Andy Babula, finance professor and director of the real estate program at the University of St. Thomas Opus College of Business, recently spoke to the Minnesota Star Tribune regarding property taxes. Assessment trends in Minnesota’s two largest cities reflect the shock of the COVID-19 pandemic and high interest rates in Minneapolis and St. Paul.
From the story:
Talk about property taxes – go-to fodder for over-the-fence chats between Minnesota neighbors – has taken on a sharper edge in recent years as homeowners in the state’s two largest cities contend with rising costs.
Local and state budgeting decisions draw plenty of blame for high taxes in Minneapolis and St. Paul. But residents and business owners are also increasingly pointing fingers at the post-pandemic decline of downtown office values. Many worry homeowners will have to shoulder more of the tax burden those large commercial property owners previously bore. ...
It was the “under-supply of housing – both single-family residential and apartments” that, among other things, “pushed up property values for about 10-plus years,” said Andy Babula, director of the real estate program at the University of St. Thomas.
