As climate events become more frequent, severe, and costly, real estate professionals are confronting a new reality: environmental risk is no longer an abstract concern. It’s a tangible force reshaping home values, deal structures, and buyer behavior. From rising premiums to sudden insurance gaps, today’s agents, brokers, and buyers must navigate a rapidly evolving landscape. 

This Earth Day, Cal Inman (Founder, ClimateCheck), Lauren Renteria (Insurance Broker, Steele Insurance Agency), Madeline Modarski (CMO, The Keyes Company), and Ryan Papy (President, Keyes Insurance) participated in a masterclass moderated by Audrey Whittington (Senior Vice President, Local Logic) to provide a 360° view of how climate change is transforming residential real estate, and what you can do to stay ahead.

In this masterclass, you’ll learn more about:

• Why Insurance is the New Dealbreaker
  Understand how rising premiums, insurer withdrawals, and denied claims are disrupting transactions across North America.
• Where Climate Risk is Moving the Market
  See how migration patterns, regional demand, and property values are shifting in response to floods, fires, and droughts.
• The New Rules for Disclosures and Due Diligence
  Learn what agents must share, how to protect your clients—and yourself—from liability, and where the law is heading.
• How to Keep Sales Alive in Risky Areas
  Discover deal-saving strategies for buyers facing last-minute insurance shocks or financing challenges.
• The Role of Data and MLS Policy
  Explore how risk data is showing up in listings and what brokerages, MLSs, and agents can do to stay ahead of transparency demands.

Why Insurance is the New Dealbreaker

In regions facing frequent climate events, buyers are hitting unexpected roadblocks when trying to secure insurance — sometimes after an offer has already been accepted. Premiums are rising sharply, especially for windstorm and wildfire coverage, and certain properties are becoming outright uninsurable. This unpredictability is derailing deals mid-transaction and forcing brokers to step in earlier with vetted insurance contacts, pre-quote processes, and education on regional policy quirks. For example, Florida often requires two separate policies (hazard and windstorm) driven by reinsurance markets rather than just property condition.

The complexity extends beyond cost. Policy structures, deductibles, and risk classifications vary widely between carriers and zip codes. Buyers are navigating a fragmented system with little standardization, and agents are increasingly expected to help them interpret, compare, and mitigate insurance quotes.

Where Climate Risk is Moving the Market

As wildfires, hurricanes, and floods become more frequent and more expensive, buyers are shifting their preferences — not just by state, but neighborhood by neighborhood. Homes in high-risk areas are stagnating or depreciating, while demand grows in less exposed regions. Insurance pricing and availability are driving this shift more than climate scores alone; buyers are factoring in total cost of ownership, including the long-term burden of insurance, into their home search.

This trend is especially pronounced among millennial buyers, who are more likely to research environmental risk early and treat homeownership as an inherently risky investment. While they still move forward with purchases, they do so with eyes wide open and with new expectations about transparency and guidance from their agents.

The New Rules for Disclosures and Due Diligence

In California, sellers are legally required to provide buyers with a Natural Hazard Disclosure (NHD) report detailing whether the property is in a flood, fire, or seismic zone. But in most other states, these disclosures are either optional or non-existent. The result is inconsistent consumer protection, and a growing burden on agents to flag risks that may not be visible on a listing page.

Even when reports are required, many buyers don’t know how to interpret them. For example, being in a “fire zone” can drastically increase premiums or require additional policies. Mortgage lenders may also impose insurance requirements based on flood risk. Agents are increasingly expected to guide clients through these documents, translate risk into dollars, and advise them on next steps, even if the law doesn’t require it.

How to Keep Sales Alive in Risky Areas

Saving a climate-impacted deal now hinges on preparation. Brokers are embedding risk education into their marketing strategies, launching seasonal guides and checklists for clients, and connecting buyers with insurance brokers from the first showing — not the final days of escrow.

To reduce surprises, some brokerages now run “pre-underwriting” exercises to simulate what coverage might cost before an offer is placed. In California, agents use NHD reports and loss history data (like Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange (CLUE) reports) to assess fire and flood claims before advising on offers. In Florida, many agents are partnering directly with insurers to check coverage eligibility before a property even hits the market.

The Role of Data and MLS Policy

Risk scores are showing up more prominently in listings, not just on portals like Zillow and Realtor.com, but also within brokerage reports and MLS integrations. While some agents initially feared this would scare off buyers, consumer behavior is proving otherwise: buyers want this data. They’re using it to shortlist homes, ask better questions, and identify which risks are manageable and which aren’t.

Still, challenges remain. Different data providers use different methodologies, creating conflicting scores that confuse buyers. As with the early days of Automated Valuation Models (AVMs), the industry’s job now is to contextualize — not dismiss — the data. That means teaching buyers how to interpret risk scores, pairing them with insurance strategies, and using them as a gateway to deeper conversations.

What Real Estate Professionals Can Do To Adapt

Buyers aren’t just asking about risk. They’re asking what can be done about it. The question isn’t “Is this home in a fire zone?” It’s “What upgrades can reduce the risk, and how will that impact my premiums?” Real estate professionals are responding by positioning themselves not just as sellers of homes, but guides to insurability and long-term homeownership costs.

Programs like My Safe Florida Home are growing in visibility, offering buyers paths to reduce risk through structural upgrades. Some brokerages are even incorporating resilience checklists into their marketing collateral, showing not just what makes a home beautiful, but what makes it survivable.

Navigating the Climate-Driven Future of Real Estate

Climate risk isn’t an abstract concern. It’s reshaping how deals are made, where people choose to live, and what it takes to close a transaction. From unpredictable insurance costs to shifting expectations around disclosure and transparency, real estate professionals are operating in a far more complex environment than even five years ago.

The industry’s role is evolving. It’s no longer enough to market a home. You need to help buyers understand its insurability, long-term affordability, and the trade-offs that come with climate exposure. That means equipping clients with better data, clearer guidance, and real options to adapt.

Those who lean into this shift — educating early, contextualizing risk, and building trusted relationships — won’t just future-proof their business. They’ll become the go-to advisors for a new generation of climate-conscious buyers.