'Do You Really Want to Rebuild at 80?' Rethinking Where to Retire. [View all]

[Uncle Joe]

It’s a small yet noticeable shift, experts say — but climate change is causing retirees to start reconsidering moves to disaster-prone dream locales.

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A small but growing number of older people like the Hoaglands are taking climate change into account when choosing a retirement destination, real estate agents and other experts say. Armed with climate studies, many retirees are looking for communities that are less likely to experience extreme weather events, such as wildfires, drought and flooding.

David Dew, a real estate broker who sells homes near the Rappahannock River in and around White Stone, Va., said a larger number of retired clients were voicing concerns about weather patterns. With many waterfront properties in minimal danger of flooding there, the area is attracting retirees from the flood-ravaged Outer Banks of North Carolina as well as other Atlantic Ocean communities, he said.

“At first, they will say they want big views and deep water, but then they ask whether a hurricane or a nor’easter will wipe out the dock,” Mr. Dew said. “They want to be on the water but more protected.”

In an analysis of nearly 1.4 million home sales along Florida’s coasts, for example, University of Pennsylvania researchers found that the sales volume of homes in areas where 70 percent of developed land was less than six feet above sea level dropped by up to 20 percent between 2013 and 2018, while sales rose on less-vulnerable coastal land. Prices on homes in riskier areas declined between 2018 and 2020.

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https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/18/business/where-to-retire-climate-change.html