A woman walks by a house with the blue tarp that was used to protect the roof damaged by Hurricane Maria two years ago. | AFP via Getty Images

Two years after Hurricane Maria, investments in tourism and coastal property belie inequitable recovery In the commonwealth of Puerto Rico, still unsettled after a protest movement and still recovering from 2017?s record-setting Hurricane Maria, the real estate market has started showing signs of momentum. Numerous studies and data points suggest that Puerto Rico?s property market is bouncing back?in some regions, and for some people.
The Federal Housing Finance Agency reported that the growth in home sale prices jumped 14 percent in the first half of 2019, compared to just 1.35 percent during the same period last year. Estudios Técnicos, a Puerto Rican consulting firm, found that new home sales surged 78 percent in 2018, a figure that doesn?t just represent rebuilding after the storm. Zillow?s recent analysis of the island?s overall market, as well as conditions in San Juan, the capital, find that the ?recent rise in prices aligns with the recent drop in price cuts, a sign of market hotness.? Listing prices in San Juan have jumped nearly 23 percent year over year. The island is ?a new phoenix rising,? says Rich Holman, founder and director of Institutional and Residential Sales at Far International, and could become the next Medellin, the Colombian city renowned for using progressive urbanism to rebuild and redefine itse...