Thornton Township: Commercial Valuations

Thornton Township: Multifamily & Commercial Valuation Report

Commercial property assessments are calculated by determining a property’s use, estimated income, market level vacancy, collections loss, and expenses. Applicable real estate operating expenses include property taxes, insurance, repair and maintenance costs, and property management fees.

The varying property tax rates throughout the south and west suburbs were accounted for in operating expense ratios.

The Assessor’s Office uses unloaded capitalization rates when deriving market values for properties.  The cost of real estate taxes is included in the operating expense ratio, which eliminates the need to load the capitalization rate.

To learn more about how commercial reassessments work, read the full Commercial Valuation Report. Commercial and multifamily property owners can go a step further and locate their property on a methodology worksheet that contains the data used to assess their property.

The chart below shows a high-level overview of the commercial properties in Thornton Township.

Commercial Valuation Report

How are commercial properties reassessed? 
Commercial properties are calculated by first determining a property’s use (office, retail, apartments, industrial, etc.), then the property is grouped with similar or like-kind property types. Next, income generated by the property such as rent or incidental income streams like parking or advertising signage is examined. Next, market-level vacancy based on location and property type is examined. In addition, new construction that has not yet been leased is also considered. Finally, expenses such as property taxes, insurance, repair and maintenance costs, property management fees, and service expenditures for professional services are examined. Once a snapshot of a property’s income statement is captured based on market data, a standard valuation metric called a “capitalization rate” to convert income to value is applied.