Harvey’s Effect On Property Value
The heart ache that ensued from watching Harvey pummel South Texas can only be matched by what we felt upon seeing the aftermath. This category 4 hurricane left 70 people dead, almost 200,000 homes with damage and heartbroken people who watched on as Irma tackled the Caribbean Islands and the state of Florida. “Once lives no longer hang in the balance, the attention will inevitably turn to longer-term devastation: What happens to the real estate in those storm ravaged areas?”, highlighted an article on realtor.com.
Despite what some may think, there is not always a mass abandonment of homes following major flooding. Which is, precisely, what took place following Katrina. However, there are a couple key differences between the flooding that followed Katrina and that from Harvey; New Orleans sat below sea level so the water had to be pumped out where as the water should recede on its own from Houston. However, the water that has flooded the Houston area is contaminated with chemicals, oil and sewage so there is quite a bit more involved in the recovery than drying up the carpet.
However, the article does point to a little bit of good; the local home prices probably won't fall as much as initially feared, says national real estate appraiser Jonathan Miller, who worked on Sandy-damaged homes after the 2012 storm. You see, many of the affected homeowners have mortgages they still need to repay so they won’t be able to sell at a large discount but instead will likely fix up their homes and hold out for the market to improve. Currently, the home sales in Houston have, of course, slowed but not all homeowners in Houston are feeling woes from homeownership in this region. The homes that did not flood may actually be worth more now than before the flood, as those who were negatively affected look for a safer place to live.
The Houston Housing market isn’t likely to be the only market affected. The rest of Texas was already facing a housing shortage, as more companies/workers moved into the state. And now with construction and labor materials going to rebuild Houston, fewer homes will be going up in the rest of the state which will cause prices to increase as the number of available homes lessens.
Source: https://www.realtor.com/news/trends/hurricanes-harvey-and-irma/