Property values drop $16 billion

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Chippewa.com 

MADISON — The value of Wisconsin property dropped $16 billion last
year.

A state Department of Revenue report released Friday says property
value decline about 3 percent in 2009, the largest drop in at least a
half century.

Revenue officials say overall property values fell from nearly $496
billion to almost $512 billion, only the third decline in Wisconsin in
some 50 years.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says the value of the state’s largest
class of property, residential housing, dropped 3.5 percent.
Nationwide, the value of residential property fell 5.6 percent.