Eva Davis is a real estate agent in Washington, DC, and almost all of her clients are asking about climate risks these days.

“I would say the flood risk is definitely the biggest,” she said. It’s a shift she’s noticed in recent years as storms continue to worsen.

“And I also think the other part that I’ve really seen — this is more in the last year, like 2024 — is that homeowners insurance is becoming harder and harder to get,” Davis noted.

Climate problems are playing an increasingly important role when purchasing homes. Nearly 90% of potential homebuyers say it is very important to them that the home they buy has at least one climate-resilient feature, according to a new report from Zillow. And homes are increasingly promoting these features: The share of ads mentioning flood barriers, seismic retrofits or water collection systems is up about 20% from last year, according to Zillow data.

Davis and her partners at Compass have all had clients lately who have had trouble getting insurance or who discovered it was much more expensive than they expected.

“So I guess I hear people’s stories – from your friends, your neighbors, your family, you know. It’s just stuck in people’s minds between that and then just the news,” she said, adding that her clients are attracted to ads that mention a house has something like waterproofing in the basement.

According to Amanda Pendleton, Zillow’s home trends expert, spreading that kind of information has become much more common in the past year.

“Sellers are actually emphasizing features that do provide some level of protection, and buyers are looking for that,” she said.

For safety reasons – and because homes built to withstand extreme weather can also be cheaper to maintain and insure – they may have things like “watertight windows, doors and roofs; windproof doors and windows; fireproof or non-flammable home materials,” Pendleton said.

But even as potential homebuyers become increasingly concerned about climate risks, Patrick Welch of the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy says it is rarely the most important factor.

“The cost of housing will still be the main feature people look at when looking for a home,” he said. “These areas most at risk are often cheaper than other places.”

Many people are moving to areas with the highest climate-related risks, including Florida, Texas and Arizona.

However, most are moving from nearby, not out of state, said Jeremy Porter of the nonprofit First Street Foundation.

“People want to live in the same metro area, the same county, the same neighborhoods,” he said. “They want to live close to their family. They want to keep the same job.”

They may stay in South Florida, but try to move to a safer neighborhood, he said.

“People in areas at high risk of flooding are avoiding parts of their communities where streets flood when there is heavy rainfall, where basements are known to flood, and are moving to higher ground in those areas,” said he. .

And if they are able to do so, they may move into a home that is built to better withstand the risks.