Zillow has made a significant change to its property listings by discontinuing the display of climate risk ratings that assess the likelihood of properties being affected by extreme weather events, as reported by The New York Times. Initially introduced in the previous year, this feature utilized data from risk-modeling company First Street to predict the vulnerability of homes to floods, wildfires, wind damage, extreme heat, and air quality issues, reflecting the growing concern over climate-related risks to real estate.
The decision to remove these risk ratings was implemented recently following concerns raised by the California Regional Multiple Listing Service (CRMLS) about the accuracy of First Street’s risk assessment models. CRMLS’s CEO, Art Carter, highlighted the potential negative impact of displaying specific flood probabilities on the perceived attractiveness of a property.
As a result of this change, Zillow listings now direct users to First Street’s website for manual access to climate risk scores for individual properties. Data from First Street reveals that a significantly higher number of properties face flood risks compared to official government estimates.
Source: The Verge