Today, Redfin became the first brokerage to publish air quality risk data, which is available for nearly every U.S. home on Redfin.com and the Redfin iOS app. It will be available on Android later this year. That means you can now use Redfin to find important information about a home’s air quality, in addition to property-level risk data on wildfire, flood, extreme heat and wind, all provided by our partners at First Street. The air quality risk data shows the likelihood of experiencing poor air quality today and over the next 30 years from pollutants such as wildfire smoke and car emissions.
Why We Did It
Transparency around climate risks has the potential to impact which homes people choose to live in. For example, a Redfin study from 2022 found that homebuyers who have access to flood-risk information when browsing home listings online are more likely to view and make offers on homes with lower flood risk than those who don’t have access. A recent Redfin-commissioned survey found that 9% of recent U.S. home sellers cited concern about the impact of climate change as a reason for their move.
“Redfin wants to ensure that every single person searching for a home has the information they need to understand climate risks,” said Redfin Senior Vice President of Product and Design Ariel Dos Santos. “Air pollution is an important consideration as poor air quality becomes more frequent due to climate threats such as wildfire smoke.”
The number of poor air quality days in the Western U.S. surged by as much as 477% between 2000 and 2021, in large part due to wildfire smoke, according to a First Street analysis of data from the Environmental Protection Agency.
How It Works
When you view a home on Redfin.com or the Redfin iOS app, you’ll see a “climate” tab at the top of the listing. Air quality is now added to the list of climate risks once you click on the tab. The data that determines how likely a home is to face poor air quality is sourced from First Street’s Air Factor. Air Factor also takes into account how air quality may shift in the next 30 years, which is the typical timespan for a mortgage.
We hope this feature is helpful as you look for your next home. If you have other ideas for how we can make your search better, please get in touch! We’d love to hear from you.
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