Climate change-fuelled risks have now become a \u201ccrucial factor in home-buying decisions\u201d for more than 80 per cent of potential buyers.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s what Zillow, the US\u2019s largest real estate listings site, said in September last year as it launched a new online tool in collaboration with environmental nonprofit First Street.<\/p>\n
The Zillow climate risk score allowed potential buyers to assess the risk of wildfire, flood, extreme heat, wind and poor air quality for around one million properties through a colour-coded interactive map.<\/p>\n
But, 14 months later, Zillow has hidden the feature on its site following reported complaints from real estate agents and homeowners that it was harming house sales. The listings now contain outbound links to First Street, rather than showing the information directly on specific sale listings.<\/p>\n
It highlights how fragile the property market has become amid one of its biggest threats yet: the climate crisis<\/a>.<\/p>\n Wildfires trigger rent gouging accusations<\/p>\n 2025 kicked off with record-breaking blazes<\/a>that ripped through Los Angeles, California, destroying more than 10,000 homes and killing at least 28 people.<\/p>\n Fanned by strong Santa Ana winds and burning through tinder-dry vegetation, the blaze rapidly spread into urban areas and racked up more than $30 billion (around \u20ac25.85 billion) worth of damage. <\/p>\n Researchers have since confirmed that the hot, dry and windy conditions that fuelled the extreme fires were about 35 per cent more likely due to climate change<\/a>. <\/p>\n Despite state law banning price increases of more than 10 per cent on essentials such as food and housing during national emergencies, hundreds of landlords were accused of \u201crent gouging\u201d.<\/p>\n This is where rents for a property are set too high, or existing tenants face harsh rent hikes due to higher demand. <\/p>\n Now, California has become the first US state to require sellers of homes built before 2010 to disclose the property\u2019s fire risk as well as what measures they have taken to reduce vulnerabilities.<\/p>\n But such protections won\u2019t help stabilise house prices or prevent residents from uprooting. Over in Florida, growing concerns over severe weather<\/a> during the Atlantic hurricane season and soaring insurance costs have resulted in many residents moving.<\/p>\n The Florida Climate Survey<\/a> found that 36 per cent of 1,4000 respondents statewide had moved or were considering moving in part or fully due to the threats of hurricanes, flooding and extreme heat.<\/p>\n How house prices are impacted by climate change<\/p>\n In Europe, climate change-fuelled disasters are also triggering volatile movements in the property market.<\/p>\n A recent study published in SSRN<\/a> analysed sale and rental prices in mainland Spain\u2019s 47 provincial capitals between 2009 and 2024 to discover the extent to which extreme heat is having an impact on property value. <\/p>\n It comes as Spain sweltered through its hottest summer on record<\/a>, with temperatures reaching a dangerous 45.8\u2103 during a heatwave on 17 August. The scorching temperatures paved the way for raging wildfires, which burned through more than 380,000 hectares of land in the country this year.<\/p>\n Scientists warn that the hot, dry and windy conditions that fuelled the fires are now around 40 times more frequent and around 30 per cent more intense than they would be in a world without climate change<\/a>.<\/p>\n Researchers found that each additional day where temperatures exceed 35\u2103 translated into a drop of \u20ac1.40 per square metre in sales prices, and \u20ac0.0059 in monthly rental prices within the same province.<\/p>\n With around 700,000 homes for sale in 2024, this equates to an annual loss of approximately \u20ac117.6 million per year in sales, and \u20ac500,000 in rental prices.<\/p>\n However, the study also found that in the cooler regions of Spain, rising temperatures have actually increased sales prices by \u20ac2.80 per square metre, and rentals by \u20ac0.012.<\/p>\n For every 1\u2103 of warming, the atmosphere can hold around seven per cent more water vapour \u2013 increasing the likelihood of intense rainfall<\/a>.<\/p>\n In England<\/a>, this means a staggering 6.3 million homes are now in areas at risk of flooding from rivers, the sea or surface water.<\/p>\n Uncertainty is \u2019rippling\u2019 through the property market<\/p>\n Rachel Ollington, a property consultant and former estate agency owner, tells Euronews Green that climate change<\/a> may feel like a \u201clong-term issue\u201d but is already shaping valuations and buyer behaviour across the UK.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s becoming part of the conversation in ways we simply didn\u2019t see ten or even five years ago,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n Ollington explains that it\u2019s no longer unusual for two similar homes that are located just a few streets apart to attract very different levels of interest simply because one sits within a higher-risk zone<\/a> for floods or wildfires.<\/p>\n \u201cViewers are arriving with far more questions than they used to,\u201d she adds. \u201cThey\u2019re checking insurance costs before they even cost a second viewing. Some are bringing up climate risk reports, local flood data and even erosion predictions.\u201d<\/p>\n While these threats aren\u2019t deterring potential buyers completely, they are slowing decision-making and increasing fall-through rates (where buyers change their minds before the sale is completed).<\/p>\n Ollington has witnessed \u201cperfectly good sales\u201d fall through because owners were stung by excessive insurance premiums or because insurers withdrew from a postcode following a severe weather event<\/a>. <\/p>\n \u201cThat uncertainty creates a ripple effect across chains,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n Climate change is also rocking the rental market in the UK, with landlords shying away from investing in coastal or riverside areas. Others are considering selling up due to insurance risks and maintenance obligations.<\/p>\n Even in Australia, extreme weather is triggering huge black holes in the property market. The Climate Council<\/a>recently found that flood-prone homes in Australia are, in total, worth $42.2 billion AUD (around \u20ac23.83 billion) less than what they could have been if it weren\u2019t for growing flood risks.<\/p>\n Uninsurable homes<\/p>\n