Real Estate
Wildfire Risk Harms California Home Values, San Francisco Fed Study Finds
- Acres burned and number of homes damaged increased recently
- Insurance access doesn’t seem to help high-risk properties
A burned home following the French fire in Mariposa, California on July 5.
Photographer: Josh Edelson/AFP/Getty Images
This article is for subscribers only.
California’s wildfires are weighing on home prices more than in the past, and insurance availability does little to help in areas considered to be at higher risk, according to a Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco study.
“Our results suggest that property values have been more adversely impacted in recent years by being close to past wildfires than was the case previously,” economists Leila Bengali, Fernanda Nechio and Stephanie Stewart wrote in a paper published Monday on the Fed bank’s website.