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Which region in the U.S. lags behind in paying taxes on its residential and commercial property? According to the annual property tax payment analysis by LERETA, a leading national real estate tax and flood service provider, the data points to the Northeast, which leads the country with an 8.9 percent delinquency rate in residential and commercial property taxes.
LERETA analyzed delinquency data on 58.2 million records across the U.S. and found a nationwide delinquency rate of 8.4 percent. Approximately 2,474 jurisdictions across the country were included in this year-end review. The Northeastern region scored higher than the national data, indicating a delinquency rate of 8.9 percent in this region. A little more than 800,000 of the more than 9 million parcels reviewed in the Northeastern region indicate property tax delinquency.
The southern region also showed a high delinquency rate at 8.8 percent, or around 3.3 million of the 38.4 million records analyzed in this region. That again shows an average that’s well above the national delinquency rate.
“We are in a unique position to analyze the effect of current assessor, tax amounts and delinquent data on a portfolio because of the sheer volume of data available to us,” John Walsh, CEO of LERETA, said.
The Midwest region of the country scored lowest with a delinquency rate that was below the national average at 6.4 percent, or around 400,000 of the 6.4 million records analyzed in the region. The Western part of the U.S scored closer to the national average with a delinquency rate of 6.9 percent, or around 300,000 of the 4.3 million records analyzed by LERETA.
This annual year-end analysis is designed to identify jurisdictions where property tax payments were not made by the economic loss date for the collecting agency. According to the report, an account becomes delinquent when the due date for a tax return or other established liability has passed and the amount due remains unpaid. Penalties and interest begin to accrue on the unpaid tax until the entire balance is paid in full.
