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Climate change may swamp coastal property values
Mar a Lago has an elevation or 3 to 6 feet above sea level
MIAMI — Real estate agents looking to sell coastal properties usually focus on one thing: how close the home is to the water’s edge. But buyers are increasingly asking instead how far back it is from the waterline. How many feet above sea level? Is it fortified against storm surges? Does it have emergency power and sump pumps?
Rising sea levels are changing the way people think about waterfront real estate. Though demand remains strong and developers continue to build near the water in many coastal cities, homeowners across the nation are slowly growing wary of buying property in areas most vulnerable to the effects of climate change.
....
To make matters worse, the National Flood Insurance Program is more than $20 billion in debt. After several major coastal storms, Congress tried to fix the program, passing a law in 2012 requiring that insurance premiums be recalculated to accurately reflect risk. Coastal homeowners rebelled, arguing that the legislation made insurance unaffordable, and in 2014 Congress repealed parts of the law.
...
Despite the slowdown in home sales, many flood-prone cities are still growing. Skyscrapers and new apartment buildings are going up all around Fort Lauderdale. The local chamber of commerce says the city expects to add about 50,000 people in the next 15 years and currently lacks housing to accommodate them. In Miami, much of the new construction consists of luxury condos aimed at a large number of cash buyers from Russia and Latin America.
Nationally, median home prices in areas at high risk for flooding are still 4.4 percent below what they were 10 years ago, while home prices in low-risk areas are up 29.7 percent over the same period, according to the housing data.
Rising sea levels are changing the way people think about waterfront real estate. Though demand remains strong and developers continue to build near the water in many coastal cities, homeowners across the nation are slowly growing wary of buying property in areas most vulnerable to the effects of climate change.
....
To make matters worse, the National Flood Insurance Program is more than $20 billion in debt. After several major coastal storms, Congress tried to fix the program, passing a law in 2012 requiring that insurance premiums be recalculated to accurately reflect risk. Coastal homeowners rebelled, arguing that the legislation made insurance unaffordable, and in 2014 Congress repealed parts of the law.
...
Despite the slowdown in home sales, many flood-prone cities are still growing. Skyscrapers and new apartment buildings are going up all around Fort Lauderdale. The local chamber of commerce says the city expects to add about 50,000 people in the next 15 years and currently lacks housing to accommodate them. In Miami, much of the new construction consists of luxury condos aimed at a large number of cash buyers from Russia and Latin America.
Nationally, median home prices in areas at high risk for flooding are still 4.4 percent below what they were 10 years ago, while home prices in low-risk areas are up 29.7 percent over the same period, according to the housing data.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/24/science/global-warming-coastal-real-estate.html?smid=tw-nytimesscience&smtyp=cur&_r=0
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