bookmark_borderNew Jersey Properties at Risk to Flooding

Sea level rise is threatening the value of coastal real estate.

“Alarmingly, more than half of that (at-risk property) exposure is estimated to lie outside FEMA flood zones. That means those properties are at higher risk of being underinsured, and, therefore, the loans attached to them are at higher risk of impairment, with increased risk for the value of the related CMBS (securities).” —CFTC

“Fannie and Freddie carry about $5.6 trillion in assets, mainly home mortgages and related securities. Ultimately, taxpayers backstop the payments on loans under the agencies’ control, UCLA’s Yu explains. Their regulator, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, issued a request for information in January, in part to assess flood risks. The entities require flood insurance that might mitigate their losses only on properties inside FEMA’s poorly drawn flood zones. Coverage limits imposed by NFIP — $250,000 for the structure and $100,000 for personal property — mean many coastal homes that have coverage are grossly underinsured.” — UCLA / Is the $1 Trillion Coastal Housing Market a Future Financial Crisis?

More on Flood Insurance and Real Estate Risk

bookmark_borderWhat Climate Change Will Do to PA

“This is a wake-up call.
On our current path, Pennsylvania will soon be 5.9° F hotter and parts of our coast will be submerged in 2.1 feet of water, according to Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection’s climate report.
We can reduce the impacts of climate change, but we must act now.” — Governor Tom Wolf

Climate Change Index

bookmark_borderRising Sea Level and Atlantic City

A study entitled Sea level rise and coastal flooding threaten affordable housing highlights the risk to Atlantic City.

In Atlantic City 52% of affordable housing will become uninhabitable due to coastal flooding by 2050.

“The point here is that two neighbors can suffer from the same flood, one living in affordable housing and one in a home they own, and experience a very different outcome,” says Benjamin Strauss, a co-author of the report and CEO and chief scientist at Climate Central. “Many more people in the general population will be affected by sea level rise than the affordable housing population. But the affordable population group is the one likely to hurt the most, who can’t afford to find a remedy on their own, and tend to not have the voice needed to change the allocation of public resources.”

About Flood Insurance

Atlantic City Going Under

Do I Need Flood Insurance?
Flood Risks Across the USA Seriously Underestimated
Climate Change: Suspension Of Belief
Climate Denial and Climate Change Change
Underwater: Sea Level Rise
Disaster on the Horizon: The Price Effect of Sea Level Rise
Climate Change And Credit
Real Estate and the Rising Sea Level