In a prior post, I claimed that MSBuild parses a file in order. Further testing shows this is only partially true.

MSBuild loads the project file and any imported files. The imported files are inlined; imagine if the imported file was copied and pasted where the import element is defined. Then, all PropertyGroups are parsed in order. After that, ItemGroups are parsed in order. This means you cannot define a property, use it as metadata in an item, then redefine the property later.

It doesn't matter whether or not you define properties and items above or below a target, the target will use them.