About 7 million homes are in harm's way this year's hurricane season, says real estate data firm CoreLogic, the same estimate for 2017, an "above-normal" season per the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
CoreLogic also found that total reconstruction costs this year will be more than $1.6 trillion, up 6.6 percent from 2017, due to higher construction, equipment, and labor costs. Miami and Tampa, Fla., and New York are the three cities said to be in the most danger of hurricane storm surge this year. Concurrently, the National Flood Insurance Program is set to expire July 31, in the middle of hurricane season; the National Association of Realtors is lobbying Congress once again for reauthorization to keep the housing market stable, MarketWatch reports.
The federal program is the only option for many homeowners in areas where such insurance is required. Many politicians and housing industry participants agree that it would be better to have more private-sector options, but true reform of the program has proved challenging ... The final tally for hurricane season last year remains incomplete. The two largest storms, Harvey and Irma, are estimated to have cost between $40 billion-$59 billion and $29 billion-$46 billion, respectively, but there’s no accounting yet for the other storms, says Dr. Tom Jeffery, senior hazard scientist at CoreLogic.
