How 9/11 Transformed D.C.'s Real Estate Market

"The impact of the attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center are specific to Washington: The federal government created the Department of Homeland Security, the largest new agency in half a century. The Defense Department's budget ballooned due to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. And private-sector defense and security companies that reaped billions of dollars in government contracts went on hiring sprees.

...The Washington real-estate market had generally lagged behind flashier markets such as New York and Chicago... [F]or years, a chronically dysfunctional city government and high crime rate further damped interest in the city.

But in many ways Washington is the perfect real-estate market. 'The government's not going to just pick up out of Washington and leave,' says James Luck, a broker at Cushman & Wakefield Inc."

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