New report argues for fast response to slow-motion crisis of climate change, chronic flooding, and property damage Flooded property, underwater mortgages, ruined coastal real estate markets, and the catalyst for a wider economic crash: A coming age of increased coastal flooding poses nothing less than a ?significant and growing risk.?
According a new analysis of coastal flooding prepared by the nonprofit Union of Concerned Scientists, the nation is at risk of sustained and widespread damage to real estate markets due to rising sea levels. ?Underwater: Rising Seas, Chronic Floods, and the Implications for US Coastal Real Estate,? which utilizes Zillow data to gauge the rising food risk to U.S. property markets on a ZIP-code-by-ZIP-code basis, expects significant damage in the coming decades. By 2045, roughly 300,000 homes and commercial properties in the continental United States may face chronic, disruptive flooding, threatening $135 billion in property, and potentially forcing the more than 280,000 current residents to adapt or relocate. And since financial markets do not currently account for this risk, and property values in coastal markets don?t reflect this potential damage, the nation remains unprepared for the significant financial loss set to upend coastal areas.
Despite dour predictions for coastal regions, ?Underwater? argues that the damage is far from limited to waterfront communities. The potential reverberations of a coastal real estate crash, and the...