Rising tides can sink property values
Perception can affect real-world markets through the curious pricing of beach properties.
Leeds School of Business assistant professors Asaf Bernstein and Ryan Lewis researched thousands of land parcel sales.
Properties exposed to sea-level rise sold for an average of 7 percent less than comparable properties that were not exposed.
Originally published Aug. 22, 2018
A potential rise in sea level affects how much home buyers are willing to spend, according to research by two assistant professors at CU Boulder’s Leeds School of Business.
Asaf Bernstein and Ryan Lewis have been investigating how perception can affect real-world markets through the curious pricing of beach properties.
After researching thousands of land parcel sales from 2007 to 2017, Bernstein and Lewis discovered that properties exposed to sea-level rise sold for an average of 7 percent less than comparable properties that were not exposed.
Why the discount? Buyers, especially “sophisticated buyers” purchasing properties as investments, appear to factor sea-level rise exposure into their valuation of coastal properties.