Miami Housing Industry Won´t See Appropriate Katrina Reconstruction for Years
A new study released by the National Association of Home Builders predicts that Hurricane Katrina will have “a monumental impact” on the Miami housing industry. The study reviewed local building permits since Hurricane Andrew and found that it took years to begin replacing Miami housing that was blown away in the storm.
The Miami housing reconstruction effort “focused on repairing damaged homes, not building new ones.” This means that a local construction industry that was thriving at the beginning of the summer has not only been crippled by this year’s storm season, but is now getting hammered even harder by rising mortgage rates.
And as though this weren´t enough, material prices have already begun to escalate. Concrete, which was in short supply before the storm, is now in even shorter supply, as the ports of entry for imported concrete were located in New Orleans and Mobile, Alabama.
The Miami housing reconstruction effort “focused on repairing damaged homes, not building new ones.” This means that a local construction industry that was thriving at the beginning of the summer has not only been crippled by this year’s storm season, but is now getting hammered even harder by rising mortgage rates.
And as though this weren´t enough, material prices have already begun to escalate. Concrete, which was in short supply before the storm, is now in even shorter supply, as the ports of entry for imported concrete were located in New Orleans and Mobile, Alabama.
