A beachfront property in, say Santa Monica or Malibu, might cost you millions of dollars, but a new report is putting the value of that investment into question.
According to a report published by the Union of Concerned Scientists, nearly 20,000 California homes will be at risk of damage because of climate change-related sea level rise by 2045. Which means that a 30-year mortgage on a coastal property might be a lemon. And yet exorbitantly priced beach homes in California imply that the housing market isn’t responding to this medium-term risk.
What are the projections for how climate change will impact the California coast in the coming decades? How will this affect the housing market and related industries, such as home insurance? If you live or are considering buying a waterfront property, how did you assess that risk, if at all?
With guest host Libby Denkmann.
Guests:
Kristina Dahl, senior climate scientist for the Union of Concerned Scientists and a co-author of the new report
Aaron Terrazas, senior economist at Zillow Economic Research, an independent research group at Zillow