The Texas Gulf Coast market is under a severe slowdown from a "once in a century" devastating set of hurricanes, but history has shown coastal markets always recover.

It is a time of opportunity for our coastal area and the end results will be a better looking and a better built hurricane resistant marketplace when it's all said and done. 

The Crystal Beach Bolivar area sustained massive damage from Hurricane Ike, as did Galveston's west-end. It will take years for these areas to recover. Even in the worst hit areas, homes that were built hurricane resistant survived. This has spurred an interest in hurricane resistant home construction.

The new modern high rises in Galveston were unscathed and the areas behind Galveston's mighty seawall were damaged only by flooding and to a much smaller degree. Once again Galveston's seawall saved most of the city from the worst storm in recorded history. The behind the seawall modern high rise condo market in Galveston is booming.

South Padre has now recovered from Hurricane Dolly and the resort area is effectively back in operation. South Padre's white sands, blue water and tropical climate continues to draw tourists and second home owners from all over the nation - and Mexico and Canada.

The Port Aransas Mustang Island area was not affected by either hurricane, and the high dunes and stringent setback rules on Mustang Island, would have protected much of the housing anyway - according to the experts.

Texas still has the strongest real estate market fundamentals in the nation, and homeownership remains significantly more affordable in Texas than in the nation as a whole. 

The future looks bright for the lone star state and the coastal area markets.