Are property prices affected by predicted sea level rises?

[SweetSakura]

Just idly wondering really as we drove through an area predicted to be at significant risk from sea level rises based on modelling, but there are still lots of houses being built there. And I just wondered whether the predictions are affecting price /ease of selling or whether people are just hoping the modelling is very pessimistic?

Area?

I have wondered about this as well. It seems we are all in denial.
Only today I came across a new-ish house on a marina off a major river that is already prone to flooding - it can’t be hard to imagine how this will pan out.

That's it. I think most people must just be ignoring it.

That's it. I think most people must just be ignoring it.

I think people are ignoring it, or expecting "them" to do something about it. However we know the government has a cash problem so I'd be very wary about buying somewhere low lying as a long term buy. Also property near coastal erosion zones.

London will probably be protected with a new barrier and defences, but only after a few serious floods.

I think people feel the risk is exaggerated and that any rise will be slow enough for something to be done, or they will be dead anyway.

I think people are ignoring it. Flood levels were a key part of our search criteria when looking for a house recently. I needed to see that the house we were buying and the main local infrastructure would still be here in 60odd years.

Wouldn't occur to lots I'm sure, and doesn't particularly come up in the searches beyond a more imminent risk.

If it’s a rich area they can do something about the flooding. So it really depends on the economic status of the area. If
its a poorer area they might not have funding and you’ll be SOL.

Same, I looked really closely at topography and flood levels,.not just for the property but also for all the key roads etc. my family do the same but then they are mainly all scientists or lawyers so I am not sure how usual it is!
But then I was thinking about this a bit more this morning, and presumably mortgage lenders aren't (yet) factoring in sea level rises into their valuations either, or they might not lend on these properties. I wonder if reality will hit very rapidly rather than gradually.

Our town has areas that are notoriously prone to flooding (massive river runs through centre and there are several newbuild estates built along it going out of town). We bought on a hill and well away from flood risk zones but houses on the river go like hot cakes. Baffling.

Where I live the houses close to the sea and prone to flooding sell at a premium.

Yes we are up on a hill but the houses that are literally at sea level in our village all cost millions. Yet I have kind of assumed that at that level maybe people can afford to throw the money away on a second home that might be flooded in a decade. but I guess I am more surprised by ordinary homes being built in areas that are very clearly going to be hit by sea level rises.

I wouldn’t buy a sea level house.

We were very very careful about buying in areas that weren't at risk of flooding but it does feel like most people don't consider it!

I'd understand if it was something that was only being discussed in scientific journals but pretty much every news site has shared the modelling. I guess most house buyers are just assuming it is not actually going to happen?

Sorry, to clarify I mean most house buyers who are buying properties at /near sea level!

I found it hard to visualise floods actually happening though. We previously lived in a flood risk area and were very cautious about buying. I just couldn't visualise the river being above its banks which were quite high up! But we used the council's flood risk data and went by that.

Our house was fine but it was a huge shock seeing how far and high the water did go when the floods came!

I think once someone has had experience of flooding then they are much more wary! Tewkesbury and the Somerset levels floods affected people I know. It's not just drying out a bit of water, it is filthy like sewage. The damage is horrible.

I also think basement builds on higher land which rely on pumps to get water up and out are crazy too. There is a new build site near me which has been a swimming pool for the last few months. Heavy rain combined with a power cut will flood them when they are complete.

Are the houses starter homes? For many it may be a case of buy in a flood risk zone or not at all, and hope they can move on before it becomes a problem?

Yes I am wondering if that is what people are hoping, but it's a big gamble isn't it, to determine at what point the houses will really drop in value /become unsellable. Or I am wondering if people just are taking the very optimistic view that the predictions won't come true? I see so many lovely houses right by the sea but the pessimist/realist (depending on perspective) in me just wouldn't buy them. But they don't seem to have any difficulty in selling

I suspect that a lot of people think "it'll never happen to me", so they don't think about it. It's a common response of people to any possible problem - be it losing their job, getting ill on holiday, the dog getting sick, or whatever. It often astounds me how people can blindly ignore the worst case scenario on the basis that it happens to others and not to them. I remember reading somewhere that 40% of Brits travelling abroad have no travel insurance. So their house won't fall into the sea, or get flooded - that is what happens to other people.

Where my sister lives, housegbuilders have spent the last 40 years building new housing on flat land that was known to be floodplains as recently as 60 years ago. But they hadn't flooded for a couple of decades, so.... Now all those houses are uninsurable.

New builds should fare better as they engineer massive land drains and run offs.
Also the roads a a bit below house level and act as run offs.
Most of the disastrous flooding I see is old towns.

A lot of people don't understand statistics. A once in 100 year flood risk would put me off but I can imagine someone else thinking that it flooded five years ago, therefore I'm fine for another 95 years!

New builds should fare better as they engineer massive land drains and run offs.
I don’t know if this is true. One only has to see the list of shortcuts taken by the building companies to general build quality to doubt it. New build estates tend to have more concrete/paving and less grass and trees.
Ive heard of one where there was a run off pool to help with floods - it flooded!

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-63822899