Originally published in Bloomberg View. Read the full article.
“Climate change poses risks to real estate that homebuyers may not be able to predict. As sea level rises, coastal properties, for example, may be subject to increased flooding and intensifying storm surges. First-time homebuyers often lack the expertise to evaluate these new risks, and thus tend to underestimate them and overpay for increasingly exposed properties.
Unfortunately, the risks they accept are not borne by themselves alone. Rather, our research has found, it is shared by mortgage lenders and, through the operations of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, American taxpayers.”