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High interest rates and higher home prices have dominated the housing market conversation, but recent hurricanes like Helene and Milton highlight that extreme weather is another factor not to be ignored. This concern extends beyond housing prices as home insurance costs spike due to extreme weather.
Strong climate concern rebounds, yet many Americans are unwilling to relocate due to weather impacts.
Back-to-back impactful hurricanes, paired with record high temperatures on Halloween, may be contributing to the rising percentage of Americans who report they are strongly concerned about climate change and the environment lately – those who are ‘very’ concerned rose two points since September to 34% after consecutive months of declines. Still, the percentage of those who are ‘not at all’ concerned has held relatively steady.
Despite the bump in concern, Americans have become less likely to say they plan on relocating from where they live now – 80% say they are unlikely to move due to local extreme weather impacts, marking an increase of seven percentage points from April data. That said, as many as 26% of those living in the U.S. South are at least ‘somewhat’ likely to move as a result, compared to 19% of those living in the Midwest.
Let Us Know: Have you considered relocating from your current home due to climate concerns?
Those considering a new home, however, are leery of climate impacts.
While most Americans aren’t planning to relocate due to extreme weather, it still heavily influences home buying decisions. CivicScience data show that 83% of those planning to look for a new home in the next year consider climate risk at least ‘somewhat’ important, with 46% rating it as ‘very’ important in their decision-making process.
This concern spans age groups, with Gen Z (18-24) equally as likely as those aged 55+ to view it as important, though those over 55 are far more likely to consider it ‘very’ important. Climate risk also ranks high across political lines, with 78% of Republicans and 93% of Democrats seeing it as an important factor.
Home insurance concerns are on the rise.
As extreme weather events hit home all over the country the cost of insuring property is making for a formidable obstacle for home buying. New CivicScience data show 58% of those who report they are planning on buying a home in the next 12 months are concerned about being able to obtain home insurance to protect them from extreme weather events. This represents a 10 percentage point increase in concern levels from 2023 data. 1
How Zillow and Redfin users compare.
Two of the major platforms for researching homes, Redfin and Zillow have recognized that home buyers care about climate risks, and each have their own climate risk feature for those searching for new homes. Zillow users and intenders, in particular, over-index compared to non-users in rating it at least ‘somewhat’ important for them. That said, non-users are also highly likely to rate climate risk as ‘very’ important, highlighting just how much of a factor it is for many consumers. The script is similar, though less pronounced, for Redfin as well, although Redfin users are less likely than Zillow users to find climate risk ‘very’ important while Redfin intenders are more likely.
Cast Your Vote: To what extent do you think climate change is impacting home prices in the US?
On the surface, overall concerns for climate change and the environment have held relatively steady this year. But digging deeper, it is clear climate impacts are meaningful to those who are currently in or looking to enter the housing market, as Americans – regardless of age or political affiliation – hold it in high regard when house hunting. As extreme weather events become more frequent and severe, the connection between climate risk and housing decisions is likely to shape not only housing market dynamics, but also the future of residential living in vulnerable areas.
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- 3,701 responses from 08/14/2023 to 11/04/2024 ↩︎
