Redfin Publishes Data from ClimateCheck to Help Consumers Understand the Risk for Fire, Heat, Drought and Storms Over a 30-Year Mortgage
Homebuyers and homeowners can see data for every neighborhood on Redfin.com in the contiguous U.S., representing over 94 million homes
SEATTLE, Aug. 3, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- (NASDAQ:RDFN) — Redfin (www.redfin.com), the technology-powered real estate brokerage, is now publishing climate risk information for every location page on its website. Visitors to Redfin.com who want to understand the climate risks for fire, heat, drought and storm over a 30-year period to any area in which they're searching for a home can now see a ClimateCheck rating from 0-100 associated with the county, city, neighborhood and zip code of the home they're considering. ClimateCheck, a company that measures an area's risk for climate-related disaster, provides the data to Redfin. Currently, this data is available everywhere in the contiguous U.S.
"A home is a huge financial investment, and these days consumers are seeing all too many examples of climate-related risks like fires, floods and heatwaves," said Redfin Chief Growth Officer Christian Taubman. "By bringing ClimateCheck's data to every location page on Redfin.com, we're making it easy for consumers to make better-informed decisions about buying, selling and renting."
ClimateCheck's ratings are based on two factors: an area's future risk, and how much that risk will change over time. The company projects future risk for climate-related hazards by using dozens of internationally accepted global climate models that assume a conservative, worst-case scenario for the continued release of CO2 into the atmosphere. ClimateCheck then personalizes these global models to the local level across the U.S. with a technique called downscaling, which combines global projections with observed local weather patterns. It projects a higher risk for areas expected to experience more dramatic changes—compared to ones already experiencing such hazards—as this reflects the challenges and cost of adjusting to climate change and the increased stress on local infrastructure.
"Consumers can now make smarter decisions when evaluating the risks of climate change," said ClimateCheck Principal Cal Inman. "Redfin is taking the global climate challenge down to the local level where people are struggling to figure out the consequences of dramatic weather and climate events."
Many Americans are factoring climate change into their decisions about where to live, according to a survey Redfin conducted earlier this year. About half of respondents who plan to move in the next year said extreme temperatures and/or the increasing frequency or intensity of natural disasters played a role in their decision to relocate. Another one-third of people said rising sea levels played a role for them. Out of the 2,000 respondents surveyed, nearly 80% said that increasing frequency or intensity of natural disasters in an area would make them hesitant to buy a home there. A slightly lower share—about three-quarters—would be hesitant to buy a home in a place with extreme temperatures and/or rising sea levels. Furthermore, more than one-third of homeowners surveyed have spent at least $5,000 fortifying their homes against climate threats.
About Redfin
Redfin (www.redfin.com) is a technology-powered real estate broker, instant home-buyer (iBuyer), lender, title insurer, and renovations company. We sell homes for more money and charge half the fee. We also run the country's #1 real-estate brokerage site. Our home-buying customers see homes first with on-demand tours, and our lending and title services help them close quickly. Customers selling a home can take an instant cash offer from Redfin or have our renovations crew fix up their home to sell for top dollar. Since launching in 2006, we've saved customers more than $1 billion in commissions. We serve more than 100 markets across the U.S. and Canada and employ over 4,100 people.
For more information or to contact a local Redfin real estate agent, visit www.redfin.com. To learn about housing market trends and download data, visit the Redfin Data Center. To be added to Redfin's press release distribution list, email [email protected]. To view Redfin's press center, click here.
About ClimateCheck
ClimateCheck (www.climatecheck.com) enables consumers to instantly assess property risk driven by climate change. ClimateCheck's team of scientists and advisors combine historic data and climate models to produce a hyper-local risk assessment of all hazards for every property in the United States.
Visit www.climatecheck.com for your instant, free assessment.
SOURCE Redfin
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