As Floridians face flooded homes from Hurricane Helene and others watch huge, beachfront homes get washed into the ocean in Rodanthe, North Carolina, Zillow is making it easier to learn if a home is at risk from climate-related catastrophes. The retail estate website will begin showing users flood, wildfire, wind, heat, and air-quality data on every house in the US. The type of data it will display depends on the climate risk. For example, if you’re looking at a house in any area prone to flooding, Zillow will show the frequency and depth of floods in that particular area. For wildfires, the company will show how many blazes have happened in recent memory and the probability of the house being affected by fire over the next few decades. This data, available on Zillow’s map, will be color-coded to show the various types of disasters, so people will be able to check an area for all five risks simultaneously. This data is also property-specific, so users can check out an exact home before putting in an offer.The feature will roll out to the website and iOS app by the end of the year with Android support coming early in 2025. “Climate risks are now a critical factor in home-buying decisions,” says Skylar Olsen, chief economist at Zillow. “Healthy markets are ones where buyers and sellers have access to all relevant data for their decisions. As concerns about flooding, extreme temperatures and wildfires grow — and what that might mean for future insurance costs — this tool also helps agents inform their clients in discussing climate risk, insurance and long-term affordability.”
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Zillow partnered with First Street for the predictions and risk assessments. The company bills itself as a firm that specializes in climate risk financial modeling and is providing all of the data for Zillow’s new feature. Per Zillow, 80% of home buyers take climate risks into account when buying a home. This can include avoiding the increasing number of wildfires or making sure to get homeowner’s insurance on a house that could potentially be hit by a hurricane. According to Zillow, 16.7% of new listings in August 2024 were at major risk for wildfires, and 12.8% came with a major risk of flooding.
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About Joe Hindy
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Hello, my name is Joe and I am a tech blogger. My first real experience with tech came at the tender age of 6 when I started playing Final Fantasy IV (II on the SNES) on the family’s living room console. As a teenager, I cobbled together my first PC build using old parts from several ancient PCs, and really started getting into things in my 20s. I served in the US Army as a broadcast journalist. Afterward, I served as a news writer for XDA-Developers before I spent 11 years as an Editor, and eventually Senior Editor, of Android Authority. I specialize in gaming, mobile tech, and PC hardware, but I enjoy pretty much anything that has electricity running through it.
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