A catastrophe risk modeling firm, reporting on what it called an"alarming" development, said coastal area insured property valueshave grown at 7 percent a year since 2004.

Despite the devastating shore property damage inflicted by the2005 hurricane season, the increase in "the number and value ofexposed properties along the U.S. Gulf and East Coasts continuesapace--and remains the largest factor affecting insurers' hurricanerisk today," AIR Worldwide Corp said.

The Boston-based firm said from Dec. 31, 2004 to Dec.31, 2007 inNew York and Florida alone, the insured value of residential andcommercial properties in coastal counties passed $2 trilliondollars each.

Despite the recent weakening of the real estate market in manyareas, the insured value--or the cost to rebuild properties--hasmaintained an annual growth rate that will lead to a doubling ofthe total value every decade, AIR said.

Ming Lee, president and CEO of AIR, said "While the scientificdebate over the effects of global warming on the frequency andseverity of hurricanes remains inconclusive, there is no questionthat the significant increase in the number and value of exposedproperties over the last decade has and will continue to contributeto increasing hurricane losses for insurers."

The firm found that since the impact of Hurricane Katrina in2005, the total insured value of properties in the coastal countiesof Louisiana has grown at the lowest compound average annual rateof all coastal states, or just over 2 percent.

Mississippi coastal counties, also impacted by HurricaneKatrina, averaged a five percent annual increase, the second lowestof all coastal states.

Overall, 38 percent of the total exposure in Gulf and East Coaststates is located in coastal counties, which accounts for nearly 17percent of the total U.S. property values.

The complete report and rankings of states according to propertyvalue is available at:

http://www.air-worldwide.com/_public/images/pdf/AIR2008_Coastline_at_Risk.pdf