18 US housing markets where people live with the highest risk of natural disasters
Most people would rather not buy homes in a known dangerous area, especially when the risks can't be removed.
Attom Data Solutions looked into how exposed over 3,000 US counties are to six natural hazards: earthquakes, floods, hurricane storm surges, tornadoes, hail, and wildfires.
They found that median home prices in the lowest-risk counties rose more rapidly than the highest-risk areas over the past 10 years, profiting homeowners. That's not shocking, since fewer people want to live near danger.
And over the past five years, sales volume fell below the national average in the most hazardous areas.
Attom also created an index for each of the six risks, and computed a total natural-hazard-risk index.
Using their data, we ranked the 18 counties with the highest index value in ascending order. We also included the one-year percent change in sales, one-year home-price appreciation, the hazard risk indexes that were deemed "very high," and whether home prices are above the US median.
Here are the riskiest counties:
Brunswick County, North Carolina
Gerry Dincher/Flickr
"Very high" hazard risks: Hurricane, flood, wildfire
One-year change in sales: -3%
One-year home-price appreciation: -1%
Price over US median? No
Source: Attom Data Solutions
Santa Clara County, California
Homes & Land
"Very high" hazard risk: Earthquake
One-year change in sales: -7.7%
One-year home-price appreciation: 7.7%
Price over US median? Yes
Source: Attom Data Solutions
Miami-Dade County, Florida
Joe Raedle / Staff / Getty Images
"Very high" hazard risk: Flood
One-year change in sales: -9.7%
One-year home-price appreciation: 6.8%
Price over US median? Yes
Source: Attom Data Solutions
Marin County, California
Miwok/Flickr
"Very high" hazard risk: Flood
One-year change in sales: -8.2%
One-year home-price appreciation: 4.9%
Price over US median? Yes
Source: Attom Data Solutions
Collier County, Florida
Wikipedia
"Very high" hazard risk: Flood
One-year change in sales: -16.5%
One-year home-price appreciation: 3.7%
Price over US median? Yes
Source: Attom Data Solutions
Plumas County, California
Tom Hilton/Flickr
"Very high" hazard risk: Earthquake
One-year change in sales: -11.7%
One-year home-price appreciation: 13.1%
Price over US median? Yes
Source: Attom Data Solutions
El Dorado County, California
Wikimedia
"Very high" hazard risk: Wildfire
One-year change in sales: 13.3%
One-year home-price appreciation: 5.5%
Price over US median? Yes
Source: Attom Data Solutions
Douglas County, Nevada
Flickr/Patrick Nouhailler
"Very high" hazard risk: Earthquake
One-year change in sales: -9.5%
One-year home-price appreciation: 6.6%
Price over US median? Yes
Source: Attom Data Solutions
Trinity County, California
Rabble/Flickr
"Very high" hazard risk: Flood
One-year change in sales: 28.6%
One-year home-price appreciation: 22.7%
Price over US median? Yes
Source: Attom Data Solutions
Tuolumne County, California
Elaine with Grey Cats/Flickr
"Very high" hazard risk: Wildfire
One-year change in sales: 12.7%
One-year home-price appreciation: 11.2%
Price over US median? Yes
Source: Attom Data Solutions
Riverside County, California
Wikipedia
"Very high" hazard risks: Wildfire and earthquake
One-year change in sales: 2.9%
One-year home-price appreciation: 6.8%
Price over US median? Yes
Source: Attom Data Solutions
Mariposa County, California
Wikimedia
"Very high" hazard risk: Wildfire
One-year change in sales: 2.5%
One-year home-price appreciation: -0.4%
Price over US median? Yes
Source: Attom Data Solutions
Santa Cruz, California
Dale Cruse/Flickr
"Very high" hazard risk: Earthquake
One-year change in sales: -14.3%
One-year home-price appreciation: 7.4%
Price over US median? Yes
Source: Attom Data Solutions
Lake County, California
Lee Coursey/Flickr
"Very high" hazard risk: Earthquake
One-year change in sales: -6.7%
One-year home-price appreciation: 7.1%
Price over US median? No
Source: Attom Data Solutions
Nevada County, California
Ken Lund/Flickr
"Very high" hazard risk: Wildfire
One-year change in sales: 6.2%
One-year home-price appreciation: 3.7%
Price over US median? Yes
Source: Attom Data Solutions
Cleveland County, Oklahoma
Wikipedia
"Very high" hazard risks: Tornado and hail
One-year change in sales: 9.7%
One-year home-price appreciation: 3.5%
Price over US median? No
Source: Attom Data Solutions
Monroe County, Florida
Roger W/Flickr
"Very high" hazard risks: Flood
One-year change in sales: -15%
One-year home-price appreciation: 12.1%
Price over US median? Yes
Source: Attom Data Solutions
Oklahoma County, Oklahoma
Shutterstock
"Very high" hazard risks: Tornado
One-year change in sales: 5.7%
One-year home-price appreciation: 4%
Price over US median? No
Source: Attom Data Solutions
DON'T MISS:
Jeff Swensen/Getty
RELATED: Worst U.S. natural disasters
