Zillow's Latest Announcement Could Shake Up Home Buying
Potential home buyers have long considered their risk of natural disasters when looking at homes — is the home in a flood zone? Does the area get frequent wildfires? — but the increasing frequency and severity of climate-related disasters like Hurricane Helene has made climate risk something nearly impossible to ignore.
In fact, a 2023 survey from Zillow found that 80% of potential home buyers now consider climate change risks like extreme temperatures, wildfires, and drought during their home hunt. The climate resiliency of cities and homes is only going to become more important over time, especially as unexpectedly catastrophic climate disasters become more of the norm. Now, Zillow is rolling out a new feature that shows just how risky it is to buy your next home.
Zillow’s new climate risk data — which will be available for for-sale properties in the United States in 2025 — will calculate a “risk” score from 1 to 10 for each listing based on insights into five factors: flood, wildfire, wind, heat, and air quality. In addition to providing an overall index for each home, Zillow is using data from climate risk financial modeling company First Street to add insurance requirements or recommendations based on their findings. (In reaction to this news, some Redditors noted that sites like Redfin also already run climate scores — also in partnership with First Street — that scores homes for flood risk, fire risk, wind risk, air quality scores, and heat scores.)
The climate risk section will include color-coded interactive maps showing just how at-risk a certain area is for the five natural disasters. There will also be additional information about future weather patterns (which could give you an idea of rising utility costs) as well as a historical report detailing if, or when, a home experienced any natural disasters. (It is important to note, however, that climate disasters can be totally unpredictable — and even if you do all of the planning you could possibly do, disaster can still strike without warning.)
Potential homebuyers can expect to access this new climate risk section on the Zillow website or iOS app by the end of the year, and on the Android app early next year, per the real estate company.
In the press release, First Street found that 78% of homes that had flooding damage from Hurricane Debby in early August 2024 didn’t require flood insurance. However, Zillow’s tool would have recommended getting this option coverage for 85% of the properties that were impacted.
Not only will this help would-be homebuyers estimate their costs over the years (useful for states like Florida with extremely high home insurance premiums), but it could also help them determine, in part, if they’re willing to buy in hot real estate markets where insurance costs are also rising due to natural disasters. Some private insurers have begun backing out of providing home insurance for specific regions altogether, as “once in a lifetime” storms and other disasters become less of a rarity, and far more normal.
Considering that the risk of climate change impacting your home has never been higher — in August, the company found that 16.7% of new Zillow listings were at a “major” risk for wildfires, while 12.8% had the same designation for flooding — this could help home buyers better decide whether they want to make a purchase or if they want to put their home-owning plans on hold.
While the feature has yet to roll out, numerous Redditors discussed the new Zillow update, with one writing that they hope it’ll help people realize the true cost of ownership and home insurance pricing. “Pricing in risk to climate change will also help convince people to actually take this issue seriously,” one reader commented. Others noted that the tool may only be useful if you can get home insurance on your property at all, given insurers have been refusing to insure properties.
Aid organizations are currently working on the ground in areas hard hit by Helene. The North Carolina Department of Public Safety has urged those who want to help to donate to the North Carolina Disaster Relief Fund. There’s also the Florida Disaster Fund and Send Relief, a nonprofit group in Georgia. The Federal Emergency Management Agency says “cash donations to organizations on the ground are the most effective” way to help, per NBC News.
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