Around the world, homes are becoming harder to buy, sell, and insure because of climate change. Many families are discovering that the place they once felt safe in is now at risk from fires, floods, storms, and extreme heat. This is creating one of the biggest challenges the property market has ever faced.
Climate risks are reshaping where people live
Major real estate platforms have already seen how strongly buyers react to climate risk. In the US, an online tool once showed the danger of wildfire, heat, wind, and poor air quality for more than a million homes. But soon after its launch, it was pushed out of sight. Agents and homeowners complained that it was hurting property sales because people avoided risky areas. This showed how fragile the market has become when climate dangers are revealed openly.
Climate threats are no longer something people expect in the distant future. They are shaping decisions today. More than 80 percent of homebuyers say climate risks are now a key part of their search. Many want to know if a home will stay safe, stay insurable, and stay affordable in the coming years.
Disasters are pushing prices down and people out
Climate change is making disasters stronger and more frequent. When they strike, the damage spreads far beyond the area burned or flooded. It affects prices, rents, and insurance across whole regions.
At the start of 2025, record-breaking wildfires tore through parts of California. The fires destroyed thousands of homes and caused billions of dollars in damage. Scientists later confirmed that climate change made the hot and windy conditions that allowed the fires to spread much more likely.
During the crisis, many landlords were accused of charging unfairly high rents because demand for housing suddenly spiked. Even with laws preventing large price increases during emergencies, some renters faced steep hikes. This added pressure on families who had already lost so much.
Soon after, California introduced a rule requiring sellers of older homes to share the fire risk linked to their property. They must also reveal what steps they have taken to make the home safer. But even with new protections, many homeowners in high-risk areas are worried about falling prices.
In Florida, some residents have started to move because of repeated hurricanes, flooding, and rising heat. Insurance costs have soared in many towns. A state survey found that more than one-third of people had moved or were considering moving due to climate threats.
Europe is also feeling the strain. In Spain, scientists studied how extreme heat affected home prices from 2009 to 2024. They found that every extremely hot day—temperatures above 35°C—caused sales prices to drop in many places. Over the year, this added up to millions of euros in lost property value. But in cooler northern areas, slightly warmer days made some homes more appealing, and prices even rose.
Rising heat is not the only threat. Wetter air means heavier rainstorms. In England, millions of homes are now in flood-risk zones. That number continues to grow as climate change fuels more intense rainfall.
Property experts say buyers now check insurance costs before they even book a second viewing. Some carry climate risk reports and flood maps to visits. If an insurance company refuses to cover a postcode, buyers often pull out at the last minute. This causes whole chains of sales to collapse.
The rental market is also being shaken. Landlords are leaving areas near coasts and rivers. Some want to sell before insurance becomes too expensive or impossible to get. In Australia, flood-risk homes have already lost tens of billions of dollars in value compared with what they would have been worth without climate pressure.
The rise of the uninsurable home
Insurance is becoming one of the biggest stress points in the property market. When storms, fires and floods become more extreme, insurance companies must pay out more money. This pushes premiums up for everyone.
In the UK, weather-related home claims reached record levels in 2024. As damage costs continue to climb, insurers are raising prices or leaving high-risk areas entirely. This leaves thousands of homes at risk of becoming uninsurable.
Without insurance, a home’s value drops sharply. Banks are also less willing to offer mortgages. Families who already own these properties may find themselves stuck — unable to sell, unable to insure, and unable to move.
Researchers say this is turning into an insurance crisis. When homes lose insurance, entire neighborhoods can slide into financial danger. This can even ripple out to the wider economy.
Many people now feel trapped. Climate change is reshaping the map of safe and unsafe places, but moving to safer areas is becoming harder. Prices in low-risk zones rise, while high-risk zones may become too costly to insure or repair. The result is a world where millions of people are discovering that the home they trusted may no longer protect them — and finding somewhere new is no longer simple.
