Sandy's Effect on Long Island Housing Market

Joseph Gowen

3/24/2016

FIN 310

Staten Island Homes Finally Go Up, and Up for Auction, in Hurricane’s Wake

It has been three years since Hurricane Sandy hit the New York and New Jersey area extremely hard and changed the lives of many who lived there. The aftermath of the storm was some of the worst these areas has ever seen. Homeowners who lived close to the ocean or rivers experienced major flooding and were forced to evacuate and many homes were completely totaled afterword. Staten Island, the area this article focuses on, was one of the worst areas hit.

Now it is three years after Sandy has hit and this area is still not back to normal. Damaged homes and many more under construction, are waiting to get fixed. Since this storm hit, the flood level plains have been increased. Homes inside of these flood levels are required to be raised above the ground on a platform or on concrete bricks to assure that they will not be totaled or damaged by future flooding. Many government programs such as “Build It Back”, have been started to raise funds to rebuild and restore these areas by raising homes above flood levels. If the homeowners could no longer sustain to live in the area, the state would by the home from them so they could sell it in an auction and have the new buyer raise it. In New Dorp Beach alone, 17 families have sold their home to the state. These 17 families have all moved to higher ground, not able to shake off the terrible flooding that occurred and go back.

On May 10th, the first homes will go on auction and 55 damaged homes will be available to buy with the requirement that the new homeowner pays for all the new standards and requirements that are in place. A house in New Dorp beach before the storm was worth $175,000. Now after a recent appraisal, it was only found to be worth $70,625. This is a real life example of the devastating effects natural disasters can have on the appraisal value of homes, just like we talked about in class....