House hunting and the number one rule of real estate:  “location, location, location” now comes with another factor to consider: climate risks. Zillow announced it will start to feature data on extreme weather trends on all of its real estate property listings. 

• Zillows Search Map View will now include five key risk categories: flood, wildfire, wind, heat and air quality. 
• Each risk will be color-coded and have its own severity scale. 
• Buyers will also be able to see what type of insurance is required or recommended to purchase the property. 

Zillow is partnering with the climate risk company First Street. It will include historical data on former climate events that affected the location before, such as flooding or wildfires. Additionally, there will be scores based on future risks to the properties pulled from the five key risk categories. 

• “Climate risks are now a critical factor in home buying decisions,” said Zillow chief economist Skylar Olsen in a statement.
• The data will start showing on Zillow’s website and iOS app by the end of 2024, and early 2025 for the android app. 

Major Climate Risks Rising

Another recent Zillow analysis shows that more new home listings nationwide now come with significant climate risks compared to five years ago. This trend applies to all five climate risk categories Zillow examined, with 16.7% of August listings at high risk for wildfires and 12.8% at major risk for flooding.

In a customer survey, Zillow also found that more than 80% of prospective home buyers consider climate risk as part of their buying decision. More than half of all new listings on Zillow are at risk of extreme heat. 

Insurance companies are taking note of these increased risks, across the country home insurance rose more than a third between 2020 and 2023. In high risk areas, prices increased by more than half. 

This is a new climate reality as major insurance companies like All State and State Farm are already pulling coverage from high-risk fire and flood prone areas.