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Most Americans Unaware of Flood Risks, Study Finds
The lack of disclosure laws in most states has led to an overvaluation of homes located in floodplains across the country. May 10, 2021, 7am PDT | Diana Ionescu |
Many American homeowners remain unaware of the risks their properties face because most states have nonexistent or inadequate flood risk disclosure laws, writes Jena Brooker for Grist. This lack of transparency has created a false real estate market in parts of the U.S., according to new research from Stanford University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences, found there are almost 4 million single-family homes located in floodplains nationwide that collectively are overvalued by $44 billion based on their flood risk, or an average $11,526 per house.
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Flood risk’s impact on home values
Buyer beware: Single-family homes in floodplains – almost 4 million U.S. homes – are overvalued by nearly $44 billion collectively, or $11,526 per house on average, according to a new Stanford University-led study. Published in
Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences, the study suggests that unaware buyers and inadequate disclosure laws drive up financial risks that could destabilize the real estate market. The threat is likely to grow as climate change drives more frequent extreme weather.
“The overvaluation we find is really concerning, especially given the increases in climate risk that are coming our way,” said study lead author Miyuki Hino, who was a PhD student in the Emmett Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources in Stanford’s School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences (Stanford Earth) at the time of the research and is now an assistant professor in the University of North Carolina at Chape
The overvaluation we find is really concerning, especially given the increases in climate risk that are coming our way, said study lead author Miyuki Hino, who was a PhD student in the Emmett Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources in Stanford s School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences (Stanford Earth) at the time of the research and is now an assistant professor in the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill s department of city and regional planning. Improving how we communicate about flooding is an important step in the right direction.
Water hazard
In some states, such as Florida, as many as one in six homes are in floodplains. As more people have built more homes in areas exposed to cyclones, sea-level rise and other inundation hazards, flooding damage costs have skyrocketed. Since 2000, overall flood damages have quadrupled in the U.S.