"U.S. homeowners face higher home insurance costs and decreasing property values in climate-risky areas"

"RICHMOND, Virginia - Climate change is quickly upending the home insurance market in the United States as well as globally and is projected to bring sweeping change in U.S. real estate values over the next 30 years, new research shows.

Although Americans still flock to climate-risky areas, the longtime trend could start to change, according to a novel report from First Street Foundation, a climate risk mapping group.

Even counties in New Jersey, along the U.S. East Coast, are among the regions most at risk of "climate abandonment," the report found, illustrating how regions far from wildfire-ravaged California and the hurricane-prone Southeast are not immune from escalating impacts.

There are competing factors as well. Local governments in climate-vulnerable areas face eroding tax bases just as they need to ramp up adaptation efforts and regions taking on climate migrants must manage growth while maintaining affordability, the report noted."

David Sherfinski reports for Thomson Reuters Foundation February 10, 2025. [2]