MBA: Katrina Price Tag $8-10B in Big Easy

The cost of repairing the 95,000 properties in New Orleans damaged by flooding related to Hurricane Katrina will total $8 billion to $10 billion, according to a study by the Mortgage Bankers Association.Flood insurance is expected to cover $4 billion to $5 billion, leaving $3 billion to $6 billion in uninsured losses, the MBA said. The pre-Katrina market values of the properties totaled $17 billion to $18 billion, according to the study, which used property-level damage reports on over 117,000 properties and applied repair cost estimates based on structure types, location, degree of damage, and current builder quotes. Damage percentages vary dramatically by ZIP code, ranging from only 2% of structures to 95%, the MBA said. The study was written by Jay Brinkmann, the MBA's vice president of research and economics, and Wade Ragas, president of Real Property Associates and retired head of the Real Estate Market Center at the University of Orleans. The MBA can be found online at http://www.mortgagebankers.org.