This spike in insurance premiums is pricing many people out of the New Orleans market who are actually in the higher income bracket for the area. This fact of life may leave New Orleans only affordable to the super rich if this situation is not remedied.
A popular although not too inexpensive alternative to private insurers many homebuyers in New Orleans are utilizing is the state-run pool, Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corp. The pool is receiving “400 new applications a day and is expected to spike to 200,000 policies by year’s end.”
As the amount of people applying to the pool increases the length of time to process the applications extends beyond the current three to five week timeframe. Many people are looking outside the New Orleans zip code to find semi-affordable options they never would have considered before Hurricane Katrina.
It seems an unexpected result of the devastation of Hurricane Katrina is the surge in insurance premiums. Future hurricanes are not the only thing keeping the population low in New Orleans and damaging the rebuilding of a once thriving city.
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