Investers Lead Home Sale Boom in New Orleans

[gulliver]

I thought something like this would happen. I have this image of a bunch of poor people desperately trying to hold onto their homes and land and a bunch of "friendly" land speculators swooping in to "help them out." Am I being paranoid?

<snip>

NEW ORLEANS, July 8 — In a market spurred by speculators and bargain hunters, an extraordinarily large number of houses in the flood-ravaged metropolitan area here are being sold, according to real estate analysts, who say volume and sales prices exceed levels before Hurricane Katrina.

The higher prices are largely due to an increase in value in suburban areas, many of which were not heavily flooded, or in dry areas of New Orleans. But flooded houses in the city are being bought as well, often at deep discounts of as much as $50 a square foot less than they would have sold for before the hurricane.

"We have a stronger housing market than before," said Wade R. Ragas, professor emeritus of finance at the University of New Orleans and the president of a local consulting firm, Real Property Associates.

"There is renovation activity in every ZIP code of Orleans Parish," Dr. Ragas added, "but the strongest buying activity is, in general, closest to where it did not flood or where there was under two feet of water."

More...
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/09/us/09orleans.html?ei=5094&en=c87641ac61f830d8&hp=&ex=1152417600&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print