Homeowners in markets once thought of as safe are seeing insurance become pricier and less available. (Credit: Monkey Business/Adobe Stock)
Hurricane risk is poised to radically change coastal communities from Texas to Maine, according to a new report from Cotality.
The report found hurricane risk, higher insurance prices and, in some areas, no availability of insurance are causing many home buyers to shift away from coastal communities. Coastal homeowners are then saddled with properties that are decreasing in value and becoming harder to sell.
“Buyers are factoring environmental risk factors into their decisions in ways we haven’t seen before,” said Selma Hepp, Cotality’s chief economist, in a statement. “They’re pricing in insurance premiums, future storms and the potential for resale challenges. That’s reshaping demand in coastal markets, even in areas with minimal storm history.”
While Florida has faced some of these challenges for years, coastal communities once thought of as “safe” from hurricanes are increasingly being impacted. Cotality found that homes in Virginia Beach, Va., stayed on the market 32% longer in early 2025 than they did in early 2024. In Wilmington, N.C., homes were on the market 19% longer.
Buyers who still want to live on a coast expect discounts for homes in flood zones. The report found homes in Miami’s 100-year flood zone have seen a reduction in value of between 9% and 18% per square foot.
But the discounts are then offset by the cost of insurance, if insurance is available for the home. According to NerdWallet, the average home insurance policy in Miami costs $5,095 per year.
The cost of insurance, on top of a mortgage payment, is pricing many young and middle-income buyers out of coastal markets, the report found. Migration patterns in Florida show more than 500,000 people moved from Miami to cheaper cities like Tampa, Jacksonville and Orlando between 2019 and 2023.
Local families are being replaced by investors or second-home owners, changing the communities.
Nationally, Cotality found more than 33.1 million residential properties, from Texas to Maine, are at moderate or greater risk of damage from hurricane-force winds, and 6.4 million properties are at risk of storm surge flooding. Those homes, and their communities, could see their values plunge in coming years.
Strict building codes enforcing resilient building practices along the coast and other policies could help shift the tide, Cotality found. Recent policy reversals by the Trump administration, however, could hurt progress made in this direction.
In March, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) stopped enforcing the Federal Flood Risk Management Standard, which required federal agencies to construct federally funded buildings outside of flood risk areas or in a way that reduced the effects of future flood hazards.
“This rollback comes as flooding — especially in coastal states like Florida — grows more frequent and severe due to environmental factors and urban development,” said Chay Halbert, principal of public policy and industry relations at Cotality, in a statement. “Expanding development in flood-prone areas without maintaining or enhancing protection standards increases environmental and financial burdens for future generations.”
© Arc, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to TMSalesOperations@arc-network.com. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.