Climate Is Ruining American Home Ownership

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As weather disasters grow in both strength and frequency, more and more homes in the U.S. will face the risk of severe damage or destruction. In many areas where this damage is most likely, people cannot get or will not be able to get home insurance. In most cases, home insurance is necessary for people who want mortgages. Insurance companies will stop insuring homes across areas that include populations that run well into the hundreds of thousands

*Owning A Home

*LA’s Fires

*$800 Billion Fire Costs

The New York Times analyzed what it calls “nonrenewable rates.” The highest level is one out of every 25 homes. Parts of coastal Florida topped this list almost exclusively due to hurricanes. Coastal North and South Carolina, and Louisiana were at this level for similar reasons.

The insurance data shows that wildfire risk is primarily present in northern California.

The Times reports, “Communities deemed too dangerous to insure face the risk of falling property values, which means less tax revenue for schools, police and other basic services.”

Moving North Again

The data does not show the extent to which many people continue to move into these areas. This raises the question of why (and now how) these migrants, mainly from the north, continue to relocate to parts of the south. A strong example is Charlestown, SC, in an area where the chances of getting home insurance are dropping. The city’s population has gone from 96,650 in 2000 to 155,369 last year.

A reverse migration to the Northeast and Midwest eventually is inevitable. The percentage of insurable homes is exceptionally high. This is particularly true in upstate New York, central Pennsylvania, and much of Minnesota and Michigan. Real estate prices in the areas are also low, which drives the incentive to move them even higher.