During an interview on CNBC’s Closing Bell, Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman urged homebuyers to get more serious about climate change and it’s effects locally in their own backyards.
Speaking to the wildfires consuming many parts of the West and the major hurricanes battering the south, Kelman noted that homebuyers in vulnerable parts of the country are not deterred by such clear and present weather danger.
“The buyers themselves are driven by affordability, and the most affordable places in America are the places that are at the most risk of being affected by climate change,” he said. “They’re going to be flooded by hurricanes. They’re going to be affected by wildfires.
“If you look at where people are moving, it’s to Florida and the Southeast, which is especially flood prone and also has just incredible heat risk as temperatures rise,” Kelman continued. “And they’re also moving to places like Phoenix, Las Vegas and Utah.”
All three of the latter locations have seen heat records eclipsed year over year, which, as CNBC notes, experts say it’s likely to become more extreme as a result of climate change.
“Increasingly, it’s going to be harder to get insurance, it’s going to be harder to get a loan for these properties because the lenders are going to see the writing on the wall, that this collateral is at risk,” Kelman added.
You can read more from Kelman’s interview with Closing Bell by clicking here.