The New York Times takes a look. Their conclusion?
“Although real estate experts say property values are unlikely to suffer in the long term, it is possible that new zoning and planning regulations — and buyers’ expectations — could reshape how residential housing along the water is built, marketed and sold.”
If by “property values” they’re talking about the value of the dirt under the building, I expect this is generally true for NYC which is too valuable to seriously discuss large-scale retreat. But some sort of mitigation process (similar to gentrification, but with buildings becoming safer instead of nicer) is going to have to address risk. Even assuming people have short memories and will forget about Sandy next year, insurance companies won’t (or at least the ones who stay in business, won’t).