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The real estate brokerage Redfin has begun to publish climate risk data in its listings and throughout its website to help home buyers and homeowners understand the threat of fire, heat, drought, and storms to properties across the country.
The ClimateCheck rating is based on a scale from 0–100 and rates the risk faced by counties, cities, neighborhoods, and ZIP codes. The ratings reflect future risk and how that risk will change over time.
“A home is a huge financial investment, and these days consumers are seeing all too many examples of climate-related risks like fires, floods, and heatwaves,” said Christian Taubman, Redfin’s chief growth officer. “By bringing ClimateCheck’s data to every location page on Redfin.com, we’re making it easy for consumers to make better-informed decisions about buying, selling, and renting.”
A new consumer survey shows that Americans are factoring climate change into their homebuying decisions. About half of 2,000 survey respondents who plan to move in the next year said extreme temperatures and the increasing frequency or intensity of natural disasters played a role in their decision to relocate, according to the survey. About one-third of respondents said that rising sea levels influenced their decisions of where to buy or move away from.
Nearly 80% of consumers said that an area’s increasing frequency or intensity of natural disasters in an area would make them hesitant to buy a home there. Further, more than one-third of homeowners said they have spent at least $5,000 in protecting their homes against climate threats.