The Home Defenders League, a community activist organization in California, released a report last week with the provocative title of “Home Wreckers: How Wall Street Foreclosure are Devastating Communities.”

The report makes a simple but powerful point that has not been widely appreciated. Property tax revenues, which many municipalities use as a primary source of funding for education, police, fire, and other essential functions, are tied to real property values. Since the height of the market in 2007, on a national basis, it has been commonly reported that commercial real estate values have dropped at least 40% and residential real estate values have dropped at least 30%.

Read more here.

Category: Research | Tag: Foreclosure Crisis, In the Media, Tanya Marsh