With the damage as measured by dollar signs still being totaled following Hurricane Helene’s Sherman-esque march through the southeastern U.S., scenes of whole towns swept away in the flooding, and death tolls counted in the hundreds and rising, have seared into Americans’ hearts and minds the capricious repercussions of human-caused climate change.
And yet, findings from a survey of roughly 1,000 U.S. residents commissioned by Redfin in the aftermath of the storm reveal heterogeneous effects on where people may want to move.
Compared to 15% of respondents aged 35 and older, nearly one-third (32%) of U.S. residents ages 18-34 say they are reconsidering where they would move in the future after seeing or hearing about the impacts of Hurricane Helene — the deadliest hurricane to hit the mainland U.S. since 2005’s Hurricane Katrina.
Now, Hurricane Milton, which intensified into a category 5 storm as of Monday at lunchtime, is expected to make landfall in central and south Florida by Wednesday afternoon.
“Scores of Americans flocked to the Sun Belt during the pandemic because remote work allowed them to take advantage of the region’s relatively low cost of living,” said Redfin Chief Economist Daryl Fairweather, commenting on the findings. “Some thought Appalachia was insulated from hurricane risk, not realizing that the area is prone to flooding and that hurricanes can sometimes cause flash flooding far away from the ocean.”
The escalating impacts of climate change on U.S. property markets have only sharpened in focus in recent years. Government officials, housing experts, and climate scientists agree that the housing finance system has not properly accounted for the rising costs of climate change on homeownership. The growing lack of affordable home insurance has only worsened in 2024, and the rising costs of homeowners insurance have become driving factors for relocation.
Almost one-quarter (23%) of overall respondents to Redfin’s survey expect insurance premiums in their area to increase after Hurricane Helene, with the highest share among respondents in the South (32%).
It was only in January 2021, however, that the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), regulator of the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, acknowledged that climate change and natural disasters threaten to disrupt to the national housing finance market and began seeking information to better identify and assess potential impacts.
One consequence of elevated rates of migration during the COVID-19 pandemic was double the pace of migration to environmentally high-risk areas from low- and moderate-risk areas, according to research published by Freddie Mac in Nov. 2022. Many homeowners are not aware that they are relocating to high-risk areas. Complicating the matter, the evolving nature of climate change makes it difficult to predict which areas may pose higher risks or lower risks in the future.
A new partnership between Zillow and First Street, a climate intelligence and modeling firm, seeks to directly address this challenge by shedding light on unique properties’ exposure to extreme perils in order to help homebuyers assess the long-term affordability of the properties they might like to buy. For-sale listings will now feature detailed climate risk information for flood, wildfire, wind, heat, and air quality, complete with risk scores, interactive maps, and insurance requirements and recommendations.
In mid-September, the FHFA launched the "Mortgage Loan and Natural Disaster Dashboard" to help borrowers, lenders, and investors ascertain where homes and loans may be at increased risk of extreme weather events.
Notably, many Redfin respondents said the storm has not changed their perspective on where to live, with 45% of overall respondents and 40% of respondents in the South indicating that Hurricane Helene has not impacted how they think about their housing situation.
