Andrew Small
Andrew Small is a freelance writer in Washington, D.C., and author of the CityLab Daily newsletter (subscribe here). He was previously an editorial fellow at CityLab.
Also: Why London took away Uber’s license, and yellow scorpions are invading Brazilian cities.
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What We’re Following
Sink or swim: When hurricanes or storm-driven flooding sweep into coastal areas, the news coverage of real estate damage tends to focus on high-dollar losses, often near big cities. But the losses in a small community, like Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, have a greater relative impact because median home values are lower. In collaboration with CityLab, Nexus Media News has created a tool to identify where home values have been affected by flooding the most, based on research by First Street Foundation.
Bay St. Louis comes out near the top of the list. But even there, not all properties are losing value equally. Ironically, properties right on the water seem to be in the highest demand. After a post-Hurricane Katrina building boom, some waterfront homes were built more than 20 feet in the air and fortified to withstand hurricane-force winds. One real estate agent says questions about climate change and sea level rise hardly come up with homebuyers in these flood-prone areas—but at least they come with a view of the water. Josh Landis of Nexus Media has the story on CityLab: Where Flooding Is Sinking Real Estate Values the Most
More on CityLab
What We’re Reading
What Amazon costs its warehouse communities (New York Times)
One city’s plan to combat climate change: Bulldoze homes and rebuild paradise (Washington Post)
Want to get people to fly less? Stop funding airport expansions (Curbed)
Is it time to take highways out of cities? (Forbes)
3 kids. 2 paychecks. No home. (California Sunday)
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About the Author
