When Rebuilding After Hurricanes, Big Homes Replace Small

Trend Is Playing Out in Areas Prone to Extreme Winds and Storm Surge

A study of hurricane-hit areas of the United States has revealed a trend of larger homes being built to replace smaller ones in the years following a storm.

The research, led by the University of Southampton (UK) and published in the journal Nature Sustainability, shows that the sizes of new homes constructed after a hurricane often dwarf the sizes of those lost.

“Our findings highlight a ‘building back bigger’ trend in zones known to be prone to damage from extreme wind conditions and storm surge flooding,” said lead researcher Dr. Eli Lazarus, of the School of Geography and Environmental Science at the University of Southampton. “This practice creates an intensification of coastal risk- through increased, high-value property being exposed to major damage or destruction.”

Scientists from the UK and U.S. measured changes in residential-building footprints at five locations on the U.S. Atlantic and Gulf Coasts that have suffered six hurricane systems between 2003 and 2012. They compared satellite imagery from before the major storms hit with corresponding imagery from 2017.

The areas examined were Mantoloking (New Jersey), Hatteras and Frisco (North Carolina), Santa Rosa Island (Florida), Dauphin Island (Alabama) and Bolivar (Texas). The locations are all developed coastal barriers in designated flood-hazard areas, featuring mainly single-family homes.

The research, which also involved Coastal Carolina University, U.S. Geological Survey, University of North Carolina and Cardiff University, showed an overall pattern of larger homes replacing smaller ones across all five coastal locations.

Among buildings which changed area size (pre- and post-storm) the average house footprint increased between 19 per cent (Hatteras) and 49 per cent (Santa Rosa Island). New homes constructed post-hurricane strikes (but not as direct replacements for existing buildings) exceeded the mean footprints of other pre-storm buildings in the locality by between 14 percent (Mantoloking) and 55 percent (Santa Rosa Island).

Houses in the U.S. are getting bigger, in general. However, the increases shown in this study are much greater than the average increase nationally and are happening despite policy measures intended to curb them.

The effects of disasters can leave vulnerable communities open to – and perhaps ultimately pushed out by – speculative real estate markets with investors who buy up ruined parcels of land to make gains in any subsequent recovery, the study says.

“The building of larger homes, in-turn, puts a greater strain on the funding of subsidized insurance for properties in at-risk areas,” said Lazarus.

The team suggests that the “build back bigger” trend isn’t just limited to hurricane strike zones in the U.S. and is investigating redevelopment patterns in other places.