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Will Seattle’s real estate market be effected by Hurricane’s Harvey and Irma?
The devastating impacts of back-to-back hurricanes, Harvey and Irma, continue to be tallied by analysts. With the death toll ensuing over 120, and estimated billions of dollars in damages, Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma are the only Category 4 Atlantic storms to hit the US in the same year. With a staggering 24 trillion gallons of water being dumped in the Houston metro area, the commercial real estate market was hit hard. CoStar estimates that about 200 million square feet of properties were impacted in the Houston area the day following the subsiding of Hurricane Harvey. The community, including national and local CRE companies, are pulling together to get the effected tenants back on their feet and start to restore their impacted economy. CRE companies are identifying solutions for tenants, and working with landlords of non-effected buildings with current vacancies to find the displaced tenants key-turn or short-term spaces. While Texas and Florida begin to restore their losses, eyes turn to investors to see how cap rates may be effected. Will the effect of these hurricanes have an impact on the way investors look at commercial real estate in Seattle, specifically the flood plain areas? Natural disasters have not deterred CRE investors from making investment decision in the past, but they are sure to make Seattle investors more aware and potentially up the due diligence on a property before making an investment.
King County provides a tool to determine if a property is located in the floodplain zone here: http://www.kingcounty.gov/services/environment/water-and-land/flooding/maps/real-property.aspx
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