Some homes in North Carolina are actually underwater due to rising sea levels. That said, the same can’t be said for the waterfront real estate market as a whole, where price growth far outpaces inland home prices even as climate risks threaten to devastate coastal homes.
Last week, a $650,000 oceanfront home collapsed in North Carolina’s Outer Banks, the sixth such incident in the region in the past four years. This has brought renewed attention to the climate threats already faced by coastal properties, something the real estate market is apparently unfazed by.
Studies show that by 2100, as many as 13 million Americans could have their homes affected by rising sea levels.
In fact, according to a paper published in the journal Science this March, U.S. coastal properties are appreciating faster than those inland, and they are also being purchased by higher-income owners nature communications.
Lawrence Yun, chief economist at the National Association, said: “Consumers are clearly aware… that the impacts of climate change may be within the scope of a 30-year mortgage, but their current behavior still means they will see more oceans.” Desirable.
North Carolina’s Outer Banks, a series of low-lying barrier islands heavily affected by Atlantic storms, are particularly vulnerable to sea level rise and coastal erosion: in the past few years alone, sea levels have risen by as much as seven inches in some areas. Inches. Local authorities closed a section of the road after a house collapsed last week and urged visitors to exercise caution.
North Carolina isn’t the only region that’s already seeing the effects of climate change on coastal areas, which are also experiencing more severe storms and heavier rainfall, further eroding coastlines.
For example, homeowners in Salisbury, Massachusetts, spent $500,000 trucking in sand to protect their properties from coastal storms earlier this spring. A $16 million mansion in Dana Point, California, is on the verge of collapsing into the Pacific Ocean.
Mean sea level along the U.S. coastline is expected to rise exponentially over the next few decades, putting the 40 percent of the population living in coastal areas at greater risk from flooding.
The growing threat of coastal flooding and erosion is forcing insurance companies to flee inland. In Florida, where the highest point is just 345 feet above sea level, several major insurance companies have left the state, causing consumer premiums to soar.
Still, Florida home prices have soared since the start of the pandemic, with the average home in the southern part of the state being 35% overvalued.
“It’s not a question of if, it’s a question of when coastal communities will get close to being completely inundated,” said Martin Smith, an economics professor at Duke University who co-wrote a paper proposing a model for coastal property values. thesis. “The question is: Are there more effective ways to manage coastal areas over the coming decades to allow for a smooth transition?”
