By Legal Futures Associate Redbrick Solutions
Climate change is quickly becoming a growing concern for homebuyers, together with the wider property sector which helps to support them. In October 2021 ahead of the COP26 UN Climate Conference in Glasgow, 75% of adults in Great Britain said they were worried about the impact of climate change.
The effects of climate change can already be felt all over the world. Warmer temperatures, rising sea levels, changing rainfall patterns and extreme weather conditions are all evidence of shifts in our climatic systems. Greenhouse gases, aerosol emissions and land use all affect our climate, and the impact of these hazards is only set to increase in occurrence and severity as our climate changes over the coming decades.
Increased exposure to hazards including soil subsidence, coastal erosion, extreme winds, and flood risk can all impact on the value of a property or affect its marketability in the future. All of which could affect the ability to insure, enjoy, use, and potentially sell a property in the years to come.
Across the property market, the importance of considering climate change is rapidly increasing:
- Surveyors are seeing an increase in the impacts of climate change to property and are advising their clients on resilience measures to help protect their property into the future
- Commercial property owners and investors are seeking intelligence on how the impacts of climate change, such as flooding might affect the daily operations of their business
- Housebuilders are actively implementing measures to help future-proof properties
- Estate Agents are experiencing an increased demand for properties with low carbon, sustainable features such as solar panels and ground source heat pumps, and
- Lenders and Insurers have, for many years considered the impact of climate change when determining the risk profile for a property and establishing their investment criteria in relation to both residential and commercial properties
Changes related to climate change are also taking place in our everyday lives, for example with upcoming legislation changes, such as the phasing out of gas boilers in new build homes by 2025 and a shift towards electric vehicles. All of this leads to us considering the impacts of climate change now, more than ever before.
How does this impact the conveyancing industry?
For homeowners, many are starting to take control of the situation by implementing measures to their properties to help protect their investment. So, when it comes to purchasing a property, demand for knowledge by homebuyers on how climate change might impact their investment is at an all-time high.
For all professional parties within a conveyancing transaction, the shared focus is always on trying to achieve what’s best for the client and supporting them to protect their interests. As the needs and concerns of consumers shift, so too does our need to support them.
Introducing the Climate Report
Dye & Durham Insight & Data have just launched a brand-new Climate Report, delivering intelligent data and actionable insight on climate change for homebuyers.
With an increased demand for knowledge on climate change by consumers, this innovative new report enables conveyancers to inform homebuyers of the hazards arising from climate change that could affect their property now and, in the future, by assessing the impact of climate change on hazards including flood risk, coastal erosion, extreme winds, and soil subsidence.
Featuring a simple hazard score, the report allows a swift comparison between the different hazards and time periods with intuitive dashboards throughout. It enables homebuyers to identify when the property will be at a high exposure, to which hazard.
As an added-value, easy-to-understand report, which can be passed to the homebuyer, any queries can be directed to Dye & Durham Insight & Data’s expert customer support team, without the need for interpretation by the conveyancer.
The Climate Report enables conveyancers to differentiate their offering, by giving clients something additional and of added value and interest to the homebuyer, alongside their traditional due diligence service. While for homebuyers, by understanding their future exposure to hazards posed by our changing climate, it enables them to increase their resilience to these growing threats.
Join our Webinar to find out more
Dye & Durham Insight & Data, Redbrick Solutions & CDS present – Is Climate Change affecting the Property Market?
Join us for a FREE webinar on 11 May 2022 at 11am, as we explore how climate change is affecting the property market, including introducing the new Climate Report.
During the session, Dye & Durham Insight & Data will cover:
- Is it a fair assumption to make that the number of properties at high risk of ground instability will increase over a mortgage lifetime?
- What is the hazard you are most concerned about in terms of climate change?
- Where in the country will you see the biggest changes?
- Introducing the Climate Report
Find out more and register here
