue as an important mark of a local government's fiscal health.

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Illinois
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