ECB Wipes 45% Off Home Prices in Harshest Bank Climate Test
- Scenario revealed ahead of ECB publication due later this week
- Europe is embarking on landmark climate stress tests in 2022
The damaged banks of the Ahr river after floods devastated parts of western Germany, in Dernau, in July.
Photographer: Alex Kraus/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
European banks have been told to assume that real-estate assets most exposed to flood risk could lose almost half their value, as the sector’s resilience to climate change is stress-tested over the coming months.
The European Central Bank is factoring in a 45% slump over a single year for property values in areas that are likely to experience bad flooding, Fernando de la Mora, a managing director at Alvarez & Marsal, told Bloomberg ahead of the expected publication of the ECB’s scenarios later this week. That would leave German and Dutch banks among the most exposed.