Helene, Milton One-Two Punch Cranks Up Complexity, Cost Of Rebuilding

The impact of the dual hurricanes that crashed over the Southeast will lead to a pricier-than-usual recovery period for commercial real estate. The back-to-back storms are expected to amplify labor costs, materials scarcity and the painful price of rebuilding in a new normal that demands added resiliency and comes with sharply increased insurance costs.  Hurricanes Helene and Milton made landfall just 12 days apart, and while the full scale of the damage will take time to compile, Moody’s estimates the storms caused between $35B and $55B in insured losses. “This is the worst I’ve seen it. Back-to-back storms — it was a lot for the...