Information About Sea-Level Rise and Its Effects on Home Search Behavior

A great deal of information about property elevation and potential flood risk is available to homebuyers. Most Florida homebuyers are moving from another Florida residence, and therefore are at least somewhat familiar with both storms and tidal flooding. Flood insurance requirements also are a source of information about flood risk. Part of the flood insurance purchase process requires the home buyer to acquire a certificate of elevation that indicates the point at which wave action, tidal action or storm surge will flood the first floor of the house. In 2020, the National Association of Realtors® added two more indicators of flood risk to their realtor.com listings: information about the FEMA insurance classification of the property as well as maps and text from Flood Factor presenting a numerical score representing the flood risk factor of the property on a scale from 1 to 10. At the time of our survey, two to three months after this change, Realtors® reported little response to this additional information from either buyers or sellers. The respondents to the survey indicated that some homebuyers are avoiding low-lying property susceptible to flooding, but most real estate agents stated that it is not the flood risk itself but instead the cost of flood insurance that drives buyer response to coastal property.