Earthquake! Everybody run for the - nevermind.

[mousepod]

I found this.

The results indicate that the Northridge Earthquake had a negative impact and overall capitalization rates rose. This negative effect, however, was not uniform over the entire Los Angeles area. During the first year the impact was correlated with distance to the epicenter and proximity to areas with high concentrations of damage. This negative effect, however, proved to be a temporary phenomenon.

Since I'm getting ready to buy, I'm thinking a month or two after a big one would be ok.

[Alex]

Probably depends on the neighborhoods hit worst. The worse the neighborhood the more speculation you'd see (on redevelopment), creating upward price pressure.

What happened to Malibu housing prices after their fires?

[RStar]

I would think a fire would be considered differently in peoples minds. It's more of a "having all the right conditions together all at once" phenomenon rather than a natural disaster like a hill slide , earthquake, or even flood.