Opinion: Climate Risks Becoming A Factor in Housing Sales

Local and Green

The following column appeared previously in the Amherst Bulletin.

Have you ever thought about the risks from climate change before buying a home? Or climate risks related to your current home?

Does your home or one you are considering purchasing sit in or near a flood plain? Is it near the coast and projected to be affected by rising seas? Are the power lines above ground and surrounded by trees making power outages more likely? Is it shaded or otherwise protected from extreme heat? Is it in an area susceptible to wildfires? What building material is it made of?

If you have thought about this you are not alone. Research done by Zillow, the online real estate marketplace company, shows that more than 80% of home shoppers now consider climate risks when looking for a new home to gauge safety, costs and resilience.

Because of the frequency of extreme weather events, Zillow has started listing climate-related risk data that can be used when shopping for a home or in deciding to move from your current home.

Climate risk data tells you whether a property you’re considering is at risk for flood, wildfire, high winds, extreme heat or poor air quality. It also gives you a history of previous climate-related events, and an estimate of the likelihood that such an event could affect that home over the next 30 years.

According to Zillow, “Compared to five years ago, more homes listed for sale in the U.S. are associated with major climate risks. The Zillow analysis was based on data from First Street, a climate risk modeling company that Zillow is partnering with. The analysis found that 16.7% of new listings were at major risk of wildfire, while 12.8% came with a major risk of flooding.”

To find the climate risk data, just search online for a property address and scroll down to “climate risks.” Each property has five risk categories: flood, wildfire, wind, heat and air quality. Click on a risk area to see how the property is predicted to be impacted in 15 and 30 years, along with information on insurance recommendations and requirements. Risks are categorized as minimal, minor, moderate, major, severe and extreme.

An example is my home in Orchard Valley of South Amherst. It is rated as minimal risk for flooding and fire, minor risk for air pollution, moderate risk for heat (the number of days over 95 degrees is predicted to increase by 143% over the next 30 years, from the current 7 days to 17 days), and major risk for wind (23% chance of severe, damaging windstorms over the next 30 years).

Properties in the same area may not have the same risks. Flood risk often varies within and across neighborhoods. Neighbors can have significant differences in flood risks, largely due to elevation, proximity to water or wetlands, etc.

According to Zillow, “Risks such as fire, wind, heat and air tend to be more similar across communities. For both fire and wind, a property’s vulnerability is based on a home’s specific building characteristics, such as the building materials used, size of the structure, and slope of the property — factors that influence its ability to survive an event.”

Has Zillow teamed up with the insurance industry to make a buck on climate risk? Though I’m guessing yes, it’s still a move in the right direction — mainstream acceptance of using climate as an ongoing factor in all our decision-making.

Darcy DuMont is a former town councilor and sponsor of the legislation creating the Amherst Energy and Climate Action Committee. She is a founding member of Zero Waste Amherst, Local Energy Advocates of Western MA, and the Amherst Climate Justice Alliance and a non-voting member of Valley Green Energy Working Group. She can be contacted at dumint140@gmail.com.