Zillow drops climate risk scores after agents complained of lost sales

Sorry, prospective homebuyers. Just over a year after adding climate risk scores, Zillow has removed them from more than 1 million listings after real estate agents complained that the information was causing them to lose sales.

Zillow first added the data to the site in September 2024, saying that more than 80% of buyers consider climate risks when purchasing a new home. 

But last month, following objections from the California Regional Multiple Listing Service (CRMLS), Zillow removed the listings’ climate scores. In their place is a subtle link to their records at First Street, the climate risk analytic startup that provides the data.

“When buyers lack access to clear climate-risk information, they make the biggest financial decision of their lives while flying blind,” First Street spokesperson Matthew Eby told TechCrunch via email. “The risk doesn’t go away; it just moves from a pre-purchase decision into a post-purchase liability.”

First Street’s climate risk scores first appeared on Realtor.com in 2020, where they remain. They  also still appear on Redfin and and Homes.com.

The New York-based startup has raised more than $50 million from investors including General Catalyst, Congruent Ventures, and Galvanize Climate Solutions, according to PitchBook.

Art Carter, the CRMLS CEO, told The New York Times that “displaying the probability of a specific home flooding this year or within the next five years can have a significant impact on the perceived desirability of that property.” He also questioned the accuracy of First Street’s data, saying he didn’t think that areas which haven’t flooded in the last 40 to 50 years were likely to flood in the next five.

This isn’t the first time real estate agents have complained about climate risk scores. Last year, when Zillow introduced the feature, one agent in Massachusetts told the Boston Globe that the risk scores were “putting thoughts in people’s minds about my listing that normally wouldn’t be there.”

First Street defended its data. “Our models are built on transparent, peer-reviewed science and are continuously validated against real-world outcomes,” Eby said. 

“In the CRMLS coverage area, during the Los Angeles wildfires, our maps identified over 90 percent of the homes that ultimately burned as being at severe or extreme risk — our highest risk rating — and 100 percent as having some level of risk, significantly outperforming CalFire’s official state hazard maps,” he added.

Official hazard maps have been criticized in recent years for either being out of date or underestimating a property’s level of risk. Nearly twice as many properties carry a 1% annual risk of flooding — a so-called 100-year flood — than are listed on Federal Emergency Management Agency’s flood maps, which are used to designate which properties are required to carry flood insurance, according to a Louisiana State University analysis.

The real estate and insurance industries have been racing to keep up with worsening weather wrought by climate change.

“If buildings are on fire or underwater, they don’t have much value,” Peter Gajdoš, partner at proptech venture capital firm Fifth Wall, wrote for TechCrunch four years ago. “We are discussing these issues with large insurers and the interest is unprecedented.”

Investors, insurers, and cities are likely to continue using data from companies like First Street to determine where climate risks lie. In offering homebuyers access to the same data, Zillow helped level the playing field. But thanks to the objections of real estate agents, consumers have one more hoop to jump through.