Real estate listings on Zillow now include details about a property’s climate risks and whether natural disaster insurance is critical or required.
The listings feature information on the potential for floods, wildfires, high winds, extremes temperatures and poor air quality, as well as historical data on floods and wildfires. Analytics firm First Street is providing the climate data.
“As concerns about flooding, extreme temperatures and wildfires grow — and what that might mean for future insurance costs — this tool also helps agents inform their clients in discussing climate risk, insurance and long-term affordability,” said Skylar Olsen, Zillow chief economist, in a statement.
In recent years, numerous insurance providers have pulled out of riskier markets such as fire-prone areas of California and stretches of Florida vulnerable to hurricanes, and they’ve stopped covering specific categories of natural disasters. The Zillow listings don’t provide specific insurance company recommendations or cost details.
Fellow Seattle company and real estate rival Redfin also includes climate risks in its listings.
Survey results released last year by Zillow found that 83% of prospective home buyers consider climate risk when looking for a home, with younger shoppers most concerned about climate impacts.
Those worries, however, haven’t been enough to sway buyers’ purchasing decisions. Only 23% of those surveyed said they would consider moving to a place with lower climate risks, and an earlier study by Redfin found that Americans are flocking to areas more prone to climate disasters.
Another challenge in navigating the situation is the reliability of the climate risk predictions. A recent Bloomberg investigation found that different organizations and models — including First Street — produced significantly different results as to which properties are most in peril of floods and fires.
