MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Zillow, which might be best known for its homebuying app, says it is adding a new feature to its services.
A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Yeah, you'll soon be able to find out if a property might be at risk for five key climate-related disasters. Now, these risk scores for homes will arrive next year, and the announcement came as Hurricane Helene made landfall.
MARTIN: Here to tell us more about this is Hannah Ziegler. She's a business reporter for The Washington Post. Hannah, thanks so much for joining us.
HANNAH ZIEGLER: Thank you so much for having me.
MARTIN: So how will this work? Like, who's providing this information? How will we see it? Is there, like, a different key or color for what kind of risk there is? Give us the basics.
ZIEGLER: Yeah, so the scores show a home's climate risk based on how susceptible it is to flooding or wildfire or heat, air quality and wind damage. So the scores estimate a home's current risk and its risk 15 and 30 years in the future because that's how long typical mortgage loans are. And you'll be able to see them on an interactive, color-coded map and along with every single home listing that's on Zillow right now.
MARTIN: And where's this information coming from? And do you have confidence that it's accurate?
ZIEGLER: So Zillow is partnered with a nonprofit called First Street, which has been working on these climate risk models for years. First Street assigns risk scores based on how likely a climate disaster is and how severe it could be. And they update these models once a year, based on natural disasters that have happened in an area. And First Street sees this as democratizing information that banks or insurance companies already have on climate risks for properties.
But climate modeling experts say homebuyers should take these scores with the grain of salt. They're still developing the best way to measure a home's climate risk, so data can be uneven depending on where a person is house-hunting. So homebuyers should treat the scores as warning flags rather than deal-breakers.
MARTIN: Anybody else already offer this? I kind of feel like Redfin offers this information. Is Zillow offering something that's unique or easier to access, or something like - what's so special about this?
ZIEGLER: Redfin already does offer the climate risk scores. And the main thing that Zillow is adding to this is the map and the color coordination and kind of those shiny, newer features that people might think make it more interactive. But Redfin does have the same data and the same system.
MARTIN: I understand that this has just been announced, and so the tool isn't available for us to see in the real world yet. But I'm wondering how home buyers and sellers and realtors are reacting to this.
ZIEGLER: There has been a lot of conflicting information about how much people care about climate risks affecting their properties, especially in comparison to if you get a really great rate on a home, if you get a really good price. But Zillow released a survey last year saying that 80% of buyers now consider climate risk when shopping for a home. And Zillow has been very transparent about the information they have about just how many homes are facing climate risks now. So even compared to, you know, five years ago, there are a lot more homes on the market that might have greater risk of flood or fire or heat.
So it definitely is something that remains to be seen about how much buyers will ultimately care about all of this. But now that this information is in their hands and they're able to use it in a much more accessible way on Zillow, a lot of experts say that this is only the beginning in how much this is going to affect their decision-making process moving forward.
MARTIN: That's Hannah Ziegler, business reporter for The Washington Post. Hannah, thank you.
ZIEGLER: Thank you.
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