The MIT Center for Real Estate recently released its 2009 Q2 Transaction-Based Index indicating an 18.1% decline in commercial real estate sale prices compared to the 1^st quarter and, are you ready for this, a 39.2% decline from the peak in the 2^nd quarter of 2007. 

Some good news is that their summary analysis states: 

“The big news this quarter is not just the magnitude of the drop, but the fact that transaction volume actually increased in the presence of this decline, the first volume increase since last summer,” 

A pick up in transaction volume is a welcome sight to us property tax folks.