‘Disaster discounts:’ Climate risk ratings drive home prices down, give buyers new leverage

Home listing platforms like Zillow and Redfin have recently begun including climate change risk ratings from a private company that produces rankings based on weather data called First Street. While homeowners can request the ratings be hidden, buyers are increasingly using the ratings as a way to negotiate lower prices. A Wall Street Journal report out this week suggests that data can sometimes have serious errors, including the wrong address associated with the property. And there’s little homeowners can do about it, as First Street ratings are essentially unregulated. Now that the federal and state governments are suppressing flood and wildfire maps that used to be publicly available, First Street ratings can be the only data available to insurance companies and potential buyers.