Original Research

Property Tax Insights

Parcel-level research on what commercial owners actually pay — built from county assessor and treasurer records, not press releases. The data behind SVA's work, published.

Colorado· 859 Possessory-Interest Parcels· July 2026

Two Hangars, Two Tax Bills: Colorado’s Possessory-Interest Fork

Build a hangar on leased airport land in Jefferson County and the tax is capped at the value of your ground rent. Build the identical hangar one county over and you’re taxed on the full building. We compiled every possessory-interest parcel in eight Front Range counties — five run full value, two cap at NPV, one does both at once — and a March 2026 appellate decision says two lease clauses decide who’s right.

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Utah· Decided Appeals 2021–2024· July 2026

Who Actually Wins a Salt Lake County Property Tax Appeal

Salt Lake County publishes the outcome of every appeal in its parcel value histories — if you know how to read the line codes. Among decided appeals from 2021–2024: office won roughly 25%, multifamily 19%, industrial 10%. Office wins 2.5× as often as industrial, and the spread tracks the evidence, not the increase. What that means before September 15.

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Colorado· 8,058 BAA Cases· July 2026

What a 95% Win Rate Actually Tells You

We pulled every commercial appeal resolved at the Colorado Board of Assessment Appeals for tax year 2023. The market settles 61%. The highest-volume advocates run 49–57%. The prettiest win rates in the data belong to the smallest books — because a win rate measures the intake filter, not the hearing room.

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Utah· 2026 Assessment Roll· July 2026

Utah's 2026 Values Landed: Hotels Up 12.7% — and Office Is Still Overassessed

Median changes by asset type across Utah's largest commercial properties: hospitality +12.7% (83% of hotels rose), industrial +2.4%, multifamily −3.2%, office −3.7%. Two-cycle divergence is wider still — and in a non-disclosure state, office and apartment assessments remain well ahead of a falling market. The appeal deadline is September 15.

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Data Centers· 776 Parcels · 12 States· July 2026

What Data Centers Pay in Property Tax — and Why the Biggest Markets Pay the Most

We pulled FY2025 assessor and treasurer records for 776 data center parcels across 12 states. California tops the bill per square foot on an ordinary rate; Texas and Colorado get there on rate alone; Arizona and Oregon tax capped values that barely move. Power still outranks tax — but the spread is 10× and widening.

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On the Docket

  • Denver's $24 billion of unappealed value — 46% of the county's largest properties appealed in 2025; one in three $100M+ properties didn't. Hotels are the standout.
  • The office flight-to-quality tax gap — 568 Colorado office buildings: trophy-submarket Class A carries 2–3× the per-SF tax of comparable CBD product.
  • Does Rushmore value the hotel — or the business? — what actual hotel leases say about the method Colorado's tribunals have embraced.

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The same parcel-level rigor behind this research goes into every SVA engagement — on contingency, with a free assessment review first.