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Even as Hurricane Ian’s 155-mile-per-hour winds were leveling southwestern Florida, real estate agent Rick Pitts was selling the dream of waterfront living.

As Ian made landfall, Pitts, the owner of Sellstate Excelsior Realty in Cape Coral, told his Twitter followers to check out a $60,000 canal lot on the north side of town. The tweet, which Pitts said was autogenerated, provided the perfect setup for punchlines such as “gives new meaning to the term underwater mortgage” and “must own a boat.”

While people mocked the timing of Pitts’ post, research from the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, academics and industry data providers spoils the gag. These studies show that real estate in hurricane-affected regions has historically appreciated above the national average following a storm.

“I’ve got people whose houses didn’t get damaged saying they’re not going to sell now,” said Pitts. “What I tell them is that they’ve got no competition.”

The data support Pitts.