Even as exposure to floods, fire and extreme heat increase in the face of climate change, a popular tool for evaluating risk has disappeared from the nation’s leading real estate website.
Zillow removed the feature displaying climate risk data to home buyers in November after the California Regional Multiple Listing Service, which provides a database of real estate listings to real estate agents and brokers in the state, questioned the accuracy of the flood risk models on the site.
Now, a climate policy expert in California is working to put data back in buyers’ hands.
Neil Matouka, who previously managed the development and launch of California’s Fifth Climate Change Assessment, is developing a proof of concept plugin that provides climate data to Californians in place of what Zillow has removed. When a user views a California Zillow listing, the plugin automatically displays data on wildfire and flood risk, sea level rise and extreme heat exposure.
“We don’t need perfect data,” Matouka said. “We need publicly available, consistent information that helps people understand risk.”
The removal of Zillow’s data, which came a little over year after it was first introduced, began when the California Regional Multiple Listing Service questioned the validity of flood modeling completed by First Street, a climate risk modeling company, which provides climate data to Zillow and other realty sites.
“Our goal is simply to ensure homebuyers are not being presented with information that could be misleading or unfair. We have no objection to the display of accurate climate data,” the multiple listing service said in a statement.