Just as extreme weather costs hit record highs, America’s largest real estate platform quietly scrubbed flood and fire risk scores from listings late last month. Millions of buyers now face a volatile market without crucial data. This sudden deletion comes amid a disaster bill exceeding $182 billion last year.
The move creates a dangerous gap between property prices and the reality of accelerating climate risk. Here’s what’s going on.
A Sudden Retreat From Climate Transparency
Zillow stripped critical climate data from over 1 million listings, just 14 months after its widely publicized launch last September. Flood, fire, wind, heat, and air quality scores disappeared from property pages, replaced with buried links that few buyers will see.
The timing hints at something far deeper than a simple software update.
Record-Breaking Disaster Costs Hit The U.S.
Last year was the fourth-costliest disaster year on record, with 27 weather events causing $182.7 billion in damages. This follows a decade-long acceleration in extreme weather costs, yet the tools to track these dangers are vanishing from public view.
Experts warn that hiding the data does not reduce the actual destruction ahead.
The Risk Doesn’t Disappear
Removing visible warnings shifts danger onto unsuspecting families who may learn too late. Matthew Eby, Founder and CEO of First Street, noted on 3 December 2025, “The risk doesn’t go away; it just moves from a pre-purchase decision into a post-purchase liability.”
Without transparent data, homeowners face financial shocks they cannot anticipate.
Federal Disaster Tracking Goes Offline
NOAA’s database tracking billion-dollar disasters went offline earlier this year following federal budget cuts in May. This eliminated the primary public scoreboard for climate costs, leaving private-sector tools as the last line of defense for consumers trying to gauge property safety.
The removal sets the stage for private platforms to lose their transparency, too.
Industry Pressure Led To Score Removal
The California Regional MLS, the nation’s largest multiple listing service, lobbied against risk scores, arguing that showing probabilities like a 50 percent flood chance stigmatized homes and harmed sales before buyers toured properties.
Their campaign highlights a controversial tension between transparency and property desirability.
Agents Claimed Data Was Hurting Sales
Real estate professionals admitted that transparent climate risk made sales harder in high-risk zones. Art Carter, CEO of California Regional MLS, told Inman News on 2 December 2025, “Displaying flood probabilities can have a significant impact on the perceived desirability of that property.”
Yet, the accuracy of the deleted data indicates it was effective and reliable.
Deleted Scores Were Highly Accurate
First Street’s underlying flood and wildfire data correctly predicted 90 percent of homes destroyed in recent Los Angeles fires, far outperforming state maps that flagged only 21 percent.
Despite this precision, financial pressures to maintain sales momentum outweighed the value of transparency.
Buyers Pay More When Risks Are Hidden
Disclosing flood risks lowers home prices. Redfin Research found that properties with visible flood risk sell for roughly 4.3 percent less than comparable homes, according to a study released on August 18, 2024.
Hiding these dangers creates a hidden financial bubble in the housing market.
A Multi-Billion Dollar Housing Bubble
By obscuring flood and fire risks, U.S. housing values in vulnerable regions are inflated. Nature Climate Change estimated that the market is overvalued by $121 billion to $237 billion as of February 16, 2023.
Florida, with its concentration of high-risk properties, illustrates the extreme disconnect between price and actual danger.
Florida Buyers Face Highest Exposure
Insurance premiums in Florida average $5,500 annually, 140 percent higher than the national average of $2,285, according to the Insurance Information Institute as of September 16, 2025. Yet, buyers continue to flock to the Sunshine State in record numbers.
A recent record-breaking sale shows how risk warnings are often ignored.
Most Expensive Home Sold In Flood Zone
The Gordon Pointe estate in Naples sold for $225 million in May, setting a state record despite a “Severe” 9/10 flood risk. Realtor.com noted the compound as Florida’s priciest sale ever on 1 May 2025.
For average families, ignoring these warnings can result in financial devastation.
Insurance Markets Are Rapidly Collapsing
In fire-prone regions, standard insurance policies are becoming increasingly scarce. California alone lost coverage for over 100,000 homeowners from 2019 through 2024, according to the California Department of Insurance on 4 December 2025.
Without insurance, buyers may be trapped in homes they cannot afford to protect financially.
Climate Migration Is Already Underway
Americans are relocating from high-risk areas. Roughly 3.2 million people have relocated due to flood threats, according to data from the First Street Foundation as of August 18, 2024.
Yet the continued influx of new buyers masks this migration trend, keeping markets deceptively active.
Buyers Still Moving Into Danger
High-risk counties have grown 3 percentage points faster than safer areas over the last three decades, Redfin reported on 18 August 2024.
This shows buyers urgently need accessible climate risk information, not less of it.
Eighty Percent Of Buyers Want Data
Internal Zillow surveys revealed that 80 percent of buyers consider climate risk a key factor in their home searches, according to a Zillow Group press release dated September 26, 2024.
With risk scores removed, other platforms are stepping in to offer transparency.
Competitors Keep Risk Scores Visible
Redfin and Realtor.com still display climate risk scores, although some allow sellers to request the removal of their scores. Zillow’s platform-wide deletion is unique, leaving buyers with incomplete information.
This inconsistent disclosure creates confusion across the housing market.
Supply Chains And Businesses Are Affected
Small business owners use property data to choose safe locations. Without risk scores, they may lease in flood-prone areas, risking inventory loss and disrupted supply chains during storms.
Hiding the thermometer does not change the climate realities affecting the market.
Disasters Continue To Accelerate
Billion-dollar disaster frequency is rising. From 2020 through last year, the annual average was $149 billion, compared to $22 billion in the 1980s, according to NOAA NCEI data reported on May 8, 2025.
The real estate market faces consequences that cannot be ignored.
The High Cost Of Ignorance
By prioritizing sales over safety, the industry blinds buyers in a perilous climate era. As insurers flee and storms intensify, the removal of risk scores ensures the actual cost of homes is revealed only after closing.
This leaves millions of Americans unprepared for the financial and physical risks ahead.
Sources:
NOAA NCEI, 08 May 2025
California Department of Insurance, 04 December 2025
First Street Foundation, 03 December 2025
Zillow Group, 26 September 2024 (Press Release)
Insurance Information Institute, 16 September 2025