Zillow, the largest real estate listing site in the country, just showed its hand. Its decision to drop its climate risk data feature from property listings comes after industry stakeholders and homeowners filed complaints. This new tool provides prospective buyers with essential information on each property’s unique risks of wildfire, flood, extreme heat, extreme wind and degraded air quality from wildfire smoke. It was created in partnership with First Street, a nonprofit that quantifies climate risk.
The elimination of this climate friendly feature has alarmed climate advocates and future homebuyers alike. Even still, Zillow’s decision only came after receiving pushback claiming that the climate risk data was hurting property sales. Zillow is still all-in on empowering millions of Americans every day to make smarter real estate decisions. They state to the public that they are still committed, despite this move. The company has since added outbound links to First Street’s website in its real estate listings. It has removed the public-facing risk assessment data from its own platform.
First Street’s models use the best available, peer-reviewed science, and have been validated against known real-world outcomes. Housing advocates say this erasure robs potential buyers of critical information that would inform their choices. Climate Live artists have been explaining that knowing our climate risks is crucial today, more than ever. Matthew Eby, the founder and chief executive of First Street, emphasized the importance of transparency in risk assessment, stating that “To date, all the empirical validation shows our science is working as designed and providing better risk insight than the tools the industry has relied on historically.”
The real estate investment landscape has shifted dramatically with the inarguable intensifying impacts of climate change. In just the past few years, extreme weather made worse by climate change has broken records for the financial devastation that it has caused. Just last year, disasters made worse by the climate crisis totaled $182 billion in damages nationally. This shocking figure underscores the urgent necessity of addressing climate change head on. Consequently, home insurance—which is a critical prerequisite to obtaining a mortgage—has grown far more difficult to obtain and costly in many areas.
Few states exemplify these challenges more than Florida, which ranks among the country’s most flood at-risk states. The market witnessed a sprawling mansion listed for $295 million last year, raising questions about how potential buyers can assess the property’s vulnerability to climate-related risks without reliable data.
Real estate research experts like Jesse Keenan have raised alarm bells about Zillow’s move. He noted that “proprietary risk models that provide highly uncertain assessments can have the perverse effect of undermining the public’s confidence in climate science.” Additionally, he pointed to an emerging bipartisan consensus that the federal government needs to step in to provide a more uniform way to assess risk for properties.
Keenan admits that current scientific resources are insufficient for property-specific analysis. He remarked, “At the same time, the science is limited in its capacity to assess property-by-property assessments.” He isn’t saying that real estate brokers are deliberately withholding information about climate risks. Instead, he calls for greater transparency surrounding these vulnerabilities.
Eby stood up for First Street’s methodologies by putting the burden of proof on anyone who claims that there are errors in their models. He also noted that by taking away buyers’ access to climate risk information, the burden of avoiding those risks falls from pre-purchase due diligence to post-purchase obligations. “The risk doesn’t go away; it just moves from a pre-purchase decision into a post-purchase liability,” Eby stated.
The impacts of Zillow’s decision go beyond short term sales numbers. As the climate crisis deepens, those effects could soon be pronounced. Buyers may find themselves “flying blind” in an era marked by worsening extreme weather patterns and increasing risks associated with property ownership. The residential and commercial real estate markets are undergoing a seismic shift. As the country faces an unprecedented number of homebuyers searching for homes in places increasingly jeopardized by climate-related dangers, the need for clear, transparent risk assessments is crucial.