This week, Redfin became the first brokerage to publish wind risk data for nearly every U.S. home for sale on Redfin.com. That means you can now use Redfin to find important information about a home’s wildfire, flood, extreme heat and wind risk, provided by our partners at First Street Foundation.
Why We Did It
As climate events become more frequent and intense, we want every home-searcher to understand how these risks may impact their home. According to a recent Redfin survey, nearly half (49%) of U.S. residents who moved in the last year believe the increasing frequency or intensity of natural disasters, extreme temperatures, and/or rising sea levels will likely impact home values in their area in the next 10 years. Still, only about 5% of respondents who moved in the last year or plan to move in the next year listed climate change as a reason for their relocation. In fact, a recent Redfin study showed that counties more vulnerable to flooding, wildfires and heat have seen more people move in than out from 2021-2022. That’s partly due to the housing affordability crisis, which has increased migration into less expensive but more climate-risky areas.
“Redfin strives for relentless transparency around climate risks for folks on their home-searching journey,” said Redfin Vice President of Product Ariel Dos Santos. “As climate disasters such as hurricanes become more severe and frequent, it’s critical that we show homebuyers how effects like wind damage may impact their home.”
Our research shows that transparency around climate risks has the potential to impact which homes people choose to live in. Last year, we 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.
How it Works
When you view a for-sale home on Redfin.com, you’ll see wind added to the list of “climate risks” for every home. The data that determines how likely a home is to face wind damage is sourced from First Street Foundation’s Wind Factor. Wind Factor is a property-level risk model that estimates the likelihood of wind damage based on current and projected wind exposure from hurricanes. Wind Factor also takes into account how wind exposure 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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