Hurricane delivers windfall to lucky high-ground owners

Washington DC

JUST a week after Hurricane Harvey struck Houston, Irma Jalifi was doing something that might sound crazy: writing an offer on a home.

In fact, Ms Jalifi, a real-estate agent with Redfin, put in offers on not one but three Houston houses Tuesday at their asking prices - two at US$1 million and a three-bedroom at US$450,000 - as the new economics of Houston housing began to take hold.