3 in 5 say climate risks have already impacted their decision on where to live; but housing prices and cost of living are still bigger factors.
New survey data reveals that the vast majority (87 percent) of US adults
believes climate change poses a risk to the world. The findings come as the
effects of climate change are becoming ever more visible around the world —
think recent catastrophic flooding from
Australia
to
Kentucky
to
Pakistan,
and record-breaking heatwaves across Western
Europe
and the Western
US,
to name a few recent instances.
The new
report
from Anytime Estimate — an online real estate
education platform owned by Clever Real Estate — surveyed 1,000 US adults
and found that only 6 percent don't believe climate change exists. The most
common reasons cited by non-believers are that they see it as a made-up
political issue (43 percent) or they think it is a natural cycle of the Earth
and not caused by humans (40 percent).
80 percent of respondents who have accepted our collective role in exacerbating
climate change indicated that they would be willing to make personal sacrifices
to help combat it — such as using less electricity (59 percent) or fewer plastic
products (61 percent), reducing the amount of water they use (48 percent),
eating less meat (40 percent) and driving less (35 percent). 97 percent report
they are already taking at least one action.
Climate change’s impact on real estate
Getting down to what was likely the real reason for the survey, 93 percent of
respondents believe that climate change will impact the already-volatile real
estate market. About half expect homes and home insurance to become more
expensive due to the impact of natural disasters. In fact, the likelihood of
disasters has played a role for 3 in 5 people in deciding where to move.
Recognizing this growing risk, in 2021 real estate platform
Redfin began providing climate-risk
data
for every location it lists — providing 30-year trend information for
wildfires,
extreme heat, droughts and storms to better inform prospective home buyers on
the climate impacts facing particular areas.
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Despite this, the study found that cost of living and housing prices still win
out as top priorities during a housing search: The majority (63 percent) of
respondents remain open to buying a home in a more at-risk area if the
short-term financial costs remain low.
Regardless, respondents anticipate climate change will have impacts far beyond
real estate — 1 in 3 US adults believes that our attempts at climate
action
now will be too little, too late — with more than half (57 percent) believing
that Earth will become uninhabitable within 500 years.
Government needs to do more
While unsure about our chances of surviving climate change long term, most US
adults surveyed are willing to do their part to help; and 73 percent think the
US government needs to do more — and politicians should take heed: 3 in 4
respondents say their views on climate change have some impact on the way they
vote in elections. Only 1 in 4, however, support raising taxes to address the
issue.
Published Sep 1, 2022 8am EDT / 5am PDT / 1pm BST / 2pm CEST
Sustainable Brands Staff