Flood Risk Draining Billions From Real Estate Value

A new report from nonprofit First Street Foundation finds that Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York homeowners have lost almost $7 billion in real estate value since 2005 due to flood risk. 

This figure falls just short of the total real estate value lost in five storm-swept southeastern states, $7.4 billion. Looking at the three states separately, Connecticut lost $916 million, New York has lost $1.3 billion in value, and New Jersey has lost the most, $4.5 billion over the course of the 12 years studied. Ocean City, N.J. holds the distinction of being the city that has lost the most potential home value appreciation, more than $530 million between 2005 and 2017. Miami Beach, Fla. is second in the study, having lost $337 million of potential value in that time, Realtor.com reports. 

A growing body of research has highlighted the vulnerability of Miami-Dade County, parts of which sit just a foot above sea level, to slowing home-price appreciation because of increased flooding. The researchers previously found that a total of $7.4 billion in potential home value appreciation had been lost across Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia. The newly published research expands the analysis to include the tri-state area, bringing the total loss for all eight states to $14.1 billion.

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